“Memory of a Killer” has a lot going on. On the one hand, that’s a good thing; through the first two episodes, the Fox thriller series keeps the plot developments and action scenes coming at a brisk, engaging pace. On the other hand, it’s hard not to worry that the show might be biting off more than it can chew.
When there are this many plot threads to keep track of, it’s easy to get hopelessly tangled up in confusion — and that’s if your memory is working fine.
The series, which is loosely based on a 2003 Belgian film called “De Zaak Alzheimer,” follows Angelo Flannery (Patrick Dempsey), a hitman with early onset Alzheimer’s that’s starting to manifest. That’s a difficult thing for anyone to deal with, but it’s especially hard for Angelo, because not only could it affect his dangerous, high-pressure job, it also puts his pregnant daughter Maria (Odeya Rush) and her husband Jeff (Daniel David Stewart) at risk. To her, he’s a mild-mannered copier salesman whose life is devoted to his family. He lives a double life — in one, he wears khakis and drives a sensible Volkswagen hatchback; in the other, he wears expensive tailored suits and drives a Porsche. He’s managed to keep his job and family separate for a long time, but now his failing memory threatens to expose his secret. He’s doing things like leaving his gun in the refrigerator, and forgetting his hitman jacket holding suspicious papers at his daughter’s house.
As if that weren’t enough, someone is after him, and is willing to take a sniper shot at Maria to try to get to him. Is it the family member of a target he killed? Is it the drunk driver who killed Angelo’s wife, and vowed to get revenge on Maria for testifying against him and sending him to prison? Or is it a broader conspiracy linked to a years-ago hit? This mystery drives the plot as much as Angelo’s perilous work-life balance.
On top of that, there’s FBI agent Linda Grant (Gina Torres) sniffing around. Angelo’s cat-like reflexes that saved his daughter are atypical of a copier salesman, and Linda clearly thinks Angelo is hiding something. And Angelo is having problems at work. He’s keeping secrets from his hit broker, Dutch (Michael Imperioli, in yet another mobster-ish supporting role that doesn’t yet make full use of his abilities), that could be big trouble for both of them — but that’s if his incompetent new field handler, Dutch’s nephew Joe (Richard Harmon), doesn’t accidentally get him killed first. Oh, and Angelo might be starting to date again.
Got all that? “Memory of a Killer” has a lot of story to serve. And rather than spreading it out between characters, it’s mostly all tied to Angelo, so the character is stretched pretty thin. As the show goes forward, it’s likely that some of the balls it has in the air will get dropped. Some plotlines will get short shrift, while others will become hopelessly convoluted. The premise does not seem well-suited to an open-ended broadcast show — memory loss is a clock that can only tick for so long, and it’s easy to imagine all the absurd, cliched ways “Memory of a Killer” could try to delay the inevitable. A mid-production showrunner change — developers Ed Whitmore and Tracey Malone and co-showrunner David Schulner exited, with “Damages” co-creators Aaron Zelman and Todd Kessler taking over — indicates dissatisfaction with the direction the show was going. Where it ends up remains to be seen.
But at least in the two episodes screened for critics, “Memory of a Killer” is a lot of fun. Ever since “John Wick,” hitmen have been having a cultural moment, and this is a worthy entry in the “killer with a code” genre. The shock of seeing McDreamy brutally kill people (in the pilot, he stabs a guy in the back of the neck with a paper towel roll holder) and then be a loving family man in the next scene is an illicit thrill. Dempsey is up for the task of shouldering the show, and clearly relishes playing a darker character than usual. He’s not very emotionally demonstrative, but the show might be holding back the big moments for later. Angelo is a bad guy who has built a house of cards of rationalizations for why he’s actually a good guy, and it will be fascinating to see what he does when he’s forced to face the reality of who he is.
“Memory of a Killer” isn’t must-see TV, but it has potential as a darkly entertaining antihero thriller in the vein of “Dexter.” If it can maintain its pulpy pace without losing control of its unwieldy plot, it might be able to wring a few seasons out of its premise. But the graveyard of TV history is littered with decent shows that didn’t quite work because they didn’t know exactly what they were. It’s always better to do one thing really well than to try to do everything. Hopefully “Memory of a Killer” finds its thing before it’s too late.
“Memory of a Killer” premieres Sunday, Jan. 25, after the NFC Championship, then moves to its regular time period Monday, Jan. 26, at 9/8c on Fox. Episodes will be available to stream the next day on Hulu.