Quarry Season Premiere

Quarry, a show that recently premiered on Cinemax, may be the show that I didn’t know I was looking for and yet I’ve found it. Created by Graham Gordy and Michael D. Fuller, who also worked on Rectify, Quarry is an adaptation of the Max Allan Collins book of the same name and concerns the return of Quarry (Logan Marshall-Green) from Vietnam to Memphis, a city that does not want him nor appreciates his presence. Eventually, Quarry, being economically distressed, decides to take a job offered by The Broker (Peter Mullan). He eventually, I assume, becomes a full fledged hit man, but you can see more of that here, in the trailer.

Now I’ve only seen the episode but I have to see, I’m itching for more. I watched a few episodes of Rectify and even though it was incredibly beautiful to watch, it was equally slow and often weird in moments. This show appears to have a nice dash of both. There are moments of calm within it that allow for the viewer to assess the situation and realize just how bad things can get. But it’s not too quick either, much like Banshee another Cinemax show that featured way too much roid-rage and loud music for me. Quarry is a good mixture of both, with moments of calm and moments of frightening violence, especially acts committed by Quarry.

Logan Marshall-Green has been in a few things here or there, but he seems to fit perfectly for this character. There are scenes that demand a vacancy behind the eyes that is both terrifying and sad that he seems to pull off quite well. His ineptness in the beginning of his career is also quite nice to see, he isn’t just killing people with head-shots left and right, but rather his first kill as a hit man is brutal and messy.

This show, however, could benefit from a more developed female presence, which I hope occurs as the show goes on. Joni (Jodi Balfour) doesn’t appear to be a necessary character at the end of the first episode and I have to say I was fairly disappointed with the well-worn road that they decided to travel down with her character. She doesn’t need to be his side kick but she also shouldn’t be the “nagging wife” either. She should be her own person who the viewers can relate to and understand.

Much like Buddy (Damon Herriman), who you may recall as Dewey Crow from Justified, who is incredibly realized. The first time we see really see this character, he is singing a Spanish version of “I Can’t Live” in a hotel room and this sequence is fantastic. He is seen briefly before that at the airport, but not like this. The next time the audience is introduced to him, he is hammering nails into a baseball bat. He’s going to be great on this show and I cannot wait to see what he has in store for us.

One final thing I'd like to mention about this show, is the gritty texture of it. It’s dark, murky, and realized. The clothing appears authentic, the locations are fantastic, and it seems to truly exist. There wasn’t a moment in this episode that I took a step outside the episode.

So if you like Justified, Rectify, or Banshee, I think you’ll enjoy this show. And if you’ve already caught it, let me know what you think by commenting below!