Memory of a Killer's Teaser Suggests FOX is Taking a Risk We Crave

I can’t be the only one who loves a good psychological thriller, right?

We tend to expect them in feature films and the occasional premium cable show. Still, for the most part, they’ve been reserved for streamers, teasing us with recognizable stars, shortened seasons, and a binge process that disrupts our ability to simmer on a show or even have conversations anymore.

But that’s why the excitement over FOX’s upcoming series featuring Grey’s Anatomy alum Patrick Dempsey is palpable.

Broadcast is Lacking Psychological Thrillers, But Memory of a Killer Changes That

It’s been a long while since we’ve had a solid psychological thriller on broadcast, and this one teases something a bit darker than your standard fare.

Sure, I’d classify NBC’s tragically canceled Found as something akin to that. However, it also wore many hats as a show and still maintained the procedural feel, adapting to the standard fare you’d come to expect from network television.

Most of the time, it feels like broadcast TV can’t go big and bold without still having its foot in the procedural world to ground things and entice a certain demographic.

Some series can pull it off with their quirky and unique spins, and others cannot. And sometimes, no matter how good a series is, the cancellation bear still looms, and we’ll lose them.

I mentioned Found, after all, as one of the few network shows of recent years that dared to dabble in genuine darkness and things worthy of a “viewer discretion” warning, but NBC’s sports deal pretty much killed the series.

FOX’s Bold Choice with Serialized Spin on a Thriller Might Pay Off

And we’ve already lamented the type of genre-pushing, bending content we lost when The CW went under.

So when FOX teased this upcoming series set to debut in January, it was hard not to get excited, sure, but also feel grateful that a network was actually taking a big swing with something wholly unique for serialized fare on broadcast.

Memory of a Killer is a series inspired by the Belgian film De Zaak Alzheimer (La Mémoire Du Tueur). Yes, the concept is similar to the Liam Neeson action-thriller Memory, which is also based on the same film and novel.

But what makes a series adaptation so thrilling is that it actually gives the story space to breathe rather than serve as a fun action flick.

Through a series, the characters come to life in a richer way, the storytelling expands in a compelling manner, and all the emotional beats pack the perfect punch that resonates.

The very fact that this will be on broadcast rather than dumped on streaming for a full-season binge is precisely why this is the perfect play for a script like this.

Memory of a Killer Teases Dark, Anti-hero, Unique Premise, and Strong Cast

Many of us at TV Fanatic are all for the watercooler conversation that crops up with a weekly drop, which is why we adore broadcast television so much in the first place!

Memory of a Killer will follow Angelo Ledda (Patrick Dempsey), a family man and hitman, as he juggles two totally different lives he’s been able to keep apart thus far … until now.

In one world, he’s a New York hitman, incredibly adept at his job and the best of the best. And in another, he’s an upstate suburban dad with a tedious photocopier job and a wife and kid.

But his worlds are in danger of colliding in more ways than one when he learns he has early-onset dementia, a fate that fell on his older brother before him, and while Angelo can take anything on, this? It’s a different beast!

It’s also a fight he may not be able to win, which makes the dangerous and pressing issues that arise—endangering his family and demolishing the wall he built between his two worlds — so daunting.

As the synopsis reads, “Angelo discovers that his wife’s recent death may not have been an accident. So, when someone comes after his daughter — who is pregnant — it’s clear the wall between his lives has been breached. Angelo must stop whoever’s coming for his family by searching his past hits for clues, and the list is very long.

Two Worlds Collide in Fascinating Premise

“Now Angelo must hunt down his mortal enemy while continuing to carry out hits without giving away his diagnosis and still making it home in time to cook dinner for his daughter.

Memory of a Killer is a redemptive story about a man who is losing his memory but gaining a conscience. Because Angelo knows he must stop history from repeating itself and save his family — before he forgets the past.”

The teaser gives us our first glimpse of silverfox Patrick Dempsey in the role. We see Angelo staring through the scope of a sniper rifle as The Who’s “Behind Blue Eyes” plays hauntingly in the background.

And we see flashes of Angelo as the violent hitman that he is, choking out someone in the parking lot with a baseball bat. But we also see the tender moments of a warm and loving father with his daughter.

The juxtaposition of this man’s different sides is already fascinating — and the warped, disorienting shot of him in the woods, most likely confused and trying to remember, nails the stakes for Angelo and what he’s enduring.

It’s riveting with just a tease — and certainly leaves us wanting and craving more.

Character Descriptions and Cast Already Have Us Intrigued

The teaser doesn’t give us our first impressions of the other characters, but that’s even more reason to tune in for a full trailer when it drops.

Memory of a Killer’s cast is stacked, and its characters already sound fascinating.

Outside of Dempsey, we have  Michael Imperioli as Dutch, Angelos’s best friend and employer, who is a chef and runs a Bronx restaurant that serves as a front for his criminal enterprise. He doles out the targets. Dutch is ruthless, mercurial, and untrustworthy.

Richard Harmon will portray an up-and-coming hitman named Joe, who often gets stuck with the grunt work and may be the first to clock Angelo’s decline, but what he’ll do with that information is up in the air.

Angelo’s daughter, Maria (Odeya Rush), is a young married expectant mother who may have settled for her quiet, everyday life too soon, as she’s spirited, longs for adventure, and may quickly realize that caring for her declining father, of whom she’s the center of his world, may have put her in the crosshairs.

Chilling Teaser Has Us Hooked

Meanwhile, her husband, Jeff (Daniel David Stewart), Maria’s husband, seems wholly irresponsible, unprepared for fatherhood, and is an inventor in no rush to land a steady job to support his family.

Of course, you can’t have any series like this without a law enforcement elment, which is where Queen of the South‘s Peter Gadiot comes iinto play as Dave, a detective who has become a close friend to Angelo after investigating his wife’s death but neither has any idea about Angelo’s real identity nor can hold back his secret feelings for Angelo’s daughter.

And the esteemed Gina Torres will recur in the series as a brilliant FBI agent who is hot on Angelo’s tail after looking into one of his kills.

Memory of a Killer sounds thrilling — the exact type of dark but compelling character-heavy programming that is far and few between on broadcast these days, and with a solid script like that and such a strong cast, it’s going to be a must-see.

Still here? You’re our kind of people. Do you plan on watching Memory of a Killer?
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