Nothing quite unsettles a critic like not knowing how to write up a film or series. When I finished the sixth and final episode of TNT’s I Am the Night, I found myself stumped on how to proceed with a review. I wanted very much for this to be a home run for Wonder Woman helmer Patty Jenkins and star Chris Pine, who reunited for the show, and found myself to be a little disappointed when it never quite clicked for me.
To summarize: I Am the Night follows the somewhat true story of Fauna Hodel (India Eisley), a young white woman being raised by a Black mother in Nevada. After being told she’s biracial for her entire life, she discovers that she is actually the daughter of a white woman named Tamar Hodel, granddaughter of infamous George Hodel (Jefferson Mays). Desperate to know the truth about her heritage, she packs up and heads to Los Angeles, where she crosses paths with reporter Jay Singletary (Pine), a veteran-turned-hack with an addiction problem and a desire for redemption.
The best parts of the show are the direction and Pine’s performance.
The six episode series has three directors. The first two episodes are done by Jenkins, the third and fourth by Vic Mahoney, and the last two by Carl Franklin. Mahoney’s work, in particular, was stellar, and I found myself even more excited for her career to blossom—and that she’s the first AD on Star Wars Episode IX. The show, steeped in noir elements, is excellent to watch for the most part, with the appropriate chills and disturbing visuals to go along with the more intense elements.
And then there’s Pine. We can debate who the best Chris is until the cows come home, but Pine might be the best actor of all the Chrises in all the land. His performance as Jay is downright unattractive at times, which is why it’s probably his best work to date. Jay is an addict, a traumatized war vet, and above all else, a journalist who dreams of getting the story that got away. Pine alternates between mania and subtlety, his movie star good looks contorting into somewhat hideous expressions at times as he fully embodies Jay’s physicality.
It’s a performance that’s impossible to look away from, and promises more to Pine than charisma and romantic lead roles. Maybe I’m a bit late to the “Pine is underrated as an actor” party, but my main takeaway from the show was that if any Chris starts winning the major awards one day, it’ll probably be him. The rest of the show doesn’t support it, but if it were all the same caliber as what Pine put in, he’d be a major Emmys player in this year’s race. With the right campaign, maybe he still will be.
As Fauna, Eisley shows a great deal of promise, but the script doesn’t fully let her channel more than surface-level emotions, for the most part. She does get better as the show goes along, though, and for a first breakout role, she’s not half bad. The rest of the cast turns in reliably good performances, with Connie Nielson and Golden Brooks especially standing out from the crowd.
The downside is that the script could use a little more work. The discussions of race seem problematic at best; as Deadline’s Allison Keene says in her review, “The important racial component of this story is shallow and stereotyped.” Even more positive reviews, such as Darren Franich’s for Entertainment Weekly, seem to think the show is more comfortable with the murder angle than the racial angle.
It could also have probably been five episodes, not six. At times, the plot drags on and on; when it gets where it needs to go, though, it’s an enjoyable watch. Still, a second set of eyes on the script might have been handy. Sam Sheridan, the writer and creator of the show (and Jenkins’s husband) knows how to bring the pulp and noir, but I would’ve loved to see a little more work on the emotional beats and general narrative arc.
Given the current true crime phase we as a culture seem to be going through, it might have done well to tackle the sensationalist nature of the crimes Hodel is accused of (including the Black Dahlia murder) and the way culture loves its girls dead and brutalized. There are a few scenes that seem to brush on the subject, but we never quite get to where we should go with it, which is a shame. A good social message might have helped uplift the show to new heights, but Sheridan and company are more concerned with making Fauna into an idealized heroine.
Still, it’s not a terrible series. I’m sure that there will be some who despise it, and some who enjoy it more than I did, but it never quite reaches the heights it should, considering its cast and creative team. If you need a binge for February, though, it will kill a few hours. Pine fans can watch him go for the gold and celebrate the fact that their favorite might be the most talented Chris of all.
Sometimes, you don’t need more of an excuse to watch something.
(image: TNT)
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