Michelle Dockery takes a surprisingly effective turn into noir with Good Behavior

Lettie appears to have no way out, when she’s saved by an unlikely hero, a hit man with a heart of gold (in the vein of Grosse Point Blank’s John Cusack) played by the charming and seductive Juan Diego Botto. Through a rare act of altruism, Lettie finds herself irrevocably entangled with Javier, and by the end of episode three, at least, it appears that the two will stick together, if only because they have no one else.

This points to Good Behavior’s shortcomings: Lettie’s story is so dark that it’s hard to catch of glimpse of light anywhere. By the end of the pilot, she’s committed enough additional crimes to keep her in jail for the rest of her life, her dream of getting her son back further away than ever. There can be no redemption for Javier and Lettie, not really, so we are at a loss as to decipher whatever kind of moral value or life lesson Good Behavior may offer. Even the supporting players are just as conflicted: Lettie’s mother, Estelle (Lusia Strus), is extensively cruel to her, yet can be cozy and domestic, playing Monopoly with her grandson, Jacob (Nyles Steele). Always welcome series vet Terry Kinney is Lettie’s sympathetic parole officer, who has a troubled past and an uncomfortable present of his own to deal with. Tellingly, he’s about the only person who realizes that Lettie is on the lam, as she keeps failing to come in for her all-important check-ins.

Lacking a message or overall agenda, Good Behavior digs down into the granular tasks that a thief and killer would have to perform. For example, almost the entire third episode revolves around the following dilemma: What happens when you have two dead bodies in the trunk and your getaway car is a Tesla that’s about to run out of power with no outlets in sight? It’s not a plot viewers are likely to have seen on other case-of-the-week dramas. But due Dockery’s and Botto’s considerable charisma, it’s actually quite compelling, like a bottle episode out on the road. It’s not something the show could pull off every week, but for an ambitious and experimental early installment, it works. By the end of it, viewers are as much at a loss as Lettie and Javier to imagine what their next step could be; but of course, that might be exactly why people will keep tuning in, to see how low Good Behavior can go, and to see how Lettie could come back from all this. If there’s anyone who could make that happen, and make it intriguing to watch, it’s Dockery.