Those Who Kill

Disturbing. Magnetic. Hold your breath. Watch.

As has been the case in so many films and TV shows, Sevigny is the most compelling reason to watch Those Who Kill, but if the scripts remain as carefully crafted as that of Monday's pilot, Sevigny will have found a vehicle worthy of her singular skills.

With so much serial killer programming on TV, like "Hannibal" and "The Following," Those Who Kill could carve out its own little place. But it's going to take some work. On the bright side, the show has Sevigny, who is the clear standout on the series.

As a psychological thriller, it's not terrible--certainly better than Fox's dreadful monotonous "The Following"--but Those Who Kill suffers from character/relationship incoherence.

The premiere is as by-the-numbers as it gets in the already bloated genre of moody procedural, enlivened only by a viciously scary killer and, of course, Sevigny, who roils in significant silence even when she is forced to reveal that her character is a cutter.

With shows like Those Who Kill, the reward for watching serial killing is just more serial killing. That doesn't feel like much of a prize.

Only trouble is--aside from the torture porn nature of the show--the story itself is a series of question marks that takes a plunge into the ridiculous in its climactic scene.