Pyschotronic Cinemavision: Grotesquerie

Detective Lois Tryon (Niecy Nash-Betts) is investigating a series of brutal and strange murders where the victims are staged to send a specific message.  She is joined by Sister Megan (Micaela Diamond), a nun who is also a journalist writing about serial killers for a small Catholic newspaper. Lois’ is a chain smoking ,high functioning alcoholic whose family life is in shambles. Her daughter Merritt’s (Raven Goodwin) health may be at risk from uncontrolled overeating and her brilliant but philandering husband, Marshall (Courtney B. Vance), is in a coma due to some yet undisclosed event or illness. Sister Megan and Father Charlie (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) share a love of serial killers and Charlie praises Megan for how her work is bringing in parishioners into their church.  As the killings continue the staged crime scenes seem more and more personal and begin intruding into the lives of both Lois and Megan.

Grotesquerie is a horror drama series on FX, the first two episodes premiered on September 25, 2024 with double episodes premiering weekly on Wednesday nights with the exception of single episodes 7 on October 16 and the final 10^th episode dropping on October 30^th.  The show, created by Ryan Murphy, Jon Robin Baitz and Joe Baken, will be available for streaming on Hulu the day after each broadcast and will be available internationally on Disney+. The series has been met with mixed to average reviews.

I love horror mystery shows and movies, so this is right up my alley, and yet, I am unsure how much I like the series if at all.  The first thing I am struggling with is the main character, Lois, who is being played well by Niecy Nash-Betts.  It isn’t the acting, but more the character I am not fond of.  I don’t mind flawed heroes, and Lois has many flaws, but I just don’t find her that likeable, engaging, or interesting and the chain smoking and constant drinking wears thin after a while.  Sister Megan, played by Micaela Diamond, is maybe a bit too bubbly and her dialogue feels convoluted and forced at times.  In both character cases, it is hard to vocalize exactly what I don’t care for, but there is something in both characters that is preventing me from connecting, and without that connection, it is very hard to become engrossed within the story.  The plot is interesting and has a similar feel to the movie Seven and I am curious to see where this goes and how the plot unfurls, I am just not sure I can handle ten episodes of it.  There is a weird feeling that the show takes place in almost a fantasy universe that has characters from several different eras.  Nurse Redd (Lesley Manville) who takes care of Marshall and who seems to have fallen in love with him, feels like a character from the 1950s, Lois’s indoor smoking and character demeaner feels like something from the 1980s, Father Charlie’s self-flagellation could be something from even further back in history and yet, within this universe cell phones still exist.  I actually enjoy this aspect of the show, and I am curious to find out if it is somehow plot related or if it was done purely for aesthetics either way, it is interesting. I am intrigued by the mystery and will continue to watch the show for now.