It’s 1993, the one year anniversary of the death of serial killer Buffalo Bill, who had managed to kidnap and skin six women. He had his seventh potential victim locked away in his basement when young FBI trainee Clarice Starling (Rebecca Breeds) took him down. For the past year, Clarice has been out of the public eye, working in the basement of the Behavioral Sciences lab, and going through unwanted by required therapy sessions to help her deal with that traumatic event. She is happy not being in the limelight, but that is about to change. The new attorney general, Ruth Martin (Jayne Atkinson)—mother of Catherine (Marnee Carpenter), the girl Clarice managed to save—has ordered Clarice to come to Washington. She has convened a ViCAP (Violent Crime Apprehension Program) Task Force to investigate the murder of two women whose bodies were found floating in the river. What better to calm the public’s nerves, than to put the woman known for hunting down monsters and serial killers on the case?!

Ever since the Buffalo Bill case, Clarice has seen resentment in the eyes of her co-workers, and it’s no different here in Washington. Heading up the task force is Paul Krendler (Michael Cudlitz), who’s a great investigator and lawyer, but who also hasn’t forgotten how Clarice showed him up when they were both chasing Buffalo Bill. While Krendler wants to quickly wrap up the case, by having Clarice publicly declaring a serial killer being responsible, Clarice isn’t so sure it’s that simple—she suspects there is something more to these killings, and plans to stick around until she closes the book on this case. She believes that there might be some larger conspiracy involving a drug trial and children with special needs. In addition to Clarice and Krendler, the task force also consists of young rookie/former military sniper Tomas Esquivel (Lucca De Oliveira), art aficionado Shaan Tripathi (Kal Pen), and Murray Clarke (Nick Sandow), an old curmudgeon somewhat stuck in his ways.

The filmmakers have done an excellent job of breaking down this first season of the series. In addition to the season-long arc of this River Murders investigation, the series also finds Clarice and the members of the team taking on various other smaller cases. It is through these cases that we also see each of the characters get a chance to grow over the course of the season. Even though the series is set in 1993, it also explores several topics that are still quite relevant today. When Clarice heads to Washington, she moves in with her old Academy friend/classmate Ardelia Mapp (Devyn A. Tyler). As one of the only Black women in the office, Ardelia has been assigned to look into cold cases, and works out of a small closet. Meanwhile, Clarice has plentiful resources and a big team. Ardelia has been experiencing harassment and mistreatment, and wants to do something about it. We also see this bias in the way some of the other agents refer to Esquivel as “Chiquita” or “Taco Bell” due to his Mexican heritage. And another person is worried to come forward as trans for fear of being fired—especially as the news of Buffalo Bill’s exploits have put the trans community in a negative light. Meanwhile, Clarice never really accepted that she was a victim in the Buffalo Bill case, and has never really dealt with the trauma of that experience. She has been ignoring attempts by Catherine—who is also still experiencing PTSD—to connect with her. Clarice is also having flashbacks to other childhood trauma that she never properly dealt with regarding her parents.

I liked that the series is set in 1993 as it makes investigations a little bit more difficult. Everyone doesn’t have a cell phone to quickly get in contact with or warn one another when they are headed into danger—they must resort to pagers and other low-tech devices. And everything can’t just be quickly looked up on the internet—investigations require old-fashioned elbow grease! The series also does an excellent job of recreating the look and feel of The Silence of the Lambs, even using the same type of on-screen text. It really felt like a natural progression of the film, with Rebecca Breeds doing a great job of stepping into Jodie Foster’s shoes/accent.

The first season of Clarice originally aired on CBS, and it had been announced that the series would be moving to the Paramount+ network for its second season. However, a short time later, it was announced that there wouldn’t be a second season after all. So these 13 episodes are the entirety of the series. The good news is that this single season feels like a complete series, with a proper beginning, middle and end that provides closure—I wish all shows were run in this manner and we’d never have to worry about something being canceled on a cliffhanger. That said, it’s a shame because the season did an excellent job of taking each character on his or her own arc of growth, while also exploring some interesting cases. I could have easily seen this team tacking a new season-long case in a second season.

There is unfortunately no Blu-ray release for this series, even though the show originally aired in HD. (The series is available in HD on digital, but that doesn’t include any bonus material.) The DVD picture still looks quite good, thought not quite as clean and sharp as the original HD airing, but I quickly got used to it and never found it to be lacking or distracting. The early 1990s setting also helps in this matter as that slightly less detailed video helps take you back 30 years. The audio on the other hand is fantastic—the stereo and surround channels are often utilized to give a more immersive viewing experience, with sounds regularly coming from behind the viewer. The release is spread across 4 discs, which are overlapped on either side of the standard-sized clear DVD keepcase, which is placed inside a carboard slipcover.

The discs are loaded with nearly 90 minutes of bonus material, including 11 deleted scenes, a gag reel, and three behind-the-scenes featurettes with the cast/filmmakers. The deleted scenes can be found on the discs with their related episodes, while all the other material can be found on disc 4. Some of the featurettes are really interesting and well done. It’s a nice look back at the season. It’s too bad this is the end for the series.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (9:09:45)

• All 13 episodes of the series:
  Disc 1: “The Silence Is Over”, “Ghosts of Highway 20”, “Are You Alright?”, “You Can’t Rule Me”
  Disc 2: “Get Right with God”, “How Does It Feel to Be So Beautiful”, “Ugly Truth”, “Add-a-Bead”
  Disc 3: “Silence is Purgatory”, “Motherless Child”, “Achilles Heel”, “Father Time”
  Disc 4: “Family is Freedom”
• 480i / Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Subtitles: English SDH

Extras:

• Deleted Scenes (10:42)
  Collection of 11 scenes across 7 of the episodes. These are found on the discs with their corresponding episodes.
  • “Ghosts of Highway 20” – 1 scene (:41)
  • “You Can’t Rule Me” – 1 scene (:28)
  • “How Does It Feel to Be So Beautiful” – 1 scene (:52)
  • “Silence is Purgatory” – 2 scenes (1:35)
  • “Motherless Child” – 2 scenes (2:46)
  • “Achilles Heel” – 2 scenes (2:06)
  • “Family is Freedom” – 2 scenes (2:14)
• The Silence Is Over (11:01)
  Executive producers Jenny Lumet, Heather Kadin & Alex Kurtzman & pilot director Maja Vrvilo talk about revisiting the character of Clarice after 30 years, working with Thomas Harris to understand this character, finding the language of the series with Buffalo Bill’s basement and how to show Clarice’s emotional trauma, and casting this iconic role. Star Rebecca Breeds (“Clarice Starling”) talks about her audition and finding the Appalachian accent. Includes behind-the-scenes and audition footage.
• Progress in Portrayals (24:53)
  The filmmakers talk about setting the film in 1993, and the timeless topics the film and series tackle, such as the male gaze and racism, discrimination and harassment in the workplace. They also discuss the relationship between Ardelia & Clarice and the different ways they are treated by their coworkers, addressing negative effect that Buffalo Bill had on the trans community, casting trans actors, and more. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with executive producers Alex Kurtzman, Elizabeth J.B Klaviter & Heather Kadin, pilot director Maja Vrvilo, co-executive producer DeMane Davis, co-writer Lydia Teffera (“You Can’t Rule Me”), writer Eleanor Jean (“Silence is Purgatory”), and stars Lucca De Oliveira (“Tomas Esquivel”), Devyn A. Tyler (“Ardelia Mapp”), Rebecca Breeds & Jen Richards (“Julia Lawson”).
• VICAP Views (37:04)
  The cast and filmmakers step through each episode of the season, talking about the storylines, characters, and their journeys. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with executive producers Elizabeth J.B Klaviter, Alex Kurtzman, co-executive producers Kenneth Lin, William Harper & DeMane Davis, co-writer Gabriel Ho (“You Can’t Rule Me”), executive story editor Tess Leibowitz, staff writer Celena Cipriaso, and stars Lucca De Oliveira, Rebecca Breeds, Marnee Carpenter (“Catherine Martin”), Jayne Atkinson (“Ruth Martin”), Devyn A. Tyler, Nick Sandow (“Murray Clarke”), Michael Cudlitz (“Paul Krendler”) & Kal Penn (“Shaan Tripathi”).
• Gag Reel (4:22)
  Fun with the cast as they dance, joke and pull faces on set, and flub/forget their lines.

Final Thoughts:

Clarice does an excellent job of continuing the story of the FBI agent who took down Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs, as she struggles to deal with that traumatic event and her own past. The series follows her new task force as they take on a twisty season-long case as well as several other cases-of-the-week, while also commenting on issues of racism, sexism, etc. in the workplace. While this will sadly be the only season of the series, the season finale also works as a satisfying series finale. There’s no HD disc option, but the DVD release provides satisfying picture and excellent sound, plus a wonderful selection of bonus material. This is definitely worth checking out for any fan of The Silence of the Lambs, though the film is not a pre-requisite to enjoy the series.