Claire Danes as Aggie Wiggs in "The Beast in Me."
Matthew Rhys as Nile Jarvis in "The Beast in Me."
Brittany Snow as Nina Jarvis in "The Beast in Me."

With actors like Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys, how do you go wrong?

To be fair, it's not that Netflix's "The Beast in Me," a new psychological thriller starring the Emmy-winning alums of "Homeland" and "The Americans," respectively, goes entirely wrong. It just doesn't go quite right enough to live up to the talent and credentials of its two leads. And no matter how strong your actors are, it doesn't make up for weak scripts surrounding them.

"Beast" (now streaming, ★★ out of four) is a sadly middling new limited series, too much of a slow-burn to be a proper suspense drama. Instead of tension, emotional stakes or anticipation, "Beast" is built mostly of suburban New York moodiness, withering glares from Rhys and Danes' furrowed brows. There is something there, but it takes far too long to arrive at anything interesting. And in our age of near-infinite television to sort through, that's precious time most viewers just don't have to spare.

"Beast" opens with an almost painfully plodding first episode before its subsequent episodes start to tell the actual story. In a wealthy New York City suburb resides Agatha Wiggs (Danes), a once-celebrated author struggling to deliver her hotly anticipated book number two. She's divorced, mourning a loss and living alone in a huge crumbling house, when a notorious billionaire moves in down the block. Everyone thinks ruthless real estate mogul Nile Jarvis (Rhys) killed his first wife and got away with it, and now Nile and his new Stepford bride Nina (Brittany Snow) are knocking on Aggie's door asking for lunch and favors. And, she suspects, Niles is possibly still committing violent crimes.

Disgusted and intrigued, Aggie eventually pitches Nile that she should write a book about him, and he reticently agrees. Meanwhile Aggie is feeding information to a disgraced FBI agent (David Lyons) obsessed with taking Jarvis down.

The story requires a hefty amount of set-up, and even after a premiere that lackadaisically puts all the pieces on the chess board it's still not entirely clear what the intentions for all the characters really are. Series creator Howard Gordon, who worked with Danes on "Homeland," might consider Aggie's muddled motivations for her actions a feature of the mysterious and melodramatic series, but it ends up being a bug. If we can't understand our protagonist, we can't relate to her.

It doesn't help that the series can't decide if it's a mystery or a sick love story, if it's about Aggie and Niles' weird relationship or about the crimes she's trying to solve. It see-saws tonally and thematically, offering us only confusion and whiplash as we attempt to follow along.

Danes is a remarkable actress, but she's sliding into cliché with her character choices. Aggie is the same kind of harried, unstable and obsessive that her character was in "Homeland," which was also quite similar to her recent role in FX limited series "Fleishman Is In Trouble." Danes is excellent at looking stressed and overwhelmed and on the verge of tears, but that's all we've seen from her for quite some time in her most prominent roles. It wouldn't hurt for her to venture a character who experiences joy.

Rhys, however, is the series' highlight, clearly having an absolute ball playing a rich creep. His expressive face can range from welcoming to eerie, and you'll have goosebumps every time his flashes a slimy smile. Once the show starts digging into his character, including introducing Jonathan Banks ("Better Call Saul") as his father, the tempo and intrigue pick up.

There is a great deal of potential in the actors, writer and characters that make up "Beast." Added together in just the right way, it could have been the kind of edge-of-your-seat thriller "Homeland" was. But the rough edges of the series haven't been buffed out. It's feels like a first draft that needs to be greatly pared down and honed into something more cohesive. It's not so poorly crafted as to be entirely skippable, but it also cannot truly shine.

It's a darn shame, as Rhys and Danes are among our greatest working actors today, and seeing them together is likely the reason viewers will tune in. Thankfully they both have long careers ahead of them with plenty of of opportunity to try something better next time.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: With Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys, Netflix's 'The Beast in Me' should be better

Reporting by Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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