Ragdoll Perfectly Blends Humor and the Macabre with Thrilling Results

Can humor and the grotesque reside side-by-side?

Fans of horror the world over know this with certainty.

AMC+’s Ragdoll isn’t a horror movie or even a horror series, but humor keeps its grasp of the grotesque and grisly from going too far off the deep end.

Starring Lucy Hale, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, and Thalissa Teixeira, Ragdoll centers on three detectives of varying ranks trying to solve a macabre case in which one of them is set to be the final victim.

Pretty Little Liar fans have watched Hale’s career grow beyond the teen mystery, and DC Lake Edmunds is far from the beaten path of where she’d gone before.

It’s not so surprising once you know that Hale has a love affair with British crime and mystery shows, but it does show her in a new, rather impressive light.

Edmunds is the odd gal out in this trio, as an American coming into a squad with Lloyd-Hughes’ DS Nathan Rose and Teixeira’s DI Emily Baxter, who share a previous working relationship that solidifies their support of and easy banter with one another.

The initial moments of the Ragdoll premiere begin two years earlier when Rose and Baxter were on the hunt for the Cremation Killer.

For Rose, the fallout was intense, landing him a stay at an institution to deal with his ever-present PTSD.

As the search for the Ragdoll Killer begins, Baxter has risen in the departmental ranks, with Rose and Edmunds reporting to her.

If it seems like that could cause strife between Rose and Baxter, that’s not the case at all. As the case gets hairier and Rose gets sufficient cause to lose himself in his memories, Baxter is there to pick him up. She can read him like no other.

Lloyd-Hughes and Teixeira have gorgeous chemistry on-screen, and their characters’ friendship is a shining light cutting through the darkness the Ragdoll Killer imposes on them time and again.

Edmunds can see through both of them with her outsider’s eye, and when Rose begins to regress too far, she’s the only person who can point out that all is not well with the man whose name is on the killer’s list.

As for that killer, the detectives and viewers get their first look together when detectives are called to a crime scene revealing a gruesome human Frankenstein, dead, of course, but presenting a tangle of body parts that could make identifying the victims and stopping the killer in his tracks quite difficult.

Based on the novel of the same name, Ragdoll comes from award-winning producers of Killing Eve.

If you’re a fan of Killing Eve, you’ll not only recognize Lloyd-Hughes, but you’ll identify with the biting wit that nestles beautifully into ghastly violence, the like of which isn’t seen elsewhere on TV.

The first three episodes, which were available for critics, build nicely upon one another with a combination of growing fear at the killer’s capabilities and the fusion of a team that will lean on each other to survive and put an end to the monster’s madness.

Given everything I know about you, dear TV Fanatics, this is a show that will draw you in and captivate you from the thrilling opening scenes likely until its last.

Ragdoll premieres on AMC+ on Thursday, November 11.

Will you be watching?

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Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She’s a member of the Critic’s Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on Twitter and email her here at TV Fanatic.

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