Wicked City Episode 1 Review: Serial Killing 80s Style (Series Premiere)

It's 1982 in Los Angeles. Welcome to the time of big hair, lots of cocaine and pre-AIDS sex with random parters. The city is reeling from the rampage of the Hillside Strangler. Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono have just been put away. Now there's a new killer on the Sunset Strip. His name is Kent. He likes to taunt police and see his name in the headlines.

We first meet Kent (played by Ed Westwick) at the Whiskey A Go Go. He's picks up Emily by telling her he's a real estate agent and has a great place to show her. His catch phrase is "Kill me, I like to give back." He also likes to dedicate songs to his lady friends. His date is "servicing" Kent in the car when she hears her name on the radio. Emilyl says "cool" and is quickly stabbed in the back of the head.

Emily's body (minus her head) is later discovered in a Hollywood cemetery by detective Jack Roth (Jeremy Sisto). If looking at bodies for a living wasnt bad enough, Jack has his own problems. He is married with a teenage daughter but has a lover on the side. She is cop Dianne Kubek (who is currently working undercover as a stripper/drug dealer). He has a new partner (Paco Contreras) who is a trying to climb up the chain of command as quickly as possible. Jack's previous partner's suicide is also taking a toll on him.

Emily's head later pops up somewhere else. Photographer and "LA Notorious" owner Diver Hawkes and his freelance writer friend Karen McClaren (Taissa Farmiga of "American Horror Story" fame) are spying at the crime scene. Jack calls them out. Karen says she saw the dead woman at the Whiskey. Jack pumps her for information. Since serial killers are creatures of habit (who knew?) the plan is to send Karen back to identify the guy.

We know what the characters don't. The guy Karen talked to is actually the killer. It looks like poor Karen is a goner. Kent even dedicates a song to her. He later picks another woman (since the police are on his trail). That was a very close call for Karen.

During the premiere we also meet Betty Beaumontaine (Erika Christensen) She's a nurse and mother of two. Kent had planned to kill her UNTIL she mentioned her children. Kent apparently LOVES kids. Go figure.

Kent can only get off by having sex with dead people. Ewwwww! He has Betty lay very still. She seems to have a good time as well. She also likes to inflict pain on her patients at the hospital. These two kids were made for each other.

Kent is going to test Betty further by having another woman join them. We know where this is going. Bye, bye unnamed woman.

Grade: 4 Monsters (out of 5). "Wicked City" has gotten some pretty bad reviews. Critics gave it a 16% and audiences gave it a 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. I personal didnt think it was THAT bad.

Overall I enjoyed the pilot. The music was fun. 80s flashback! Seeing people use pay phones and pagers was also a hoot. I think the show has potential but there's only so much they can do on ABC. Cursed censors! If "Wicked City" was instead on a cable channel they could make it truly creepy.

"Wicked City" is scheduled for a 10 episode run. Since Karen already knows the identity of the killer and is working with Jack at the end of episode 1, I'm not sure how long the show will keep people's interest. I would have been saved that for later.

Will "Wicked City" be a hit? Probably not. There's nothing really new about these characters. But if you want to wax nostalgic about the 80s, this might be the show for you. Just be glad you didnt run into any serial killers back then.