Commentary: ‘Furious’ Is A Contrast Between Character And Plot

The two big components of a story: plot and characterization. The former is more-or-less what is happening in the story while characterization focuses on how the players in that story grow. Plot moves the story along, but the action can become hollow unless audiences feel connected with the characters. This means an equal amount of time has to be devoted to progressing both key elements. Furious is a great example of how a series can divide time between the unfolding plot and how the characters grow before ultimately coming together in the end.

The story centers on two women — a federal agent and a serial killer — stuck in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse. The serial killer is a deeply troubled woman named Catherine (Lola Petticrew), who was sex-trafficked as a teenager. She’s on a mission to eliminate her abusers while being pursued by Alice (Emmy Rossum), who was also exploited as a youth. Alice used to be a police officer alongside her high school sweetheart, Marshall (Jake Lacy), before he beat her in a drunken rage. So, Alice needs to catch the killer while coming to terms with her ex-boyfriend, who was also assigned to the case.

One of the program’s most powerful elements is its ability to form a connection between its protagonist and antagonist. As someone who has faced abuse and exploitation in the past, Alice empathizes greatly with Catherine. By the end, the two connect in a very interesting way. Before the show gets there, though, it needs to do some serious character work to build up Alice’s internal trauma. It accomplishes this by devoting a lot of screen time to her personal life, picking up men and working through emotions, without having any connection to the larger plot. These scenes are a stark contrast to the show’s overall plot involving Catherine’s killing spree. Usually, TV shows manage to blend plot and characterization together, but for Furious, it doesn’t truly happen until the end.

Furious is now streaming on Hulu.