TV Talk: CBS's 'Silence of the Lambs' sequel 'Clarice' is no 'Hannibal'

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week.

There’s an easy way to figure out if CBS’s “Silence of the Lambs” sequel series, “Clarice,” is for you: If you were a fan of the 1991 Jonathan Demme-directed “Lambs,” partially filmed in Pittsburgh, and you’re a regular viewer of CBS crime procedurals (“FBI,” “NCIS,” etc.), then you’ll probably enjoy “Clarice.”

But if you’re a devotee of the deeper, psychological, character-driven “Lambs” with no patience for cookie-cutter CBS dramas, then there’s little reason to make time for “Clarice” (10 p.m. Thursday, KDKA-TV), which takes the CBS formula and grafts on some familiar “Lambs” characters.

Set in 1993, a year after the events in “Lambs,” the series begins with Clarice Starling (Rebecca Breeds, who delivers an acceptable West Virginia accent) in a therapy session where she offers an update on her psychological state after rescuing Catherine Martin (Marnee Carpenter) from serial killer Buffalo Bill and after her interactions with Dr. Hannibal Lecter who is not seen or even mentioned by name.

Much has been made about the legal rights entanglement that prevents “Clarice” from mentioning Lecter by name, but the oblique references are enough. This is Clarice’s story, just as NBC’s 2013-15 “Hannibal,” which had Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) but no Clarice, was Hannibal’s story and a more creative interpretation of author Thomas Harris’ characters. Comparatively, “Clarice” is TV- conventional.

Clarice gets yanked out of her therapy session by U.S. senator-turned- attorney general Ruth Martin (Jayne Atkinson, “24,” “House of Cards”), Catherine’s mom, who drags Clarice back to work hunting serial killers. The series finds Catherine pushing herself on Clarice for the purpose of some sort of post-Buffalo Bill repair. Another “Lambs” tie is Clarice’s best friend, Ardelia (Devyn Tyler), which feels more natural than the forced Catherine connection.

Filmed in and around Toronto, “Clarice” flirts with replicating the Clarice-Lecter dynamic with a villain in episode two but the bad guy’s attempts to get inside Clarice’s head prove sub-Lecter level creepy.

In addition to the holdover characters from “Lambs,” including Clarice’s boss Paul Krendler (Michael Cudlitz, “Southland”), “Clarice” introduces a new team that Clarice has difficulty fitting into perhaps because she disobeys orders at least twice in the first three episodes.

The team characters begin as relatively broad — sniper Tomas Esquivel (Lucca de Oliveria, who has immediate chemistry with Breeds), old guy agent (Nick Sandow) and another agent (Kal Penn) — with Lucca making the strongest impression in early episodes.

Of three episodes made available for review, the third installment is the best even as it does the least amount of reaching to tie it to “Silence of the Lambs.” The episode stands on its own with a taut interrogation that continues the story of a villain from the series premiere.

Perhaps this third episode bodes well for continued improvement, but in the early going, “Clarice” is meh-see TV. It’s fine but surely there are better TV dramas to pair with fava beans and a nice Chianti.