A darkish and disturbing have a look at an actual serial killer from the angle of a detailed member of the family.
Plot: Glad Face is an incarcerated serial killer who can be Melissa Reed’s once-beloved father. After a long time of no contact, Keith finds a method to drive himself again into his daughter’s life. In a race in opposition to the clock, Melissa should discover out if an harmless man goes to be put to demise for against the law her father dedicated. All through, she discovers the affect her father had on his victims’ households and should face a reckoning of her personal id.
Evaluation: The commonest topics for brand new drama sequence are podcasts or true crime tales. When a producer will get their arms on a podcast about true crime, you’ll be able to assure a streaming service will give it a full sequence order. Whereas massive names like Jeffrey Dahmer or the Menendez Brothers get probably the most media publicity resulting from their lasting scars on the information cycle, there have been equally horrific monsters whose tales usually are not practically as recognizable. The Glad Face Killer, Keith Jesperson, was lively within the early Nineties and claims to have killed over 100 folks regardless of solely eight having been corroborated. The truth that Jesperson was married with youngsters made the heinous nature of his crimes all of the extra disturbing. Nonetheless, it was the recollections and interviews along with his daughter, Melissa Moore, that supplied a special perception into the mindset and crimes he perpetrated. Impressed by Moore’s e book and podcast, Glad Face is rooted within the true story of what coming to phrases with the monster that was your father can result in, mixed with components of fictional thriller/procedural dramas. An entertaining sequence, Glad Face has some nice turns from Annaleigh Ashford and Dennis Quaid however struggles with being a real crime story or simply one other crime procedural.
The eight-episode first season of Glad Face opens with Melissa Moore (Annaleigh Ashford) working as a make-up artist for the daytime discuss present hosted by Dr. Greg (David Harewood). Dwelling a contented suburban life along with her husband, Ben (James Wolk), and youngsters Hazel (Khiyla Aynne) and Max (Benjamin Mackey), Melissa’s boss receives a name from her father, Keith (Dennis Quaid), claiming he’ll reveal the small print round his ninth sufferer however solely to Melissa. Partnering with producer Ivy (Tamera Tomakili), Melissa visits her father in jail, believing his claims to be a method to get media consideration and time along with his estranged daughter. However, as Melissa and Ivy look into Keith’s proof, particulars line up which will assist his id because the killer. This additionally stirs further trauma for Melissa, who has efficiently come to phrases along with her father, or so she desires to imagine. As Melissa reopens her previous, she additionally discovers extra about her information of her father’s crimes than she initially thought.
Annaleigh Ashford, a veteran of Broadway productions, has confirmed herself very adept at comedy and drama. She has distinctive turns in Masters of Intercourse, The Assassination of Gianni Versace, and Welcome to Chippendales. Ashford holds her personal reverse Dennis Quaid, who continues his streak of transformative performances over the previous couple of years, together with Reagan and The Substance. Quaid performs Keith Jesperson as a bizarrely assured and cocky everyman who’s a stereotypical dad with an evil streak lurking slightly below the floor. When Ashford and Quaid share the display screen, Glad Face works brilliantly because it appears at how father and daughter view shared moments from their previous in radically alternative ways. The dynamic feels just like the one shared between Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling, however it’s all the extra chilling that these two folks really existed. As Melissa tries to reconcile the thriller she is engaged on, she should take care of whether or not it additional distances her from Keith Jesperson or attracts them nearer collectively.
When Ashford and Quaid usually are not sharing the display screen, Glad Face just isn’t practically as sturdy. Melissa’s dwelling life is sophisticated by her husband turning into involved as he sees how having her father again in her life impacts their household, particularly eldest daughter Hazel, who’s coping with private points herself. Whereas James Wolk is a stable actor, his scenes as Ben really feel like filler and set-up materials for future subplots reasonably than related to the principle narrative. Equally, Melissa’s coworker Ivy is a superb supporting character, however the investigation the 2 work on begins to lose steam midway via the season. With every successive chapter of Glad Face, I turned much less within the sequence’ focus the extra it pulled away from Keith Jesperson’s crimes and Melissa’s recollections of them. The stability of the Glad Face Killer with the brand new crime being investigated may have been higher maintained, however it exhibits the place this sequence may have stood to tighten issues up a bit.
Showrunner Jennifer Cacicio wrote the opening and shutting chapters of Glad Face alongside a writing employees that features Andrew Gettens, Lauren Mackenzie, Adam Toltzis, Sal Calleros, Sarah Beckett, Erica Saleh, Inda Craig-Galvain, Bam Johnson, Tiffany Ezuma, and Brandi Nicole Payne. Michael Showalter, finest recognized for his directing credit on The Eyes of Tammy Faye and The Large Sick, was not such an uncommon option to helm Glad Face. Whereas he is called a author/actor in comedies, Showalter has directed latest true crime tasks, together with The Shrink Subsequent Door and The Dropout. He’s accompanied by helmers Ramaa Mosley, Darren Grant, and extra, who stability the prison-set sequences following Jesperson with the investigation Melissa takes as she investigates her case. With a stable construction balancing flashbacks and narrative twists, there may be nothing inherently distinct in regards to the look or really feel of Glad Face, which permits the distinctive strategy of the story to shine.
Glad Face offers with the thought of duality and secrets and techniques however struggles with its id as a sequence. Each true crime adaptation should take artistic license with the fabric to extend the dramatic pressure and leisure worth. Nonetheless, Glad Face generally looks like it’s padding out the story that impressed the title with a plot taken from any typical community procedural. It’s way more fascinating to see the connections and trauma shared between Keith Jesperson and Melissa Moore than watching Moore play novice sleuth to resolve a thriller. By the top of the sequence, the concept that this could possibly be an ongoing drama a few podcasting detective who occurs to be the daughter of a serial killer undermines the true story that it got down to inform. Nearly as good as Annaleigh Ashford and Dennis Quaid are of their respective roles, Glad Face would have labored higher had it caught to the true story and never this fictional and sensationalized one.
Glad Face premieres on March twentieth on Paramount+.
