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Alison Herman
TV Critic
aherman2006 See All
Courtesy of FX In some ways, an adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel “The Shards” has had some of the heavy lifting done for it. Ellis’ cooly detached prose style embodies the shameless materialism of its Reagan era setting with an obsessive catalog of proper nouns: what kind of cars its characters drive; the brand of clothes they wear; the songs they listen to on repeat; the specific routes they take through the wealthy precincts of Los Angeles.
Such details act as ready-made stage directions for the FX series of the same name, co-created by Ellis and prolific producer Ryan Murphy. The first two episodes of “The Shards” closely track the opening chapters of the source material. This literal approach works to conjure the atmosphere of the book, a kind of autofiction that blends Ellis’ actual experience attending prep school while writing his breakout debut “Less Than Zero” with an increasingly lurid plot about a serial killer stalking his classmates. Ultravox’s “Vienna” and countless other contemporary hits conjure the time; shots of Mulholland Drive and a recreation of the Sherman Oaks Galleria in its heyday evoke the place. A foundation is laid for the reality of our unreliable narrator, played here by Igby Rigney, before it starts to fracture into the series’ titular pieces.
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