Doris Quinn (the great Abigail Spencer of “Rectify” and “Timeless”) was betrayed by those closest to her, dragged behind a car, and left for dead. They should have checked her pulse. As she says, “All my life, people have been underestimating me.” In the premiere, Doris is far from those who tried to destroy her, dealing with the imminent death of her husband (played by “Rectify” creator Ray McKinnon in a lovely reunion) and the associated drama that comes from his family when it looks like she will inherit his business, one that she has made successful in the first place. This drama brings in a brutal gangster played by Ron Perlman, but be forewarned that he then becomes just a presence for most of the season, something that will be chasing Doris from one direction as she heads home to get her vengeance.
Doris has a plan. Without spoiling much, it involves sending one of her employees who got himself into a bit of trouble, a nice kid named Ethan (Mena Massoud), to infiltrate the gang that tried to kill her, setting the stage for her unexpected return from the dead. There, he teams up with a pair of stylish tough guys named Matty (Rhys Wakefield) and Johnson (David Dastmalchian), but the real power players are Bash (Gilbert Owuor), Burt (Rory Cochrane), and the enigmatic Joel (Rodrigo Santoro), who is trying to keep tenuous peace between rival gangs. A lot of the gang action goes down at something called a bang-a-rang, a stylish, secret go-go club that would look right at home in “Sin City” and introduces us to more colorful characters like Meredith (Madison Davenport) and Queenie (Lea DeLaria). Did I mention W. Earl Brown of “Deadwood” fame is also on Doris’ side? Yeah, this ensemble is phenomenal, and I haven’t even mentioned scene-stealing relative newcomers like Bethany Anne Lind or the great Craig Tate. It’s a remarkable balance of familiar faces with people who you instantly want to see more of.
“Reprisal” also has a nice ability to surprise. Characters take unexpected turns, and the stakes seem legitimate when weapons are pulled out. More than once, I was surprised at a character death or decision, and that’s not common, even in the age of streaming. Most shows like “Reprisal,” which try to be edgy or different, are still falling into the same tropes and narrative outline as the presumably safer shows. As “Reprisal” hurtled toward its end, I was legitimately uncertain as to who would live and who would die.
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