The Shards Shows Ryan Murphy at His Best and Most Frustrating

The Shards closed out its first season last week. Throughout its eight-episode run, I was annoyed with a show I still wanted to keep watching.

I cared about Bret and Robert, not in the sense of whether they’d be okay or not, but about finding out just how messed up and broken they were. Deep, deep down.

But the finale’s final scene put every major character in a room, declared them all suspects, and left me with no definitive answer; my reaction was: haven’t we been doing this all season?

It is a familiar feeling with Ryan Murphy’s shows (he co-created this one with Bret Easton Ellis, the author of the source material).

I get hooked by the characters, the setting, the visuals, and the sheer audacity of what I’m watching.

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Then I get to the point where I wish someone would stop adding things and work with what they’ve got so far. The Shards has so much going for it.

That’s exactly what makes its refusal to give a more satisfying ending so annoying.

Bret and Robert’s Chemistry Keeps Me Invested

The sexual chemistry between Bret and Robert is one of the best things about The Shards. If you are surprised by that statement, you haven’t been paying attention.

Right from the first moment we meet him, Robert is framed as someone Bret can’t stop looking at. He is an object of both fascination and revulsion.

Bret may think Robert is the serial killer the police are hunting in the city for, but he also can’t wait to, um, get closer to him — if you get my drift.

While I’d really like to know who the Trawler is, I’d also like the show to explore the other mystery.

And that is: whether Bret is trying to prove how dangerous Robert is to anyone who would listen or finds other reasons to be with him.

That ambiguity is brilliantly captured by Igby Rigney (Bret) and Homer Gere (Robert). Bret wants answers from someone whose approval matters to him.

And that already casts a shadow over his reliability before you even consider the facts.

The entire show is narrated through his perspective, and there is enough evidence to suggest he’s an unreliable narrator. I like having to question him without losing interest in what he’ll do next. Their encounter in The Shards Season 1 Episode 8 brings those feelings to the surface.

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Bret may really have had sex with Robert, or he may have imagined it. Robert certainly claims to have no memory of the encounter. The episode leaves room to question what actually happened.

The ambiguity works for me because, whether anything actually happened or not, it reveals the kind of relationship Bret wants with Robert.

This sort of messy melodrama is what Murphy’s shows excel at.

I appreciate the glamour and excess. In The Shards, I am watching a tale of wealthy LA teenagers whose lives revolve around appearance, secrets, and wanting things they probably shouldn’t have.

Some restraint would help the storytelling. But too much might take away the pleasure.

The Finale Left Me Waiting Instead of Satisfied

I get it. Season 1 finales have to end on cliffhangers to keep the audience engaged. But there has to be something satisfying about the season we’ve just seen too.

You can tease a future season without making us feel like somebody hit pause.

Also, the final gathering on The Shards Season 1 Episode 8, “Stairway to Heaven,” would have worked for me if it had changed how we understand these characters.

But the finale largely confirmed what we already knew: that they all have secrets and every single one of them has motives to do terrible things.

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They have made me suspicious throughout the season. Putting them together so dramatically doesn’t make it a revelation.

And I don’t necessarily need the Trawler unmasked and arrested. I do enjoy an unresolved mystery. Sometimes uncertainty gives me something interesting to think about.

Bret’s supposed encounter with Robert is a good example. It alone tells us more about Bret’s character than the rest of his scenes combined.

I can turn that over in my head and find something worth discussing.

I’m still invested in Bret and Robert, but I wanted the finale to give me more than another reason to wait.

Did The Shards leave you intrigued, frustrated, or somewhere in between?

And is their chemistry enough to keep you watching?

Let me know in the comments.

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