Critic Reviews

It’s a great ride, and Whitehall acquits himself well in his first lead dramatic role, even if he is better at oblique menace than delivering straightforwardly murderous speeches. Duchovny is as skilled, nimble and charismatic as ever.

Though Wood may not entirely overcome some of the rockier bits of his vision, particularly some story threads that are abandoned or thrown in, he has still put together a truly sumptuous treat with Malice.

Even in the extraordinary situations they portray, even when I didn’t buy a plot point or a development felt too convenient, I rarely felt that characters weren’t speaking as people do — or psychopaths, who are people too.

This six-episode series, while being essentially indistinguishable from so many others of its ilk, goes above its own pay grade when Jamie (Duchovny) starts smelling a rat likely living in his posh London digs now. That’s when the series kicks into high gear and the hunt turns deadly, if predictable.

In the end it sort of works. You’re watching a character who knows he shouldn’t really be there, played by a man who knows he shouldn’t really be there. Look at it that way, and perhaps the casting is a stroke of genius.

A few of Malice‘s twists do, again, suck you in. But some of the series’ more eye-roll-inducing and on-the-nose exchanges are tough to shake.

This has the feel of one of those daft US imports shown on E4 about a decade ago: shiny and overblown in the same mould as, say, Revenge.

Neither Duchovny or Whitehall, who mostly works as a comedian, deepen their characters beyond “callous rich guy” or “vindictive psychopath.” From performances to plot, much of “Malice” feels like it’s on autopilot. Watching it feels much the same.

While we liked the performances of Whitehall, Duchovny and van Houten, Malice really doesn’t give the viewers much in the way of dramatic momentum in the first episode, and the show doesn’t know whether it wants to be funny or scary.

The revelations and final choices feel so casually considered that they collapse under any sort of analysis. It doesn’t leave one marveling at the arc of a villain or even a victim, just feeling mistreated by bad TV.