Stephen King’s Sci-Fi Horror Hit Shares Its Secret Weapon With This Underseen 3-Part Thriller

If I asked you to tell me what the link is between The Institute and Mr. Mercedes, you would most likely say that both are adaptations of Stephen King books. With The Institute now returning for Season 2, that connection is even more worth revisiting. However, there is something that has a far larger impact on the series, and that is the fact that both are directed and executive produced by Jack Bender. With other work on Game of Thrones and Lost, Bender is far more than a one-trick pony, but Mr. Mercedes might be his best work because of how engaging the world he creates is.

This crime thriller follows a retired detective, Bill Hodges (Brendan Gleeson), as he is harassed by the Mercedes Killer, whose crime was so terrible that the lack of a conviction put such mental strain on Hodges that he was forced to retire, and Hodges decides to confront this madman. Much of the action, from the opening murders to the smaller moments of violence and blood, feels disturbingly realistic in how bluntly physical damage is portrayed, showing what we are capable of inflicting on each other.

While this is a detective piece, the darkness in each scene keeps Bender’s show loyal to the horror style of King, making us believe the Mercedes Killer could be an omnipotent force of evil, rather than the manchild he really is. This is where Hodges and the murderer, Brady (Harry Treadaway), contrast and parallel each other so effectively and help to present the themes of generational conflict.

‘Mr. Mercedes’ Frightening Opening Scene is Based on a Real-World Terrorist Attack

Image via AppleTV

For there to be a case to solve, we need a crime to be committed, and Mr. Mercedes lulls us into a false sense of security which heightens the terror we feel when the attack begins. A young man goes to a job fair and waits in a crowded queue, helping a young mother stay warm with her baby, before a Mercedes pulls up. Slowly, the tension rises as the driver honks their horn, and we see they are wearing a clown mask. Then the worst thing we are all praying won’t happen happens. The driver steps on the gas and zooms towards the crowd. While we cut away from the attack at first, we cut back to it throughout the first season, and the sound design of crunching bones and imagery of bodies strewn everywhere is such disturbing imagery that we know we are in a Stephen King world.

As Bender explained in an interview with Collider, King actually based it “on an event that I think happened in 2008, when he was down south.” As Bender also pointed out, since then, these types of terrorist attacks have become far more common, sadly, and put added pressure on the creatives to handle this scene with care. Bender didn’t want to “minimize it or sanitize it” and that is certainly achieved. With this being the crime Hodges never solved and even had to retire because it stressed him so much, the tie between the gruff detective and the mysterious killer is instantly made personal, and the upsetting nature of the crime and the victims who were killed promise us a further exploration of the depth of humanity, which is paid off as the series develops.

Part of the way in which this is achieved is by creating a world in which blood and gore is a standard sight, even if it is hard to look at. While I have already mentioned the scattered bodies and innocents slaughtered, the smaller moments of Mr. Mercedes are key in making the overall atmosphere one that is suitably dark. For example, in Episode 2, “On Your Mark,” while paranoid that the killer might be in his back garden, Hodges ends up pointing a loaded gun into a young boy’s face who was just trying to sneak back into his parents’ house after going out to a party. The fact that Hodges’ PTSD almost causes him to pull the trigger, lingering for half a second too long, along with the sight of the kid’s broken arm sticking out of his body, makes the entire scene thoroughly anxiety-inducing.

Hodges and Brady Are Both Similar and Opposites in ‘Mr. Mercedes’

There is no world without characters to inhabit it, and Jack Bender fills Mr. Mercedes with a plethora of insightful characters, from Hodges’ ex-detective-partner, Pete Dixon (Scott Lawrence), to Brady’s sarcastic and funny friend at his retail job, Lou (Breeda Wool). However, there is nothing better than the dynamic between Hodges and Brady, even if they rarely interact face-to-face. While Gleeson’s Hodges is woefully underprepared for someone like Brady, who is a wizz with technology and hacking, hiding his trace when sending Hodges emails and creating a remote that can control almost anything, Hodges’ gruffness as a detective presents him as a far more resilient character than the petulant Brady.

Both are outsiders, yet Hodges connects with people even when he is being grumpy, whereas Brady is given the description of “a little off” by his manager, Anthony (Robert Stanton), and makes those around him feel uncomfortable. What this does is it creates a conflict on a generational level where we see two approaches to life that have their strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, with the running idea of growing threats from technology and the death of retail, as Anthony consistently reminds his workers, there is a strong theme that the coming age is not one of prosperity as we hoped, but giving power to the wrong people.

Jack Bender is not only using similar traits to build his world in The Institute, with an eeriness that is steeped in sci-fi fantasy than detective noir, but improving on some aspects such as his dialogue, which is strong for the most part in Mr. Mercedes but at times, feels out of place or a distraction from the main story, such as Hodges’ neighbor being obsessed with how she looks in the nude. However, that doesn’t take away from the simple effectiveness of Mr. Mercedes. From the start, the Stephen King-like disturbing and frightening tone is strong, and Bender clearly understands the author’s intentions very well, which is why, if you are enjoying The Institute, then Mr. Mercedes needs to be your next binge.

Mr. Mercedes can be streamed on Peacock in the U.S.