Mr. Mercedes

2017

Seasons & Episodes

  • 3
  • 2
  • 1

7.8| 0h30m| TV-MA| en| More Info
Released: 09 August 2017 Ended
Producted By: Temple Hill Entertainment
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://start.att.net/exclusive/audience/mr-mercedes/
Synopsis

A demented serial killer taunts a retired police detective with a series of lurid letters and emails, forcing the ex-cop to undertake a private, and potentially felonious, crusade to bring the killer to justice before he can strike again. Based on the bestselling novel by Stephen King.

... View More
Stream Online

Stream with Prime Video

Director

Producted By

Temple Hill Entertainment

Trailers & Images

Reviews

Undercoverofthewrite Based on a Stephen King novel, this slow-burn thriller maps out in gritty, yet often poetic detail the frustrations and difficulty of identifying and capturing that modern phenomenon - the psychopathic serial killer. The central character is retired detective Bill Hodges who is still haunted by the one big case he never solved. We see what this was in a gruesome prologue at the start. Not for the faint of heart, a young man drives a stolen Mercedes at a queue of jobseekers outside a jobs fair killing sixteen including a child. The psychopath responsible was dubbed 'Mr Mercedes' by the media at the time and eluded capture. Not so much a 'whodunit' as a 'how will they get him', we know from early on that Mr Mercedes is Brady Hartsfield, a young computer repairman working for a local electronics store and still living with his mother in a relationship that pushes the boundaries of unhealthy. Hartsfield is played by Harry Treadaway with wide-eyed insouciance that veers between brooding malevolence and butter-wouldn't-melt innocence. Brendon Gleeson is the detective, Hodges, and starts by displaying the classic clichés of a retired TV cop, drinking too much, letting himself go and on the verge of ill-health and still obsessed with his failure to apprehend 'Mr Mercedes', much to the chagrin of his former partner. However, everything changes when Mr Mercedes comes back into his life. It seems that Hartsfield is almost peeved not to have been caught and thus be denied his fifteen minutes of fame, so hacks his way into Hodges computer to taunt the former detective back into his own sick game.What follows is a compelling, character-led drama that slips seamlessly between thriller, horror and family soap opera as we have the sense we are in the presence of very real people dealing with real life issues.Mr Mercedes looks at the consequences of a tragedy from the points of view of everyone affected - including the perpetrator - and shows how hard catching random psychopaths really is. It also fits the real-life truism that serial killers are never suspected by the people in their lives...'he always kept himself to himself, but would never hurt a fly...'.As the ten-part series progresses, we develop real knowledge of and, in some cases, affection for the well-rounded characters. And, as the pace quickens, events take ever more shocking turns. King seems to have fun obliquely referencing Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho', and one sequence in this story arc gives the lie to all those many scenes you've seen in a million movies and TV shows where someone closes the eyes of a dead body. When someone attempts it in this series, the eyes just pop open again. It's a real 'did I just see that?!!' moment.Brendon Gleeson is in top form as the grizzled detective, Bill Hodges, and the symbolism in the opening credits (his giant tortoise and penchant for vinyl records, even the theme song 'It's not too late') tell us that this is someone steeped in the old ways who will plod along until he gets his man. His Irish heritage is explained early on so that he can use his natural Irish brogue rather than dilute his charm with a fake American accent. There is much to admire in this series and a follow-up has already been commissioned.Check out reviews and so much more at undercoverofthewrite.wordpress.com
johncarter84 I will confess upfront that I am a lifelong Stephen King Fan ever since I discovered Salem's Lot in the local bookstore in the 70's. In a way that raises my expectations for any adaptation of his work. This I feel nails itfor me Having read the Trilogy, the character of Hodges could have been no one else than Brendon Gleeson The other characters are well chosen and matched my idea of what they would be like. The plot moves very slightly away from the book, as with most adaptations, possibly for visual continuity, maybe economic but whatever reason, for me the changes work. Well done on finally getting an adaptation that i was compelled to binge watch and bring on Season 2
speaktomenow This is an astonishingly badly adapted and incredibly depressing series. It is a massive fail when you consider just how good the source material from Stephen King was. The trilogy of books are amongst the best that Stephen King has ever written. All you needed to do was put those books on the screen. Unfortunately David E Kelly has decided to tinker and tamper and totally destroyed the original source material. All he had to do was work from what was a superb set of stories. And now we have just scraped the surface as to why this is so bad. Now we move on to the casting! Omigod was the casting bad. None of it was going to work if you didn't get Bill Hodges right and unfortunately they did not. They have given him strange quirks like listening to vinyl because all cool characters in movies these days have massive vinyl collections. However this is just not part of who he was in the book. In the book he had no passions, no hobbies, nothing in his life. He was an ex-cop, with no life in retirement, on the verge of suicide. Now he's an avid collector of vinyl records? Sigh.Then we get onto the casting of Mary Louise Parker as Janey. These two together have absolutely no chemistry at all. The casting of each individually was wrong but together to have them interacting as a couple? It is terrible. The casting of Holly is also incredibly wrong, in the books she was older and had very different mental health issues, in the series she's suddenly young, and just seems flighty and a bit compulsive, not at all the character from the book. The casting of Jerome was also incredibly wrong. In the book a much older, hunky football star headed for college, now in the series a young high school-er.It is a mystery what I have left out elements of the original story that were absolutely crucial and added so much richness to the story, and elements they have added are completely irrelevant and useless details. Case in point - where did his female neighbour/love interest come from? Not in the books and not needed at all. Again stick to the source material do not insert extraneous garbage that merely weakens the overall story.When you mix appalling casting, with the terrible treatment of the source material there's no way you were getting a great show. Could have been so great, but I'd instead proof of why David E Kelly should be consigned back to the 1980s and 90s and never let near a TV series ever again.I am always amazed at just how off the reviews and ratings are becoming on Internet movie database. Without a doubt this has to be one of the worst Stephen King adaptations. And yet the reviews and the ratings here are glowing. I guess everyone who worked on the show has signed up to give it 9/10 reviews so that they will get a second series and they'll all get work.All I can tell you is that if you want to read a fantastic trilogy you cannot go past Stephen King's fantastic Mr Mercedes trilogy. However the translation to the screen here proves yet again that is almost impossible to have a good Stephen King book become a great Stephen King series or movie. Avoid watching this at all costs. You can thank me later, I just saved you hours of wasted life.I'm praying they cancel this as soon as possible, and that people choose to read the excellent trilogy of books.
photography-42070 I am going to disclose i am only into the second episode so i have rated higher than i would like for now to be fair. The main character has some horribly dottery flaws. why does ho not film the computer?? why does he not examine it properly and take it offline to make sure it is not wiped of evidence remotely?? why did the kid not tell him to take it offline. a "harvard geek" would have given him SOME KIND of useful advice yet he had basically nothing and let the guy keep surfing on his obviously botted computer. this stuff might have washed in the nineties but there are 5 year old kids that could give better advice now. also the retired detective meme is very old but i will forgive this because the work is old. the characters are completely likable though and the lady next door is a delightful addition. it's definitely worth sticking it out and i'm sure it will be worth the ride but i wish they had of updated the tech advice. with shows like Mr' robot around you cannot get away with this kind of ham fisted tech knowledge.