The Audacity is filled with absolutely awful people, with each character worse than the one who came before. For some, that could make Jonathan Glatzer’s new AMC series difficult to watch. The Audacity is about the woes of the filthy rich in Silicon Valley. They’ve created the tech world around us, and power hasn’t made them better. Instead, they’re insufferable, complaining about everything despite seemingly having it all. What keeps The Audacity together is that the show dares to introduce characters the viewer will hate before spending the season, with cutting humor and strong performances, digging deep into who they really are. For anyone who sticks with the series past the first episode, The Audacity becomes worth investing in.
The Audacity revolves around an ensemble cast of interweaving stories, but focuses significantly on Duncan Park (Billy Magnussen), the head of Hypergnosis, a company that makes billions by selling others’ most personal data. Duncan’s also his own worst enemy, a non-stop ball of often negative energy, so in love with his own potential that he leaks a potential sale of his company before it goes through, resulting in the other party backing out and sending Duncan on a frenzied quest to redeem himself.
The only thing keeping Duncan from completely falling apart is how much he relies on his therapist. Played by Sarah Goldberg, who was so fantastic in Barry, JoAnne Felder is good at her job (and not afraid to say so, either), but she also lets the insider information her clients reveal lead her into trouble she might not be able to get out of. Duncan and JoAnne are the center of The Audacity, with everything spiraling off them. Spouses, children, co-workers, and potential business partners suffer in their wake, creating a series that never slows down because there isn’t time to. Everyone is on the brink, and if they ever stop, they might fall over the edge.
Having previously worked on Succession and Better Call Saul, series creator Jonathan Glatzer knows how to create intense, character-centric dramas. The Audacity doesn’t quite rise to the level of those series, yet not from lack of trying. It holds itself back in the beginning by throwing way too much at the screen, with little insight into who each character is or why the viewer should care about them. Once it slows down and lets itself breathe, The Audacity proves capable of getting under your skin.
Set in dull, gray buildings filled with high windows and little else, The Audacity isn’t a series that pops on the screen. Any aesthetic drawbacks are easily forgiven, since the show’s primary focus is its immense number of characters. Duncan’s wife, Lili (Lucy Punch), is bored with her husband’s drama, but can’t fully break away. Their daughter, Jamison (Ava Marie Telek), one of the show’s few likable characters, is teased about her weight by her own father, but remains determined to build her own life outside of her family. Once again, as she did with Barry, Goldberg is playing the wide-eyed woman barely holding it together. Her husband, Gary (Paul Adelstein), is a more ethical and thoughtful therapist, but that amounts to a one-note character who does little more than give JoAnne someone to bounce dialogue off of.
Some of The Audacity’s best characters are also its youngest. Orson (Everett Blunck), JoAnne’s teenage son, is new to town, a kid unwanted by both parents. If that’s not bad enough, his nerves are so bad that they’ve given him embarrassing bowel issues. He’s in awe of Tess (Thailey Roberge), the misunderstood bad girl who loves to steal. Watching them find each other provides rare joy amongst the drama. Tess’ parents, however, are sadly lacking as characters. Simon Helberg (The Big Bang Theory) is perhaps the most recognizable face, but he’s reduced to an obsession over the AI chatbot he’s created. There’s also little chemistry with his onscreen wife, Anushka (Meaghan Rath), Duncan’s simultaneous nemesis and confidant. She’s not given much meat to chew on until the later episodes, and the change she goes through feels more rushed than authentic.
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“Fact is, Walter White couldn’t have done it without me.”
The Audacity is stuffed with too many competing egos, and there’s seldom enough time to understand most of them, but two supporting characters stand out simply by being so different from the rest. Zach Galifianakis’s Carl Bardolph, another self-obsessed billionaire, is the richest of them all, complete with his own personal security, and sees JoAnne for his extreme anger issues. Cross him, and he might even stab you with a fork and feel no regret about it. Carl is quiet unless he’s exploding with rage, yet always thinking, which is bad news for some and good for others. The series’ most redeemable character of all, Tom Ruffage (Rob Corddry), is a fish out of water who works for the VA, looking to help veterans by finding a tech company to update their files. He’s the viewer’s way in, the normal guy who gets sucked into the chaos of all these strange people around him.
The best reason to watch The Audacity is Magnussen’s Duncan Park. The actor is pure chaos, so good at playing a seriously punchable character that simultaneously commands attention. Initially, it’s made clear that Duncan isn’t like the other Silicon Valley billionaires in the traditional sense. He was the other guy on a tech team, the one left behind when tragedy struck the brains of the operation. Unable to let go, Duncan’s both living with a ghost and willing to do anything to prove that he’s somebody, too.
Duncan, who’s at one point referred to as “a dumb man’s genius,” badly wants to be different, the type of character who rages when he takes a test for potential neurodivergence and is found to be completely typical. He’ll do damn near anything to win, not above begging or using his incredible wealth to get his way. Duncan Park may not be a good person, but his persistence is admirable in a world of rich people content with where they are. He’s the series’ driving force, the character who’s consistently given the best and funniest lines, and Magnussen shines in the role.
Magnussen’s been around for years, mostly in supporting roles or as a co-lead, so it’s hard to call Duncan Park his breakout, and we don’t know how successful his new series will be yet, despite AMC already renewing it for a second season, but The Audacity is the actor at his best. At the very least, it should propel him forward to an even bigger career. At best, maybe Emmy nomination talk is in order. The Audacity isn’t perfect, but the effort Magnussen gives nearly is.
The Audacity premieres April 12 on AMC.
](/tag/tv-show/the-audacity/) Billy Magnussen is the best at being the absolute worst.