[TV Show Review] Mr. Mercedes.

A cold, cold winter night. A guy walks out from a corner and goes towards the city mayors office. It's 3:04 AM but there is a long line of people standing. Why? Because tomorrow is the Bridgton city job fair. And a lot of people to turn their luck are gathered outside the office.

Taken from here

A woman politely introduces herself to the guy, August. “You thought you were going to be the first one here huh?” While smiling, she asked August. “Welcome to the early bird club.” “I guess we're going to be neighbors till morning.” Pointing at the long line of people, she says. “Oh well, I'm Janice” “This here is Patti” she introduces the infant she's holding.

From the dresses and the kid fussing and coughing, August could tell that she's a single mother. Or why at 3 AM of a shivery night, any sensible woman would bring her child out.
August brought his sleeping bag with him. To sleep while waiting. Suddenly the infant starts crying. Janice with sad looks in her eyes tells him that the infant diapers are filled and overflowing. August takes a pity on her and says “Ok, use my sleeping bag while you clean her up.” Janice decides to breastfeed her while cleaning her.

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At the turnabout through where august came to the line, a silver Mercedes comes and stops. The driver can be seen wearing a clown's mask. August notices and implies that it might be someone from the mayor's office. But something seems off as the driver is just waiting there, like something about to happen.

Suddenly the driver starts honking. And burning tire. August's sixth sense immediately spikes up. He smells something's going to happen. And he warns Janice. But the car starts speeding fast, towards the crowd gathered. “Let's go, move” August screams at Janice “It's stuck”, in a scared voice Janice cries for help. Now everybody has got the gist of what's about to happen.

All the people in the crowd start panicking and running to get away from the path of the car. August tries to pull the sleeping bag Janice is into safety but a scared man trying to move pushes him and he falls. In a split second, the Mercedes mows both Janice and august over like flesh sacks. Along with 14 more people.

The opening scene of Mr. Mercedes opens like that hinting that the show is going to be as disturbing as any of the other shows adapted from Stephen King's novels.
There is no attempt of trying to hide who the killer is and thus it doesn’t follow any usual crime thriller. The third sequence of the first episode shows that a male in his 30s, Brady Hartsfield is driving a car while listening to rock music. And you'll immediately know that he is the killer.

He might be the greatest old detective ever. Credits

But even then it is a crime thriller and so it's like your usual cat and mouse chase just with some different spices. A retired ex-cop who was running point in that investigation has to retire before he could close the case. He lives alone in his house as his daughter and his wife left him. One evening, a mail comes to him containing a video of a guy who introduces himself as Mr. Mercedes and taunts him with the fact that despite being a cop, he couldn’t catch him. And after the video ends, it gates immediately deleted.

While this occasional exchange of taunts is going on, the story moves forward and every step takes the detective closer to catching Brady.

Trailer

Like usual Stephen King novels, this too is filled with that are not suitable for everybody's stomach. Like suddenly somebody driving an ax through someone's head, or full decapitation while the camera focuses more on the decapitation part. Those usual 3 pointers for fulfilling the viewer's entertainment purposes. But as a novel, Mr. Mercedes was top notch. The show, not so much.

There's nothing extraordinary about cinematography, VFX or BGM. But what will keep you focused on it, is the character building and their depth deeply rooted throughout the whole story As the story develops the characters evolve too. You get to know their unique and pathetic origins which are quite relatable.

If your gag reflex is weak, please avoid this show. Not worth it. But otherwise, it's up to you. It'll not amaze you, but still, it’s a worthwhile entertainment.