The Hulu crime drama “Furious” may be (loosely) inspired by the 1987 thriller “Black Widow,” but the series has several other, and frankly stronger, influences at work. After all, in swapping out a serial killer of rich men she marries for money in favor of a child trafficking victim who targets her former abusers, creator Elizabeth Meriwether (“New Girl,” “The Dropout”) has left only the barest outline of the original film. But in making one of those abusers a New York mogul with an appalling interest in underage girls, Meriwether knowingly conjures the ghost of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. And in making both Catherine (Lola Petticrew of “Say Nothing”), the killer in question, and Alice (Emmy Rossum, also an executive producer), the rookie FBI agent hot on Catherine’s trail, survivors of trauma that at times explain their connection a little too neatly, “Furious” fits comfortably into the current yen for psychologized storytelling.
But if “Furious” can sometimes be burdened by these associations, particularly as its eight-episode season hurtles toward its conclusion, the show also often transcends them. That’s largely due to a stellar cast that deepens and complicates their assigned archetypes. (Though not exclusively: Ariel Marx’s haunting, partially vocalized score sets a gripping tone.) Rossum’s Alice is a recent transfer from the NYPD, trying to escape both the shadow of an abusive long-term relationship and her actual ex (Jake Lacy, king of the nice-presenting assholes) who still works as a detective. As is often the case with cat-and-mouse stories, however, it’s Catherine who truly captivates. Petticrew broke out stateside by playing IRA activist Dolours Price, a woman whose understandable aggrievement led her to harm innocent civilians as well as herself. Catherine takes that description to new extremes, embodied by Petticrew with terrifying intensity.
