Who better to helm Bret Easton Ellis’s magnum opus, The Shards, than provocateur and master showrunner Ryan Murphy? On paper, everything about Murphy’s seductive new series is a perfect fit. In execution, no other creative team could have pulled this off quite the same. There’s a disturbing serial killer, a wicked game of cat and mouse between two twink-ish leads, flashy outfits, pop culture references aplenty, overt queerness, and drug-fueled parties that lean into the time period decadence. Juggling these disparate elements—including an immersive soundtrack and a punchy narration that lifts directly from Ellis’s prose—is no easy feat. No stranger to a teen-centric series, that Murphy manages to pull it off at all speaks volumes. Riding high on the instant chemistry from its rising cast and stylishly adapting the iconic source material, The Shards rips into the gory underbelly of 1980s Los Angeles.
At the NYC premiere, the audience was treated to the full pilot episode of The Shards, a fast-paced treat that perfectly builds out the glitzy teenage life of semi-fictionalized Bret Easton Ellis (Igby Rigney). Though I would typically shy away from a full review for just a single episode, Murphy does series debuts on a whole other level. His lavish direction and the script, co-written with the real Ellis, leaps from the page onto the screen with an exclamation mark. Beginning in much the same way as the book, Bret’s narration vividly sets the scene, with Rigney’s personality shining through. Bret etches out maximum detail, going into cars and fashion and movies, underlining the specificity without worrying if anyone will get the references. Ryan Murphy’s scripts are often loaded with razor-sharp dialogue and referential nostalgia; here, Ellis has already baked those elements into his creation. Judging by his introduction for the episode at the SVA Theatre, The Shards feels like a passion project for Murphy, who lived and breathed the 80s in his own real-life coming-of-age journey. The thin line between art and reality is only exacerbated by the fact that Bret himself (and many of the characters held within!) has been based on some version of a real-life person.
The immediacy of The Shards as an 80s time capsule hits the gas as Bret heads to Westwood Village in May of 1980 to catch an opening-day screening of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. There, he glimpses the otherworldly Robert Mallory (Homer Gere) for the very first time. This pivotal moment sets the stage for two juxtaposing teen experiences, marking Bret with a lusty longing that lingers after Kubrick’s film comes to a close. Gere’s dimples and boyish good looks utilize his natural charisma to paint Robert as an intriguing character, with secrets billowing just below the surface. A creepy van nearby, lurking just outside the theater, is our first taste of the serial killer that will orchestrate a “season of horror” for Bret and his friends just one year later. That very same summer as The Shining, a sadistic freak eventually dubbed ‘The Trawler’ claims their first victim.
The initial violence feels restrained but cutting, teased with just enough edge to not feel gratuitous. As in the book, there are trademark signs that The Trawler may be able to claim their victim: objects moved around, missing animals, and eerie phone calls with a breathing stranger. Though the Trawler only features sparingly in the pilot, the omnipresence of the danger this murderer suggests will keep viewers on edge. Murphy gives only a taste of the aftermath, hitting us in short bursts. One gets the feeling that the really disturbing material will be held for later episodes. Still, there are enough freaky moments in the pilot alone to maybe suggest cautious approach if triggered easily by onscreen animal violence.
As for the privileged private school of it all? The Buckley School, located in Sherman Oaks, presents a colorful world where becoming the homecoming king and queen trumps everyday living. Each party is about who to sleep with next, what drugs to snort or quaaludes to space out on. Bret’s parents are in the UK indefinitely, and the only parental figures we meet are questionable at best. Bret wiles away the hours masturbating, and being served meals by his maid. We follow Bret’s perspective throughout, particularly as sexualizes most of the characters in his orbit. The gorgeous Susan (Kaia Gerber) is class president, and Bret’s undeniable bestie; her equally hot, curly-haired blonde boyfriend Thom (Graham Campbell) has an “intriguing blankness” to him, and serves as the comic relief; and the vibrant, always-horny Debbie (Hayes Warner) rounds out the quad as Bret’s girlfriend who he pretends to be into while masking his own queerness.
The arrival of Robert Mallory as a transfer student in their senior year throws everything into upheaval, particularly for Bret, who immediately catches Robert in a lie. How can Bret profess the real reason he knows for a fact that he saw Robert a year ago at The Shining? The tension between Robert and Bret makes for a spectacular clashing of personalities. Two men who are both so clearly shielding their truest selves, pitted against one another by sheer circumstance. Both Rigney and Gere are great, and provide necessary dramatic conflict true to the novel. Other important characters also make their debuts in this pilot, including Debbie’s flamboyant father, Terry (Wes Bentley), Terry’s Polaroid-snapping personal assistant, Steven (Jordan Roth), Debbie’s drunken mother, Liz (Evan Rachel Wood), and Bret’s hookup Ryan (Daniel Dale). Bret’s forbidden romance with class stoner, Matt (Owen Painter), is highlighted as well, and one of my favorite carry-overs from the text.
Is Bret a reliable narrator? What is Robert Mallory hiding? Who will the Trawler target next? By the close of this first chapter, we are left with so many questions, and Ryan Murphy knows we’ll be back again to see how the rest of it plays out. His recent series—including Grotesquerie and The Beauty—have taken bold swings, often channeling some of Murphy’s earlier works in their wild sensationalism. The Shards is something else entirely, still maintaining Murphy’s strong voice and signature style. The identity of The Trawler may not yet be as important as the high school drama, but The Shards exudes a powerful potency from its very first frame. The combustible synergy of combining Ryan Murphy and Bret Easton Ellis creates an irresistible package too endlessly binge-worthy to abandon.
On August 5th, FX and Hulu open up rolling admissions to The Buckley School—don’t miss the premiere of Ryan Murphy’s mesmerizing new series, The Shards.
