Quarry

Quarry’s knack for conveying moral ambiguity and its mastery of setting reminds me of another very good show that took forever to catch on; it was about a cancer-stricken chemistry teacher in Albuquerque who started cooking meth to make money.

There’s a lot of raw material for Quarry to draw from. Mixing Rectify patience with Banshee action is a tall order for any program, and while Quarry isn’t there yet, it gives the feeling that it won’t take too long to reach that point.

If the main character at the center of Quarry is familiar and one prone to viewer fatigue, Quarry works because so much of the rest of the show around Mac is so rich.

All together, Quarry feels like it would be a solid ensemble series if it chose to be, but even then Mac would feel like the weak link. As a lead, he’s a nearly fatal flaw.

Some viewers may find Quarry’s atmosphere oppressive and unrelenting, like Memphis in August, and a few more moments of levity would be welcome, but just as many are likely to be seduced.

While the show creates a distinctive setting and has a few characters worth meeting, Quarry never quite makes the case for why viewers should care about the sullen Mac’s increasingly desperate plight.

The show strikes a particular note with great variety, but there are 87 other notes on a keyboard and you start to miss hearing them.