Malice is a guilty pleasure that we cannot help savouring, even if it leaves a bitter taste after the six glamorous episodes are over. Malice is like a gum that you chew long enough for it to become tasteless , and yet fun while it lasts.
The concept of a vengeful intruder disrupting a tycoon’s life, is nothing new. We’ve seen it in The Talented Mr Ripley and more recently The White Lotus. Nearer home, Abbas-Mustan’s Baazigar got it right decades ago.
The stand-up comedian Jack Whitehall as Adam Healey the midleclass disruptor in a shamelessly capitalist home in Malice is a masterstroke. His near-perfect face and that penetrating gaze give away nothing, and everything. Whitehall is charming in a viperous way.
It is rather embarrassing that the series actually brings a snake into Adam’s view to show how well he vibes with vipers.
The narrative is filled with delicious visual and punchlines on how and why the rich need to be put in their place. Sadly, the plot lacks the punch to make the rich cringe in their affluence. Healey as the ‘Manny’ in the tycoon Tanner’s territory is just not portentous enough. Adam is interesting but shallow and misguided in his zeal to prick the Capitalist balloon.
The series starts well and just when we expect the suspense to swell, it rapidly goes downhill with one incident more absurd than the other. By the time Adam Healey starts actually murdering people, he has distanced himself from the audience as much as he has the characters on screen. He is obnoxious and unlikeable . And the character lacks the intrinsic charm and conviction to make his vile acts bearable for the audience.
After a point we were left wondering when Adam would stop his shallow despicable shenanigans. When would the Tanners see through their Manny (that’s male nanny)? How far would the script allow this suave but sleazy schemer to go before he topples over?
There is no joy in the sinister moves of the antagonist. And why is Jamie Tanner (David Duchovny) and his family being punished? Is being rich a crime? Were it not for wealth, how would series so posh, shot on a Greek island , be possible?
Malice is logistically lame. But it is nonetheless fun to watch even if it gets tedious and laughable to watch the Manny outsmart people who are intelligent enough to amass insane amounts of wealth but not able to see through the dishy disruptor.
