- Title: Panhandle – To Bell or Not To Bell?
- IMDb: link
Similar to Endgame (the one with Shawn Doyle not Morena Baccarin), the opening episode of Panhandle casts Luke Kirby as a genius agoraphobic haunted by his wife’s murder who helps the police solve crimes. In the case of Panhandle, named after the northern swampy region of Florida, Kirby stars as Bell Prescott a Renaissance man who put his life on hold after the death of his wife (Lorenza Izzo who appears as a ghost talking to only him) and has taken up the hobby of solving crimes from his manor. Our other main character is overworked patrol officer Cammie Lorde (Tiana Okoye) called in when a dead body is found on the Bell property.
Lorde isn’t overjoyed with Bell’s interest in the case, or his help, but his craziness is a chance to break out from manning the local speed trap. The odd couple pairing works well enough, with Bell and Cammie each pushing the other out of their comfort zone to solve the crime, but the writers go a bit overboard in giving both characters dark secretive pasts which overcomplicates the proceedings. The setting plays a large role in the pilot episode with gators and general Florida buffoonery shown or mentioned several times over. We also meet an assortment Bell’s odd friends (including Wallace Smith, Melanie Minichino, and Forrest Goodluck) who will return in later episodes.
