Amazon Prime/MGM's The Consultant, based on Bentley Little's nifty novel, is an eight-part, horror fable, with one foot pressed in cruel reality, the other in macabre fantasy (a neo American Psycho, for all intents). Christoph Waltz helms it, and as usual, he's shines in his charismatic villainy.
Waltz plays Regus Patoff, a Svengali "consultant" who enters faltering businesses and takes them under his wing (for keeps), convincing their CEOs to sign Faustian pacts that leave them dead, as their companies (their legacies) live on. Patoff acts like The Devil, and for all anyone knows, he may be just that, harboring compromising secrets and promoting wacky practices to pull and keep employees within his sick web. Because of his outrageous actions, his impact becomes detrimental to all he enshrouds.
The series begins with a clandestine Patoff blackmailing (for a lack of a better term) a young, gaming entrepreneur named Sang-woo (Brian Yoon), whose death is caused per an armed, brainwashed child, who visits the video maestro's office. Patoff makes his presence widespread soon thereafter at Sang's Compware hub (much in the vein of David Thewliss' V.M. Vargas in Fargo: Season 3), announcing that, per a contract signed a short period prior to Sang's death, he's there to prevent the gaming source from falling into financial ruin.
Patoff is ruthless in his demands, deriding remote workers and any employee who may wish to take a sick or vacation day. He even humiliates a sensitive worker named Ian (Michael Charles Vaccaro) simply because of the man's alleged scent and even goes so far as to set workers into a fighting frenzy to seize a coveted office.
Patoff proves so goddamn uncompromising that two of his more intuitive employees, Craig (Nat Wolff) and Elaine (Brittany O'Grady), begin to investigate his background. Archived, office recordings shed light on Patoff's dominance over the once cocky Sang, but without heard words, without precise documentation and motivation behind the men's odd interaction, it's hard to pinpoint how their relationship formed.
Craig ultimately comes upon a former Patoff associate, an amicable jeweler named Frank Flores (Juan Carlos Cantu). It appears that Patoff indirectly requested the gent to make him a gold skeleton, piece by piece over time (through specialized doctors' requests, delivered during lunch visits to Flores' shop). But for what purpose? Why is it that the trim Patoff has trouble ascending stairs? Why is there continual reference to the man weighing more than he looks? Why do some of his acquaintances have missing limbs? The insinuations are creepy and of course, only add to Patoff's frightful mystique.
The show's cat-and-mouse structure works to The Consultant's benefit, with its later half becoming more Frankenstein than Faust, though the satanic depths behind Patoff's persona never fades (and let's face it, Mary Shelley's novel holds many Faustian allusions). The overriding horror, however, springs from how the corporate monster maintains his pitiless thumb over Craig and Elaine, or anyone who dares to question his bizarre authority, and it's fun (in the best, suspenseful way) to cheer on those who wish to end their tormentor's reign.
To its detriment, the series is a tad ambiguous at times, teasing in pivotal parts, only to spark more insinuations, with many questions remaining unresolved in the end. A Consultant sequel seems possible (if not likely), if some of these loose ends can be tied within it, thus allowing Patoff's dark influence to seep through in other haunting yet precise ways. A prequel, however, might be the wiser option, which could snuff most of the ambiguity and clarify Patoff's position in not only the existing season but beyond.
Whether it be casual or ardent fans, few could argue that The Consultant has no more to tell. Let Waltz's conniving chill continue to ensure that this madman becomes an ongoing and noted member of twisted, popular culture. Though the character may not deserve the right to harm people, he does deserve the exalted notoriety that such inhumanity brings.
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