‘Mr. Mercedes’: a weapon of mass destruction

One indisputable fact about the Mr. Mercedes television series is that Brendan Gleeson is an extraordinary actor, as we already saw in the wonderful film, In Bruges. We see his talent once again in this adaptation of Stephen King’s novel of the same name. Maintaining the same level of tension across three seasons (30 episodes) is no easy feat, but Mr. Mercedes (Disney+) manages to do just that.

Stephen King hailed it as the finest adaptation of any of his novels, a testament to its creator, David E. Kelley. Few series can match the intense, chilling start to this particular tale. A stolen Mercedes, in the hands of a deranged lunatic, plows through a crowd of eager jobseekers, just before dawn breaks. The carnage is brutal — 16 lives extinguished and many others maimed. As the psychopath vanishes into thin air, the case remains an enigma, a haunting mystery to be solved.

Former inspector Bill Hodges (played by Gleeson) is haunted by that harrowing incident. Upon receiving an anonymous letter from a suspect in the massacre, he embarks on a mission to unravel the case. Some say this story marked Stephen King’s first foray into the realm of crime fiction. While that may hold some truth, the entire narrative emanates an intense aura reminiscent of Tennessee Williams. An alcoholic mother, a psychopath scarred by a turbulent childhood, a young investigator grappling with mental health problems yet possessing invaluable computer expertise. There isn’t a single character that can be neatly labelled as “normal,” if such a person exists.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition