The Bondsman Has a Nice Time Placing Kevin Bacon By Hell

Inside 5 minutes of The Bondsman introducing its most important character, Hub Halloran (Kevin Bacon), he dies. And there’s no query about it. The person’s throat is slit from finish to finish. When he unexpectedly revives, he zooms proper off to present his would-be killers a chunk of his thoughts. However the apparent query looms: what the hell simply occurred? Because it seems, hell does play a slightly giant half in Hub’s story.

Created by Grainger David and dropped at Prime Video by the horror heads at Blumhouse Tv, The Bondsman is a high-energy supernatural thriller with a small-town Southern twang. It’s a lot within the vein of Stan Against Evil or Ash vs. Evil Dead, with Bacon’s middle-aged reluctant hero squaring off with the forces of darkness that’ve put him of their sights. On this case, Hub’s truly in cahoots with the satan—utilizing his bail bondsman expertise to trace down escaped demons and return them to the underworld.

It’s not a job he chooses for himself, and the phrases are non-negotiable, as defined by Midge (WandaVision‘s Jolene Purdy), his liaison to his new “employer.” Their firm, after all, can be a entrance for Devil; one of many present’s working gags is that it operates like a sleazy pyramid scheme and depends on probably the most annoying expertise doable, together with incessant spam, 1-900 numbers, and fax machines.

Whereas Midge’s most important goal is to look when Hub (and the viewers) want extra exposition, The Bondsman does take care to flesh her out and provides her some particular motivations of her personal. That’s additionally the case with the present’s different supporting forged members, particularly Beth Grant (Donnie Darko) as Kitty, Hub’s powerful however sort mom, and Jennifer Nettles (The Righteous Gem stones) as Maryanne, the oft-exasperated ex-wife Hub nonetheless loves.

With simply eight episodes that run between 25-Half-hour every, The Bondsman strikes quick however makes use of well-chosen flashbacks to fill us in on how Hub acquired into this predicament within the first place. Who was behind the homicide try? We study that rapidly. We get some layered backstory on why somebody desires him lifeless. We additionally finally get the complete story on why Hub, who’s tough across the edges however seemingly not a really dangerous man, went straight to hell when he died.

The demon-slaying scenes are extraordinarily enjoyable (the CG is unquestionably lower-budget, however it suits the grungy vibes of the present), and The Bondsman additionally incorporates a bigger cosmic thriller for Hub to puzzle by way of. However the present is admittedly a few man sorely in want of redemption who will get an sudden shot at it. Hub regrets messing up with Maryanne, and he’s beginning to lose contact with their teen son Cade (Misplaced in House‘s Maxwell Jenkins), particularly since Maryanne has moved on with new man on the town Fortunate (Justified‘s Damon Herriman), whose sketchy previous units Hub’s tooth on edge.

Although his time again on Earth is compromised by his harmful new gig—and complex by different elements, like native cops who develop more and more suspicious of the bizarre crime scenes popping up round city—Hub quickly realizes he’s been given a present. There are critical strings hooked up, sure, however it’s value it for the chance to ensure his family members know the way necessary they’re to him. It provides The Bondsman, which devotes loads of display screen time to murderous monsters, some stunning emotional grounding.

Additionally, and that is no small factor, however The Bondsman has a blast incorporating music into its storyline, with well-executed needle drops, a key setting within the city’s honky-tonk, and a subplot about Hub’s failed music goals—an enormous a part of why his marriage with Maryanne fell aside. It feels natural to the setting slightly than shoehorned in, and since Nettles simply occurs to be a famend nation artist, the present correctly makes nice use of her highly effective vocals in a number of completely different contexts.

And whereas this can be a spoiler-free assessment, we’ll say that The Bondsman ends its ultimate episode with fairly a couple of dangling threads. Some viewers would possibly discover this irritating; others would possibly see it as a hopeful signal that Hub and firm might return for extra devilish dealings. Depend us within the latter class; we’d fortunately watch Kevin Bacon kick extra demon ass in any future seasons to return.

All eight episodes of The Bondsman hit Prime Video April 3.

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