Mr. Mercedes

I'm a huge fan of Stephen King and have been for many years but I've hated the majority of adaptations of his work. Not because they don't stay true to the books but because sometimes they stay too true and it just doesn't work. There is a huge difference between a book and a screenplay so doing a word for word copy of a book, especially a King book, just doesn't work on the screen. Thankfully with Mr Mercedes this hasn't happened. The characters are there, the plot is there but there are differences and I'm glad there are. Brendan Gleeson is a great choice for Bill and the production doesn't have that cheap feel that a lot of King adaptations have (The Mist TV series, Under the Dome, The Shining mini series to name but a few). I'm two episodes in and I'm hooked. I only hope they don't let it ramble on beyond the source material and spoil it as that would be a real shame.

After reading up on this, my curiosity was spiked when I learned that Stephen King had wrote the character of Bill Hodges based on Brendan Gleeson. Growing up, Stephen King was my Author of choice and being Irish I have always rated Brendan Gleeson as one of our best actors. I always though a little known Irish film called "I went Down" as one of his finest performances but after watching the first 2 episodes of this, Brendan Gleeson is (as we would say in Ireland) Feckin Brilliant. This is the best thing I have watched in quite a while and I can't wait for the next episode. :)

Season 1 is so gripping as we gradually got to know all the good and bad characters that Mrs. Shullivan and I just had to binge watch the subsequent two (2) seasons over the weekend. It is a captivating mystery/thriller/sci-fi series which stars the always impressive Brendan Gleeson as a retired homicide detective named Bill Hodges who after losing his wife through an amicable divorce, believes he has nothing else to live for but to drink both day and night and the only one who relies on him nowadays is his fully grown twenty year old tortoise (please do not call him a turtle says Bill) named Fred.

Bill Hodges (Brendan Gleeson) has lost his wife through an amicable divorce and is estranged for a few years now from his only daughter who has suffered from drug and alcohol abuse. Bill finds his solace and a revitalized need to once again feel worthy of his crime solving ability when he gets involved in the investigation of the unidentified serial killer named Mr. Mercedes whose crime was to run down a huge crowd of people standing in line at an early morning job fair in a stolen Mercedes Benz vehicle and then he just drove away and abandoned the stolen Mercedes Benz car after killing a dozen or so people and injuring and traumatizing hundreds of other people.

By season two (2) the serial killer is identified and by season three (3) there is a new story line which is indirectly tied to the first two seasons as some of the surviving victims of Mr. Mercedes who were at the job fair try to get on with their lives. Season three (3) is probably more violent than any of the three (3) seasons but not in a true gratuitous violent manner, but more in a comedic way if murder can be considered comical, Mr. Mercedes pulls it off perfectly.

There is a great supporting cast and an even better Stephen King storyline in which Stephen King supplants himself in one cameo scene as one of the many imaginary murder victims in a restaurant. Mrs. Shullivan and I really enjoyed all three (3) seasons but were glad when the series ended because we were beginning to enjoy all of Stephen King's murder and bloodshed so much so that we quickly next turned to a Walt Disney animated classic to come back to reality and calm.

I give this excellent series a highly rated 8 out of 10 IMDB rating

This show is very hard to review because it genuinely becomes an entirely different show after the first season. Season's two and three move into a more traditional Stephen King style, while season 1 is the classic retires gruff detective no kind of a PI being haunted by that one case. And the killer communicating with him isn't anything revolutionary, but the two leads are awesome and the supporting cast is really charming and perfect.

Season 2 and 3 are really enjoyable but they are two screen seasons, meaning it's best to watch while doing a puzzle or exercising while the first season is so captivating you don't want to miss anything. Hope this helps.

As a fan of Mr. King for many years --and NOT a fan of most of the TV and movie adaptations of his works-- I have to say I was impressed with the pilot episode. The casting of Brendan Gleeson got me in to watch it and thank God nobody asked him to try an American accent (witness what happened when they asked Michael Caine to try that in 'Mr Morgan's Last Love'). Also, it was nice to see Harry Treadaway pop up again after 'Penny Dreadful'. The whole show spoke of quality and good storytelling. I agree that the opening scene was a little gratuitous but it is faithful to the novel and I would rather see this sort of violence represented honestly than stylistically. No illusions that blood and guts aren't spilled when you drive a car through human bodies. I am looking forward to the next episode and have already added it to my weekly TV viewing list.