William Fichtner Turns AMC’s ‘Talamasca’ Into Something Worthwhile | TV/Streaming

AMC has slowly become a dominant force in genre television. From “Dark Winds” to “Interview with the Vampire,” they created two series that have already become a decade, if not a century, of television. There have been a few hiccups along the way, but there’s no denying that the writers who run these shows aren’t afraid to take risks, often transforming these shows for the better. Now comes their new genre adventure, “Talamasca: The Secret Order,” which exists in the Anne Rice universe that AMC continues to develop.

First introduced in the second season of “Interview with the Vampire,” the Talamasca is an organization made up of scholars and spies who watch over the supernatural. While keeping watch over witches, vampires, and demons, they do everything they can to remain invisible and observe these creatures without interfering with the natural order of things or dying in the process. At Talamasca’s London headquarters, Helen (Elizabeth McGovern) receives a cut eye in the mail. It belonged to one of his agents, who committed suicide on a train while investigating a vampire with a volatile secret buried beneath the city’s sewers. Needing a replacement, Helen seeks out Guy (Nicholas Denton), a young man with a powerful gift of clairvoyance.

Since he was a child, Guy’s mind has been unable to fully channel his gift, filled with whispers and fractured sentences. To recruit him and convince him of Talamasca’s legitimacy, Helen introduces Guy to Burton (Jason Schwartzman), a flamboyant vampire who gives Guy the idea that he may be more deeply connected to Talamasca than he has been led to believe. While reading a copy of Daniel Molloy’s (Eric Bogosian) novel telling the story of Louis de Pointe Du Lac (Jacob Anderson), Guy sees his mother’s name written on one of the pages. When he confronts Daniel later, the new vampire tells Guy that he didn’t write that page; the Talamasca did it.

The Talamasca being directly linked to the mother whom he believed to be dead for a long time, Guy decides to join their ranks. What unfolds is a journey that wants to appear more exciting than it actually is, missing the point by ignoring ideas of action and surveillance in the modern world, and how that would stifle the growth of an ancient secret society. Luckily, halfway through the series’ six episodes, Guy meets Jasper (William Fichtner), the series’ magnetic antagonist who breathes some much-needed life into the series. Guy goes to seek him out for answers, but becomes enamored with the vampire, who, in turn, seems fascinated by the human.

In the best episode of the series, entitled “Wet Work”, Jasper takes Guy under his wing to show him how dark the world of the supernatural can be, but also that of Talamasca. Each of them wants something from the institution Guy now works for, and they manipulate each other to get it, endangering each other in the process. Yet there is a mutual fascination between them, which Denton and Fichtner highlight in scenes where the two share blows, but also when they share moments of disarming tender understanding.

Fichtner enters every scene with unprecedented poise, waltzing through his gaudy apartment and through the streets of London as if he were born to play a vampire. It not only gives the series the levity it needs, but also infuses it with a campiness that should always be at the center of a series about supernatural creatures. Jasper is not only the most interesting character on the show, but also one of the most fascinating characters in the three Anne Rice shows that AMC has adapted so far.

When he and Guy share scenes, “Talamasca” becomes a fascinating examination of surveillance and manipulation. But when the show doesn’t focus on their bond, it devolves into a run-of-the-mill genre series. For a series that mixes both the supernatural and espionage genres, the secrets that various Talamasca agents attempt to uncover aren’t interesting enough for either genre to take off. Instead, the dynamics that truly fascinate emerge in the middle of the series and disappear just as quickly, preventing the series from becoming anything worthwhile.

In an era where genre television has become the foundation of the modern television landscape, “Talamasca” shows incredible promise, even if stagnant characters and mediocre plots often hinder its potential. For now, the series exists in limbo, positioned below AMC’s two knockout series, “Interview with the Vampire” and “Dark Winds,” each of which completely transformed the horror genre on the small screen. Hopefully, if the series continues, it can provide actors like Fichtner and Denton with material that enhances their captivating performances, rather than being overshadowed by their presence.

The series will premiere October 26 on AMC+.