Created by the award-winning producers of Killing Eve, AMC's Ragdoll takes a familiar premise and injects it with a slick and intriguing storyline. Yes, this thriller television series is also about a seemingly impossible-to-catch serial killer. Sure, one of the lead detectives on the case might or might not be mentally fit enough to do the job. However, what sets Ragdoll apart from a show like Hannibal or The Killing is its commitment to showing three different detectives on the same case and how their wildly different perspectives jeopardize finding the killer and endangers each other's lives. In Ragdoll, what's left unsaid will change everything.
Ragdoll opens at a court hearing where DS Nathan Rose (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) loses his temper and attacks what looks like a guilty man on trial who is showing no remorse at all for his heinous crimes. Following a brief stint in a psychiatric hospital, DS Rose is back on the force and is under the discerning command of DI Emily Baxter (Thalissa Teixeira). Unfortunately, DC Rose also has to put up with "the American," aka DC Lake Edmunds (Lucy Hale), who finds it pretty easy to object to most directives and is earnest to a dangerous fault.
The detectives quickly stumble onto a horrifying case in a block of flats. The team finds a body hanging from the ceiling that's stitched up of six different people's body parts. Their discovery jumpstarts a case that has surprising links to one of the detectives' past -- and certainly is ready to destroy all of their futures. While this premise sounds truly disturbing, Ragdoll's visual gore airs more on the side of caution. Although the series does ramp up its bloodshed more than halfway through, it never veers too heavily into showcasing the pain of its victims.
Instead, Ragdoll chooses to focus more on what comes after a horrific bite or jaw-melting burn. Like any well-paced detective novel does best, the true horror lies in the second-to-second choices that DS Rose, DI Baxter, and DC Edmunds have to make. Series directors Niall MacCormick and Toby MacDonald do a phenomenal job in framing these moments. As a viewer, nothing feels truly mundane as each shot is already positioned to show the ripple effect one disastrous decision will have down the road. Fittingly, series co-creator and writer Freddy Syborn (Killing Eve) amps up the show's dramatic tension with sparse dialogue. There easily could have been several monologues throughout the series' pivotal moments but Ragdoll soars best when it uses and knows the power of silence between characters.
During certain key moments, the ingenue of DC Edmunds is grating. However, it's a refreshing change to see the rookie role through the perspective of an intelligent and ambitious woman instead of a cocky newbie like Se7en's David Mills character. Thankfully, Teixeira's DI Baxter often intercedes in these moments to balance out the open-eyed wonder with doses of sincerity and the kind of tired conviction a decades-long detective would have. Watching Hale, Teixeira, and Lloyd-Hughes play off each other on-screen brings a unique tautness to the screen, leaving the audience wondering just how much longer it'll be before any one of them finally snaps at each other. When it comes to serving up terse moments filled with layers of surprising secrets, Killing Eve's Lloyd-Hughes excels easily.
For those who love a character-focused story and heapings of dramatic irony, look no further than Ragdoll. Likely, it'll be a show that has audience members screaming at their screens for this motley group of detectives to finally trust each other. Ragdoll's charm lies in its stylish and introspective approach to what it truly takes to catch a killer.
AMC+'s Ragdoll premieres new episodes of its thrilling mystery on Monday on AMC.