Clarice

Gripping. ... Wisely, Breed underplays with a quiet intensity, projecting empathy and intelligence in her soft-spoken but firm resolve to be taken seriously. ... I miss Hannibal Lecter, but so far, Clarice is convincing me she's worthy of her own show. [15 - 28 Feb 2021, p.10]

Clarice is not going to rival the film that spawned it but on its own, low-stakes terms, it’s a damn sight better than expected, a show born from Silence that warrants plenty of conversation.

All the drama of this sharply written new tale is focused devotedly on Clarice, now portrayed with heart and intelligence by Rebecca Breeds.

There are enough ways this show could have gone wrong that it's worth celebrating how easy it makes it look to get the most important thing right. Clarice does Clarice proud.

An unusually well-made network procedural. ... “Clarice” is made with curiosity, confidence, and craft, and it comes as a happy surprise to say that it cares more about its protagonist’s mind than anyone else’s insides.

What we get is a nuanced portrait of trauma and survival.

The third episode is easily the best, a very strong hour that takes place almost entirely in a police station as Starling and her team again try to unpack a devious mind with new and varied interrogation techniques, unsure of the motives of the man to whom they’re speaking or even those around him. It’s an indication of how entertaining this show could be on a weekly basis

Aiding Clarice considerably is the performance of Australian actress Rebecca Breeds (Pretty Little Liars) as Starling. Breeds wisely patterns her diffident, even shy, Clarice after that of Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs, cloaking her intellectual capacity in bashful humility toward authority that sometimes cracks open to reveal repressed rage.

Somewhere, there’s an R-rated, CBS All Access version of Clarice that would almost certainly be a lot bolder and less constrained by what “works” for the CBS audience that gets this instead. We certainly get small tastes of what could be, especially when Breed’s performance is allowed to just give Starling the floor.