The Shards According to Ryan Murphy

 

Oof! That was a rough one. After spending the last 5 weeks hatewatching Ryan Murphy's bastardization of The Shards, I have finally reached the conclusion of this limited series. Or maybe I haven't, who knows?  But we'll get to that later. First, let's get the obvious out of the way right up front: FX should have retitled this The Sharts lest any unsuspecting viewers get the idea that it's a straightforward adaptation of Bret Eason Ellis's 2022 bestseller. It is not. In the Murphyverse, the book and the series are a mix-and-match mashup that is rarely harmonious. 

Just a few years ago, I was praising the virtues of Bret Easton Ellis's new novel, The Shards  His magnum opus, I declared, a true masterpiece! One of the 10 best books of 2022 (see my post from Feb. 22, 2023)! Receiving widespread critical acclaim at the time of its release, the novel is a sort of coming-of-age thriller about a group of privileged young people starting their senior year at an elite private school in 1981 Los Angeles. Of course, it's a lot more than that--there are the usual petty jealousies, insecurities, and teenage dreams and dramas, but there's also a serial killer known as The Trawler thrown into their midst, as well as a considerable amount of explicity rendered fucking going on between the protagonist and his partners, both female and male (but mostly male). As recently as a year ago, Ellis's book was on track to be filmed as a prestige project directed by Luca Guadagnino for HBO. Ah well, sometimes the best laid plans....   

So here's a serious question: did Ryan Murphy even read The Shards before deciding to turn it into a limited series? It seems unlikely given the show's content. It's more probable that one of his flunkies skimmed through the book and took notes highlighting the basic plot points and, voila, Murphy decided to put on a show. Truthfully, when I first read that Murphy was developing The Shards for FX/Hulu I had a sinking feeling that we were in for a bumpy ride. Predictably, after being fully Murphyized, that bumpy ride went directly off the rails and ended up an absolute trainwreck. I also have to wonder if Ellis, himself, ever bothered to watch any of Murphy's previous endeavors. The Beauty? Grotesquerie? Any season of American Horror Story? 

Theoretically, Ellis and Murphy should make a good team. At roughly the same age (Murphy is 60, Ellis 64), both men have a reputation for creating edgy, extreme material that feature equal amounts of sex, blood, gore, and psychosocial commentary. They're also both gay, though that really is a moot point. In reality, these two people couldn't be more different. Ellis is an accomplished provocateur who writes with a sure hand, a onetime enfant terrible who made his way up the bestseller lists by creating smart, highly personal works reflective of their times and the author's anarchic spirit. And Murphy? That's an altogether different kettle of fish. Giving credit where credit is due, he has done some good work but subtlety and consistency are not his strong points. His instantly recognizable style is chaotic, campy, sexualized and highly, highly sensational. In that respect, his work is legendary. In this case, not a good thing. It's hard to believe Ellis not only gave a thumbs up to this but also co-wrote the first two episodes. I guess he needed the gas money. 

The young cast of The Shards--some of them actors--are hobbled by scripts the writers seem to be making up as they go along. Hey, let's throw this at the wall and see if it sticks. Poor Igby Rigney, as a fictionalized Bret, seems a perfect fit for the role and probably could have played the hell out of it with more capable guidance. All things considered, he's pretty good, although, as our home-alone protagonist he doesn't seem certain whether he's in trash TV or an Antonioni movie. That goes for all his friends, as well. As conceived by Murphy, they're a pretty soulless bunch. They're the cream of the crop and pretty much run the school but they're just numb to everything that doesn't directly involve them.  

While their classmates are being butchered, they're hanging out at Hamburger Hamlet chain-smoking, chugging martinis and planning homecoming festivities. Except for Bret, they're utterly nonchalant about The Trawler and the encroaching danger he represents. Despite their facade of sophistication, they're all extremely naive, making them perfect fodder for the killer. Murphy, of course, doesn't really do ennui so he probably should have watched L'Avventura a few times before filming ever started. 

These kids (age 18-going-on-30) are too-cool-for-school until a handsome new student moves to town and immediately upsets the delicate balance of the group. This kid, Robert Mallory, is caught in a little white lie, which sets off Bret's bullshit detector. There will be more lies, hints at things dark and dastardly, and Bret determines that he will be the one who uncovers the truth about Robert since no one--not even the police--are paying him any mind. To imaginative, inquisitive Bret, Robert is The Trawler. In the scheme of things, how Bret jumps to this conclusion so quickly makes no never mind (it's clearer in the book). The point is that Bret wants to nail Robert for his crimes. And also rail him if time allows. 

From here on out, the plot veers off into a dozen different directions that bear scant resemblance to the source material. Continuity, as I explained earlier, is pretty much non-existent. Scenes and episodes end with cliffhangers (Bret finding an ex-beau's head in the high school trophy case, for instance) that are completely disregarded in the next sequence. Suddenly, we're back at Hamburger Hamlet vapidly smoking, drinking and reciting Shakespeare (don't ask). So how did we get from Point A to Point B? What happened in between? If you're lucky, one of the characters might toss in a throwaway line to--vaguely--explain away the incongruencies, but don't count on it.

Other scenes feel like part of a different series altogether (the dance-off, for instance). Random characters (presumably rising stars in the Murphyverse) show up to add color (I guess) before being trotted back to wherever Murphy keeps them.

 

Aside from Rigney, the other performances--well, some are better than others, I'll put it that way. If smoking were an acting category there would be Emmys all around.  As Robert, Homer Gere (son of Richard) does have a slick, smarmy quality that is seductive and a little disarming. He's a fairly convincing sociopath but the writers don't give him a lot to work with. It's almost the same thing--but not quite--with Kaia Gerber (Cindy Crawford's daughter) whose chief character traits are pretend-smoking, complaining ("I'm so tired of being beautiful and popular") and looking like a 25-year-old supermodel who is beautiful and popular. Oh, and in the finale, screaming. She screams a lot in the finale. Others in the cast, particularly Graham Campell and singer Hayes Warner (respectively, Gerber's football player boyfriend, and Rigney's rich bitch girlfriend) tread the middle ground between tedium and hysteria as best they can. On the other hand, the older actors--Wes Bentley, Evan Rachel Wood and Jordan Roth--totally cut loose, adding a much-needed element of camp that enlivens the show. Roth, especially, is a devilish imp. He's wicked fun, a cross between Riff Raff and Mrs. Danvers who all but steals the show. The adults in the room obviously knew this was a stinker and decided to cast off every shackle of restraint. 

Surprisingly, Murphy has made the odd choice of neutering the book's content, which is awash in homoeroticism. Since he has always embraced every opportunity to divest his male characters of as much clothing allowed by content providers, it's odd that he chose this project to tone down his usual predilections. Lest you think I'm pissing on the show because of its shortage of mano a mano scenes, well, maybe I am a little. That was one of the book's main plot points: it was chock-full o'nuts being busted by the lead characters (mostly by the guys). Murphy was quoted in the Hollywood Reporter as saying that he wanted this production to be "tasteful and palatable". This must be a first for him. Seen here, tasteful and palatable don't always translate to must-see TV.  

In the end, it takes a special kind of pretzel logic to make this series come together in any comprehensible way. It's the usual Murphy story: he takes a keen interest in a project and, after filming a couple of episodes, loses the thread and checks out, apparently leaving scattered notes around for others to decipher and complete the enterprise. It's one of Murphy's biggest flaws. Is there another director/producer in Hollywood with a more severe case of ADHD? 

By the 9th and final episode of The Shards, The Trawler should be moving in for the kill (as is the case in the book). But is he? Is he really? Unfortunately, if you've watched this series thinking you're going to get any answers or closure you've been had. In other words, the finale ends on....yet another cliffhanger. A fucking cliffhanger. Which seems to indicate that Murphy had another season of this tosh planned all along. 

One of the few things The Shards has going for it is the 80's soundtrack, which includes hits by Blondie, Ultravox, The Cars, Bowie, The Pretenders, and Fleetwood Mac, to name a few. Still, that won't be enough to coax me into watching a second season should it ever come to fruition. Time is not on Murphy's side. Since years often elapse between seasons of his shows, his stars are unlikely to remain preppies forever. As of this writing, The Shards has not been renewed for a second season although that could change at any moment. The series somehow has a 55% rating on Rotten Tomatoes so there's a, roughly, 50/50 chance that we haven't seen the last of the sharts.