The combined excess of Ryan Murphy and Bret Easton Ellis only cuts so deep in The Shards
The unwieldy, oddly compelling adaptation takes a few too many creative liberties.
Photo: Ray Mickshaw/FX
Bret Easton Ellis has a knack for crafting unlikable protagonists. Over the course of his career, the author has captured the perspectives of people who lie and/or live behind a façade, like American Psycho‘s murderous Patrick Bateman or The Rules Of Attraction‘s self-indulgent, self-destructive college students. His characters are perversely fascinating because they hardly present themselves as who they truly are, which is as true of 2023’s The Shards as it is of the blistering books he published during the ’80s and ’90s peak of his literary fame. Inserting Ellis into an increasingly bizarre, absorbing horror tale loosely inspired by his Los Angeles upbringing, think of The Shards as a spin on Gossip Girl where the out-of-touch rich teens are hunted by a vicious serial killer, with Dan Humphrey as the POV. Or maybe it’s just a darker Riverdale. Once you accept the tone, The Shards becomes frequently riveting, challenging you to guess how flashy and twisty it can get. It also, considering the reference points above, makes a natural fit for a TV adaptation.
This glamorous, gothic 1981-set thriller is also an ideal fit for an auteur like Ryan Murphy, who is evidently drawn to and has a knack for writing obnoxious, over-the-top, and sometimes offensive characters, regardless of genre. Whether it’s Nip/Tuck and American Crime Story or Scream Queens and All’s Fair, as long as the actors and the scenery look extra stylized, almost anything goes with Murphy. It’s no wonder he teams up with Ellis for a bonkers take on The Shards that amplifies the bulky, addictive novel. In a move that is equally intriguing and ridiculous, the co-creators take a few too many departures from the source material to try and misguidedly drag out The Shards beyond a first season (and likely to shock book readers who think they know what’s coming next).
Our unreliable narrator is an almost 18-year-old Bret (Igby Rigney), who’s starting senior year at a private L.A. prep school. He keeps his thoughts, desires, and fears hidden from everyone, including the fact that he’s gay. Instead, he plays the part of a dutiful boyfriend to Debbie Schafer (Hayes Warner, the series’ MVP). It’s partly to get away with intense crushes on and secret relationships with his male peers, and partly to get closer to Debbie’s creepy producer dad, Terry (Wes Bentley). Bret seems like a chill dude, but he’s plagued by paranoia and anxiety that he channels into loathing a suave new student, Robert Mallory (Homer Gere). After catching him in a lie, Bret is convinced Robert is the murderer known as The Trawler, who is gruesomely dismembering teens (and their poor pets!) around town.
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