In the new Netflix political thriller The Madness, CNN pundit Muncie Daniels (Colman Domingo) is framed for the murder of a white nationalist leader and becomes a pawn in a dangerous game played between the dead man’s followers, a violent colony of gun enthusiasts that’s described as “basically antifa on meth with Uzis,” and multiple billionaires and government agencies. No one ever actually says “This conspiracy goes all the way to the top,” but it’s heavily implied throughout.
Created by playwright Stephen Belber, The Madness has a lot on its mind about race relations, activism, and the dangers of disinformation that allows corporations to, as FBI agent Franco Quinones (John Ortiz) puts it, “play three-card monte with people’s minds.” Maybe it has too much on its mind, or perhaps it’s not quite enough. The show works more in pieces than as a whole, mixing thrilling moments with low-energy ones.
At times, the suspense plot is gripping, or at least wild, enough to hold attention. Belber and his collaborators, including director Clement Virgo(*) put together some sequences that crackle with tension, or that go to shocking places. But The Madness frequently struggles at conveying exactly how much jeopardy Muncie, his son Demetrius (Thaddeus J. Mixson), and his ex-wife Elena (Marsha Stephanie Blake) and their friends(**) are in at any given moment. And after several later episodes escalate the stakes and scale of the story, the finale is oddly muted, as if everyone involved just ran out of steam.
(*) Virgo was one of the original directors on The Wire, to which this show features several cap-tips, including Muncie nostalgically watching the iconic Virgo-directed scene where McNulty and Bunk only say “fuck” for four minutes, and another scene where Muncie and his lawyer Kwesi (Deon Cole) discuss Stringer Bell. The upshot is that The Wire is now unmistakably an oldie but a goodie, and you’re not getting younger, either.
(**) One of said friends is played by Stephen McKinley Henderson, who’s having a busy week on Netflix, between this and his lovely turn on A Man on the Inside.
Meanwhile, the various sociological issues at play — including the news media’s lack of ability, or even interest, in fighting against oppressive status quos — are the whole point of the thriller plot, but it feels like the story keeps having to pause itself so Muncie and Franco can argue politics for a few minutes.
Still, there are enough interesting ideas. And Domingo is a commanding presence in as conventional a leading man role as you’re probably ever going to see him in. He’s not actually playing, to borrow a phrase he uses at one point, “Stringer Bell with a law degree,” but he gives good traditional hero here, whether he’s fighting off opponents, sprinting away from the law, or simply staring down people with enough money and power to erase him from the face of the planet without consequences. He and The Americans alum Alison “Poor Martha” Wright, playing a fixer for the bad guys, keep things fun for a while. But ultimately, there’s not quite enough madness to go around.
All eight episodes of The Madness are streaming now on Netflix. I’ve seen the whole thing.
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