Something Wicked This Way Comes

Tom Hardy’s gruesome, menacing, brooding drama is here to punch you in the throat

(FX)

Few actors working today love rolling around in the muck of character development more than Tom Hardy. According to a recent interview with Vulture, Hardy’s creation for Taboo draws from many a layered and menacing influence including Marlow from Heart of Darkness, Hannibal Lecter, Oedipus, Sherlock Holmes, and Klaus Kinski from Aguirre: The Wrath of God. A pretty flammable mix of pathos for a Tuesday night at 10PM FX show, but what else would you expect from a guy who specializes in brooding antihero?

Each character he has played shares one identifiable trait. They all have Can-Make-You-Pee-Your-Pants-With-a-Glance level intensity. In Taboo, written by Hardy and his father, Chips, and directed by Steven Knight, Hardy’s powerbomb finishing move intensity is on full display.

To set the table for the “What is Movie Star Tom Hardy doing on Television” discussion of the show, let’s take a peak at just what we’re getting into here with a dissection of the IMDB page of the should-be-next Wolverine.

The Levels of Tom Hardy

‘Carries His Bottles Overhand at the Bar’ Mad Man

• Bronson — Hardy portrays the most violent man in the history of the British prison system in Bronson. I believed him completely.
• Bane — The Man Who Broke the Bat in The Dark Knight Rises.
• Tommy Conlon — a single-minded Ivan Drago/Rocky hybrid MMA wrecking ball in Warrior.

‘Sea of Anger Below the Surface’ Mad Man

• Alfie Solomon — The completely cool with horrifying violence leader of the Jewish mob boss in Peaky Blinders; the best character in the series (Also a TV role at the height of his movie stardom).
• John Fitzgerald — The “I could skin you alive if I wanted so don’t even bat an eyelash, and honestly, I should skin you alive; I’ve already justified it to myself” fur trapper in The Revenant. Tom Hardy’s work as a supporting actor helped to win Leo his first Oscar.
• Ron Kray — one of the brooding twins from Legend. The one that wore glasses over the most brooding face of all time.
• Reggie Kray — The other brooding twin from Legend. The mega charming, movie star type married to Emily “Sucker Punch” Browning.
• Bob — The “I’ve seen and done some things that you don’t want me to start talking about, pal; give me back my dog, or you’ll find out what happens” bartender from The Drop.

‘Charming Thief and Potentially Dangerous; Let’s Not Test Him’ Mad Man

• Tuck — mega-charming CIA agent battling another charming CIA agent played by Chris Pine over Reese Witherspoon in This Means War. Haven’t seen it and didn’t need to see it; I know that spies can kill people with makeshift weapons if need be.
• Eames — Played a dream burglar in Inception. Eames’ role in this move was to play many roles inside people’s dreams. Probably the least likely of his IMDB page to kill people, but the still dangerous as he is a burglar that can invade your mind.
• Handsome Bob — Just one of the lads in RockNRolla. As this is a Guy Ritchie movie, all characters are required to be charming as hell and planning a heist, so while yea, he’s lovely, eventually things are going to go haywire, hands are getting thrown, and guns are getting drawn.

A little bit of each character has gone into the mix for Hardy’s latest project. Although, I’d say he used only a pinch of Handsome Bob and two heaping tablespoons of Bronson and Bane.

Taboo is the story of James Keziah Delaney — an operative of the East India Company long believed to have died on mission in Africa — who has returned to London after the death of his father. The way the mood shifts with each step Delaney takes further onto his native soil paints a haunting portrait on which this story unfolds; he brings the storm clouds with him every where he goes. Both London and James spat each other out long ago and are both retching to do so again.

The rumors of the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad things that Delaney has been up to while abroad linger in each scene like an masked executioner about to drop his axe. Delaney being home is not good for anyone — he is the Jason Bourne of 1814 with the East India Company being a more theatrically evil Treadstone. The biggest difference being Jason Bourne was perfectly fine being left alone, whereas Delaney seems to have been waiting for his moment to unleash ungodly hell on anyone who dares remember his name like a Victorian era High Plains Drifter. In this way, this character fits perfectly with the rest of Hardy’s resume — a menacing tough guy just looking for a reason.

While the seeds of many a terrifying scene of violence is sewn in the first episode, the first hour of Taboo is a kettle just put over heat; this is a nice way of saying not a lot happens, as is the case with many a British import TV drama. The promise of staggering brutality, however, is there from the opening scene and harkens to the gritty, British revenge drama DNA that is pumping through the veins of this show. The first intelligible words of dialogue spoken by Hardy — said over the corpse of his dead father after he has stolen the coins from the corpses eyes, no less — are, “Forgive me father… for I have indeed sinned.” Then he racks a shotgun, puts his sunglasses on, and Roger Daltrey’s ear drum busting wail rings out as Hardy jumps on a fan boat and blows through the English channel.

Not really, but you get the idea; the bar has been set for some TV-MA boundary pushing shit.

Throughout the first episode, James Keziah Delaney stalks through the frame like a man about to turn into a werewolf. Hardy isn’t starring in this show as much as he is haunting it which adds to the overwhelming sense of dread and giddiness that comes with waiting for something truly “how’d they get away with that on TV?!” to jump out from around every corner. What the first hour lacked in actual revenge taking, it made up for in the most f-words I’ve ever heard outside of premium cable.

It’s too early to tell if the Shakespearean dialogue that James Keziah Delaney growls at anyone bold enough to engage him in conversation is a harbinger of doom or just an over the top attempt by Tom and Chips to add some gravitas to an already brimming with testosterone tale of vengeance. After one viewing, I am leaning towards the former. There is nothing quite as menacing as the paranoia of Hamlet mixed with the descent into madness of MacBeth spitefully muttered at the former cast members of Game of Thrones to really get a Tuesday night popping off.

With a roster comprised of The Americans, Atlanta, the Ryan Murphy catalog (American Horror Story, American Crime Story, and the upcoming Feud), Legion, and Fargo, FX is producing the best original programming in cable. Adding Tom Hardy — a legitimate movie star — to their ranks should serve as a bridge to other actors, directors, and creators looking to stretch their wings and flex their muscles.

Even if Taboo doesn’t turn into a critical darling —and at the dawning of the age of Too Much Good TV, I’m not sure it needs to — this show is poised to serve as example of the risk taking happening in TV; it only needs to exist to prove it’s point: TV is a delivery system for ideas and FX is an angel investor looking for new projects.

Eight episodes of the Prince of Denmark as played by Tom Hardy channeling an origin story of a Grimm’s Fairytale is a big ask for a weeknight, but I’m going to do it. I’m afraid of what James Keziah Delaney will do to me if I don’t.