Discord – As the third episode of The Madness begins, Muncie Daniels (Colman Domingo) returns to the house. Elena Powell (Marsha Stephanie Blake) is worried about his actions. Chuck (Ronnie Rowe) comes in and finds out what happened. Muncie eventually admits that he should’ve kept control. Demetrius (Thaddeus J. Mixson) follows Muncie into the bathroom to offer him weed. Muncie tells him to put it away and think before he acts. He tells Chuck he’s going to check the gun commune in Reading. Later, Muncie calls Demetrius to check on him. Demetrius says a detective is there asking questions about him and he’s got a normal cop with him. Members of the compound are alerted when Muncie approaches on foot. He tells a soldier that he’s looking for a friend called Ant. He claims he’s writing a story and can give them a fair shake.

Muncie is told he’ll have to speak to Yang (Alexander Hodge) first. Yang tells Muncie that he paid for college selling blueprints for plastic firearm parts. The ATF shut him down and labeled him a dangerous person. Yang decided he is a harbinger of what’s to come. He says they have as much right to self-defense as anyone with a badge. He asks if Muncie thinks CNN is going to run a balanced piece on a gun commune. Yang also knows that he got suspended. Muncie insists the social media post had to be fake. Yang shows him a video of the shooting incident. He believes Muncie lied to get in there. Muncie eventually admits that he’s looking for Ant and he believes he saw one of the men on the firing range out there. Joe agrees Boris (Nicolas Grimes) was in the meeting three nights ago he didn’t kill anyone in the Poconos. Muncie insists he knows Ant wasn’t there three nights ago. Joe suggests he left with that guy named Don Sloss Jr. (Dru Viergever). Yang says Don was a guest there. Anything they did has nothing to do with the Profane.

Jon believes Don is a regular at a swingers club in Easton called Nelly’s. As Muncie leaves, he calls Franco Quinones (John Ortiz) who knows about the shooting. Muncie tells him about Don and the swingers bar. Franco hangs up because he doesn’t think that information is useful. Kwesi Dupree (Deon Cole) messages Muncie to see if he’s already seen the CNN post. Muncie speaks to Elena about CNN’s decision. He asks Elena to go to a swingers club with him. Muncie tells her that they found the man he stabbed. He needs to go in there with someone. Muncie agrees to speak to the lawyer she found if she goes with him. He meets with Elena at the club. They tell the bartender, Satchel, that they’re looking for Don. He isn’t helpful so they try speaking to others. When they’re alone, Elena asks Muncie if he noticed the bartender’s shirt. She has an idea. Elena talks to Satchel about Cop Killers. They share a drink to Sophia who was in the band.

Satchel tells them they should talk to Grace and Andrea because they invited him to a party with a guy named Don once. Andrea (Justine Nelson) and Grace (Charlotte Cattell) come over seconds later. They say they met Don at one of his penthouse parties. They eventually say it was Berkeley Condos in Ventnor. Next, Muncie, Kwesi, and Elena speak to the lawyer, Phaedra (Vinessa Antoine). She points out that Muncie hasn’t even been charged with a crime yet. Phaedra asks about the proof he has. Kwesi thinks Muncie should stand down as well. Elena warns him he’ll be on his own if he does this. Muncie visits Isiah (Stephen McKinley Henderson) who suspected he would stop by. Muncie tells Isiah what the others think he should do. As for Muncie, he wants to find him and march him in. He’d kill him himself if he could. Isiah suspects Muncie isn’t going to listen to anyone. Muncie sneaks into the penthouse.

He asks a man about using his Wi-Fi since the signal is terrible. Muncie goes with him and asks about Don. The man introduces himself as Donald Sloss. He insists there are no more Dons on this floor. Don offers to introduce Muncie to some realtors. He tries to get Muncie to stick around. They talk about their kids. Muncie notices a picture of Don Jr. nearby. He takes a picture of him. Don says his son washed out of the army before becoming an armored car driver. After getting fired, he started a cannabis business. He didn’t stick with it long enough to grow a single plant. Don (Stephen Tobolowsky) says his son is a drifter. Muncie asks about Profane Discord. Don reminds Muncie he came into his home under false pretenses. He asks Muncie to leave. Muncie leaves and visits Franco at a motel. He asks Franco what he’s really investigating. Franco mentions Stu Magnusson who is a hedge fund guy and he owned the cabin where Mark Simon was staying. No one knew where Simon was and Magnusson had a motive.

Franco also doesn’t believe Jennings had a heart attack. He warns Muncie that Magnusson is off-limits. Muncie tells him about Profane Discord. The attacker’s buddy was named Don Sloss Jr. Franco wants him to sit tight while he looks into it. Muncie calls Demetrius to say he found what he left him. He apologizes for being harsh before. Muncie begins researching Stu Magnusson. He believes someone may be watching him from a car nearby. When a woman comes out of another room and approaches the car, he realizes otherwise. Lucie contacts Muncie to say she got some info. Muncie meets Lucie (Tamsin Topolski) she says she wants to be paid for the information she found. She says she knew Mark was getting death threats. They started because of the rumors of him being Brother14. There were threats against Lucie and the kids because of some October surprise he was planning with Laura Jennings. Muncie suspects the SM is Stu Magnusson. He is pretty sure Stu had Mark killed. Lucie asks why he’d trust Franco.

Muncie meets Kwesi. Then, he goes to The Gotham Club because he believes Stu (Bradley Whitford) will be there. Muncie speaks to the receptionist (Erica Anderson) and tries to get permission to tour the club. He eventually goes in and begins looking for Stu. Muncie speaks to him and mentions meeting him at a fundraiser. They talk about Laura Jennings and Mark Simons. Muncie says he’ll tell him what Laura said if he unframes him. Stu tells him he’s not making any sense. Muncie gives him a number and says he has two hours to call. Later, Muncie gets a message from Franco telling him to get back to the motel or he’s going to be on his own. Then, he gets a call from an unknown number. The man asks about his visit with his pops. Don says he put his father in danger. Muncie says they should meet up. Don tells him he may want to finish his whiskey and Google himself. Muncie rushes outside to find Don. He ends up chasing him into a theater.

Muncie loses him. He gets a call from Kallie who tells him to check the news. They found Mark Simon’s body in Muncie’s building. Muncie watches a CNN report about the discovery. He sees the same report on a big screen nearby.

 

The Madness Review

The Madness probably had potential, but the eight-episode count is definitely excessive. The story moves forward too slowly to the point that it’s tedious and dull. The performances are okay, but they’d be better with improved dialogue and a stronger script. The series isn’t much different than a modern crime drama.

After all, it’s become dialogue after dialogue. In one scene, Muncie will speak to one person about the situation. Then, he will speak to someone else about something else. There really isn’t any excitement here. A few more action scenes would help break up the monotony of the dialogue-heavy series.

Certain aspects of the episode were pretty silly. For instance, it appears things are just too easy for Muncie. He went to Don’s apartment building and just happened to run into his father who gave him all kinds of helpful information. He also went to the Profane Discord compound and was invited in without resistance.

Then, he went to The Gotham Club and just walked right up to Stu who he already knew anyway. If someone really wanted to frame Muncie for the crime, they would. The series is okay and even watchable, but it’s definitely not going to be memorable or provide any edge-of-your-seat moments.

This episode scores a 5 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.