Furious, created by Elizabeth Merriweather, is inspired by the 1987 film Black Widow, which starred Debra Winger and Theresa Russell. in that film, Russell played Catherine who murders the wealthy men she had married for their money. Winger played Alexandra, a Justice Department data analyst, who becomes suspicious about the deaths of seemingly healthy men being attributed to respiratory failure. After studying photos of the men’s younger wives, she determines they are the same person and becomes obsessed with tracking down Catherine.
In Black Widow, Catherine is pure evil, a cold hearted killer out for the money. In Furious, Catherine (a phenomenal Lola Petticrew) who was trafficked as a teen, is murdering the men who abused her. Because the justice system failed her, Catherine employs her own form of justice to have these men pay. She makes sure the men know who she is while injecting a lethal dose of a drug and watching them die.
Lola Petticrew as Catherine (Disney/Sarah Shatz)
Catherine’s mission is also for her best friend, Isabel, who died after being beaten during an encounter where the two were sexually abused by a wealthy man. Isabel’s sister, Elena, is now being trafficked by someone called the Big Man. Catherine’s efforts to get Elena to leave the hotel room where she is being held fail, and Catherine nearly gets killed.
Alice (Emmy Rossum) has her own history with sexual abuse. She was abused as a teen and her ex-boyfriend, New York City detective Marshall Connelly (Jake Lacy), abused her while they were dating. On several occasions, he would drag her by the hair out of the shower and beat her. That abuse manifests in two ways. She won’t take showers, and she meets men on a dating app and asks them to hit her. After Alice’s friend and former NYPD partner, Danny Kelly (Scoot McNairy), learns about Marshall’s abuse, he volunteers to sit in the bathroom while she showers. He also asks her to stay off dating apps.
Emmy Rossum as Alice Black and Quincy Tyler Bernstine as Nora Washington (Disney/Sarah Shatz)
Alice left the NYPD and is now an FBI trainee. Her boss, Nora Washington (Quincy Tyler Bernstine), head of the FBI’s sex crimes unit, remembers Isabel as an unidentified murder victim, a case she worked on. She confronts FBI Special Agent Ed George (Danny McCarthy) about tampering with evidence in that case, suspecting he was protecting the murderer. Nora backs down when George but threatens to report she’s been drinking on the job.
Marshall asks Alice to visit his dying mother. She tells Alice that the complaint made against Marshall will prevent him from being promoted. Alice refuses to back down and when Marshall confronts her by her car, she draws her gun. The next day, Marshall reports Alice to Nora and she has no choice but to take Alice off the case.
Lola Petticrew as Catherine and Emmy Rossum as Alice (Disney/Sarah Shatz)
Alice is not about to be sidelined, however. She uncovers Catherine’s identity and Nora looks the other way, allowing Alice to pursue the lead. Eventually, Alice will find Catherine, but when backup fails to show up, the killer escapes once again. And while Alice is still determined to arrest Catherine, she gives her one last chance to seek revenge.
Emmy Rossum and Lola Petticrew are terrific in this cat and mouse game. Their performances are raw and, in some instances, heartbreaking. Catherine chooses to take out her anger on the men who hurt her, while Alice hurts herself. Victims of sexual assault, particularly those abused as children or teens, rarely recover from that trauma. Scenes where Alice submits to being hit are difficult to watch and even harder to understand. Rossum goes all out, absorbing the blows which leave surface marks but fail to heal her psyche. Catherine appears to have fun while killing these men, but that euphoria doesn’t last and doesn’t erase the past.
Top: Emmy Rossum as FBI agent Alice Black (Emmy Rossum) Photo Credit: Disney
