By Jenni Beaver – I am, without a doubt, a suspense and crime show addict. If it involves detectives, cops, or some sort of federal agent, odds are it’s on my DVR. So, when I saw the previews for CBS’s new show, Stalker, I knew I had to watch it.
The cast is dynamite. Three powerhouse actors: Maggie Q [Beth Davis], Dylan McDermott [Jack Larsen], and Elizabeth Röhm [Amanda Taylor]. Two actors unknown to me, but two actors who help make the show what it is: Mariana Klaveno [Janice Lawrence] and Victor Rasuk [Ben Caldwell]. Beth, Jack, Janice, and Ben make up the Threat Assessment Unit, a division of the LAPD dedicated to capturing, you guessed it, stalkers. Amanda is the Assistant District Attorney who wraps everything up in a nice, neat little bow.
The TAU members take the familiarity that shows like Criminal Minds, NCIS, and CSI spent many seasons building, and created it in the first episode. It didn’t take five seasons to learn that every character has a unique backstory. At this point in the show (still in mid-season of season 1), viewers have a pretty nice handle on the stories of these characters.
Just like the characters are amazing, the plotlines are even better. Maybe terrifying is a better word. Think about Criminal Minds. If you’ve ever seen the show, you know that the writers have come up with some pretty freaky ways of killing someone. It’s frightening. However, you expect that from a show about murder. When I sat down for the first episode of Stalker, I expected something tame and mild. I was wrong.
Every week, the writers have come up with a positively distressing way to be stalked, and every week I find myself looking out my windows for drones, checking under my sheets for snakes or spiders, and looking over my shoulder for the infamous shadowy figure. If the intent of the show was to scare the viewers out of their minds, it definitely succeeded.
Don’t let the above description of the show turn you away. It’s amazing. The characters connected with me, and if you’re a TV watcher similar to me, then that’s something you like. I don’t like to watch talking heads. I like to watch people, and Stalker gives me people. It also gives me a reason to keep a light on as I sleep, but not the same reason I get from Criminal Minds or another crime drama. Stalker doesn’t give you a fear of being, for lack of a better way to put it, brutally murdered. In fact, very few people on Stalker actually die. That’s not the point of the show. It gives you a fear of being watched, and, scary enough, not knowing that you’re being watched.
It will chill you to the bone, but in the best way possible. Don’t take my word for it, experience Stalker for yourself every Wednesday at nine o’clock on CBS.
Leave a Reply