Pilot – As the opening episode of The Madness begins, Muncie Daniels (Colman Domingo) wakes up in the woods. He walks to a roadway and tries to hitch a ride. He walks to a family restaurant and speaks to Officer Wagner (Hamish Allan-Headley) and Officer Lutz (Dylan Taylor). He remembers something from the past. Next, Muncie speaks to Renee Taylor (Eisa Davis) while getting makeup. He gets ready to host his CNN show. Muncie speaks to Renee about the nonprofit world. During the television show, Muncie says he’s joined by Renee Taylor who is the CEO of the nonprofit Let Us Not Forget. They discuss the housing crisis. Later, he speaks to Kwesi Dupree (Deon Cole) about the show. Kwesi says it’s looking good that they’ll make an offer. Muncie is also writing a novel. He goes home and watches the interview with Renee.

In the morning, he checks the gift he received from Elena Powell (Marsha Stephanie Blake). He visits her and asks to speak to Demetrius (Thaddeus J. Mixson). They talk about Demetrius smoking. Muncie asks him to at least hide it from his mom. Demetrius claims Elena is doing well. Muncie drives to a cabin in the woods. While Muncie is on a run, he is stopped by a neighbor, Mark Simon (Tahmoh Penikett). They talk briefly. Mark tells him to knock if he needs anything. While Muncie is in his cabin, the power goes off. Flipping the breakers doesn’t fix the problem. He checks the shed and doesn’t find anything helpful. He also can’t get a signal on his phone. Muncie goes next door to see if he can find Mark. When no one answers the door, he walks away from the house. He checks the sauna nearby. Muncie finds Mark’s body cut into pieces. Two men arrive and begin shooting at him. Muncie ends up falling only to get back up and continue running.

One man asks Ant if he sees anything over there. Muncie remains hidden in water when the man looks around. The man fires several shots before walking away. Although Ant doesn’t find him, he still believes he’s around there. Muncie attacks him from behind. He eventually stabs Ant and leaves him in the water. As Muncie flees, he drops his pen. Muncie sits down in the woods and wakes up in the morning. He goes to the restaurant where he speaks to the officers. Muncie takes them back to the crime scene. They go to the sauna only to find it empty. Muncie tells them what he saw and suggests the men came back to clean it up. The cops suggest he is making this up. They refuse to believe Muncie’s story. One officer finds a watch strap on the ground. Officer Lutz hopes they won’t end up arresting Muncie for something. Muncie admits this is his first time in the Poconos. Lutz finds out that the truck is leased to “Dick Silk”.

They go to Muncie’s cabin and discover that his tire has been slashed. Muncie is told they’ll write it up and check out the wrap strap. He needs to remain accessible for a few days. Lutz reminds him he waited until the next day to contact the police. Officer Wagner agrees to call him a tow truck. The officers leave. The tow truck driver arrives and asks Muncie if he has a jealous wife. He finds a tracker on the vehicle. He changes the tire for Muncie. Eventually, Muncie goes back to the man’s truck to look around. He finds a card inside the truck with a note saying to buy cereal. Muncie returns home. He notices that something in his house has changed. Muncie finds that the door has been forced open. Two officers arrive and look around. Kwesi is surprised the officers don’t believe Muncie. Once the officers leave, Muncie tells Kwesi about the tracker. Kwesi thinks he should get a hotel room and a burner phone.

He warns Muncie that they’re going to pin all of this on him. If he had a name, it would be useful. Kwesi agrees to speak to his partners and ask for some advice. Later, Muncie tells his lawyer that he can’t sit around and do nothing. His lawyer warns him that trying to fix this himself would be a mistake. As his friend, he thinks he should identify the guy in the cabin. Muncie starts by checking out Simon Home Furnishings which was on the card found in Mark Simon’s truck. A man inside the store says Mark is the owner and he’s only in once a week or so. Muncie tries to find out whether Mark went to the Poconos. The employee is not able to help him. The man ends up mentioning that Mark gave Lucie the house following a divorce. Lucie is asking for full-time custody of the kids. In the car, Muncie tries to find out more about Lucie Simon. Muncie goes to her house and watches Lucie (Tamsin Topolski) get out of her vehicle with two kids.

Muncie approaches Lucie to talk to her. Tanner and Blake go inside. Lucie tries to call Simon but he doesn’t answer. She asks who he is. Muncie asks about the card and the watch. He believes it was Mark in the Poconos. He asks who would want to hurt Mark. Lucie says Mark is an a-hole and she’s not with him anymore. Muncie gives Lucie his number in case she learns anything. Her new man arrives before Muncie leaves. Muncie checks out the wound on his neck at a restaurant. Agent Franco Quinones (John Ortiz) approaches him to ask about the Poconos incident. Franco may be working on a case that intersects with what happened in the Poconos. He asks if Muncie has heard of a white supremacist group called The Forge. Franco says Simon was a member. He mentions Brother14’s newsletter. Franco explains he’s a top dog white nationalist writer in the country. Muncie got to meet him face-to-face.

He immediately curses him. Franco questions whether Muncie wants him dead. Muncie suggests the FBI did it and blamed him. Muncie is asked about his BLM ties although he says he doesn’t have any. Franco thinks they could help each other out if he didn’t do this. Muncie goes to the hospital to get his leg treated. Two men approach him and ask if he knew Brother14. Muncie asks how they found him. One man says he’s famous. Muncie tries to get away outside. Laura Jennings (Bri Neal) approaches and says she hosts a YouTube channel called “We Are The People”. She wants to talk about what happened last night because she knows he didn’t do this. Laura asks him to call her. Muncie visits Elena and Demetrius to say they need to go. They end up going to a motel in the middle of the night. They talk about what is going on in the motel room.

Demetrius finds a post about Muncie on an 8chan type site. Elena thinks he should call Laura, but Muncie believes she is nuts. Elena agrees she’s nuts but he should still call her. She recommends calling the FBI guy too. When he showed up just now, Elena thought he was finally bringing the divorce papers. Muncie tries to get in touch with Laura. In the morning, he learns that Laura Jennings was hospitalized with an apparent heart attack. Agent Khalil mentions something about going to the gym. Muncie sees him outside. Demetrius interrupts and Khalil gets away. Muncie goes to the car to get Demetrius’s Switch controller. He finds the face of Simon’s watch in the back.

 

The Madness Review

The opening episode of The Madness started out okay and quickly went downhill. The performances certainly aren’t anything to write home about, but they could be strong enough with a better, more original script. The problem is that this is just like everything else on television right now.

It is cliché overload with an added overdose of douchiness. Everything about the episode after Muncie’s escape was so corny. First, we have a big media pundit who some people know and some people don’t. There’s a good chance that most people would recognize him, but it seems only a select few people do.

Then, we have the whole list of modern tropes, including bad cops, white supremacy, a 4chan variation, a conspiracy theorist with a YouTube channel, and a white nationalist blogger. And of course, this is pretending to be in Pennsylvania, but it’s actually filmed in Canada with a heavy Canadian cast.

There’s really nothing even clever or interesting here. It’s just a bunch of current news stories thrown together into a dull cat-and-mouse game. It’s unfortunate, but this is really douchie and pretentious to the point it feels like you need a brain cleanse when it’s over. If viewers want to fill their heads with political nonsense, they’ll watch actual CNN and not something this half-baked.

The episode scores a 3 out of 10. Recaps of The Madness can be found here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Join the discussion here.