October 1, 2014 (2014-10-01) – May 18, 2015 (2015-05-18)
Stalker was an American police procedural crime dramatelevision series about victims of stalking and the detectives of the LAPD's Threat Assessment Unit who investigate the crimes. The show ran for one season on CBS, from October 1, 2014, to May 18, 2015. The series aired on Wednesdays for seventeen episodes and Monday for the last three.[1][2]
On May 8, 2015, CBS canceled Stalker after one season, ending the show on an unresolved cliffhanger.[3]
Plot summary
Det. Jack Larsen is a recent transfer to the LAPD Threat Assessment Unit from the NYPD homicide division, whose confidence, strong personality, and questionable behavior has landed him in trouble before—but whose past behavior may also prove valuable in his new job. His boss, Lt. Beth Davis, is strong, focused and an expert in the field, driven by her traumatic personal experience. With the rest of their team, young but eager Det. Ben Caldwell and deceptively smart Det. Janice Lawrence, Larsen and Davis assess the threat level of cases and respond before the stalking and intimidation spirals out of control, all while trying to keep their personal obsessions at bay.
Cast and characters
Main
Maggie Q as Beth Davis: a victim of stalking. Born Michelle Webber, Davis changed her name following the stalking-related death of her family. She's now a Lieutenant II in the LAPD and the officer-in-charge of the Threat Assessment Unit (TAU). Introverted, Davis considers her team to be her surrogate family; and, when she's not investigating stalking cases, she's lecturing at university campuses on the subject.
Dylan McDermott as Jack Larsen: an LAPD Detective II. He recently transferred to the TAU from the NYPD Homicide Division to be near his son. Hired because of his friends "upstairs", Larsen had to earn the respect of Davis and her team, who thought there were more deserving candidates for his position.
Mariana Klaveno as Janice Lawrence: a Detective II who is second-in-command of Davis' unit.
Victor Rasuk as Ben Caldwell: a Detective I, and a rookie member of the TAU.
Elisabeth Röhm as Amanda Taylor: the mother of Jack's son. Lovers in New York, Amanda left Jack to start a new life at the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office. She currently serves as the TAU's Deputy D.A.
Detective Jack Larsen, relocating from New York, arrives for his first day on the job working for Lieutenant Beth Davis with the elite TAU team in Los Angeles. The team tackles two cases: a stalker who has an unusual affinity for setting his victims on fire, and a college student who is charged with assault but later says he was defending himself from harassment by Perry, a former roommate he had thrown out. Elsewhere, Jack himself spies on a mother and her child, later revealed to be his ex-girlfriend, Deputy D.A. Amanda Taylor, and their son Ethan Taylor. In the end, Perry follows Beth home.
Hannah (Sammi Hanratty) is babysitting her 7-year-old brother, Thomas, and appears to be the victim of a stalker. Early evidence leads the team to a man named Barnes, who is a registered sex offender. While Barnes has several photos of Hannah, it later becomes clear that he did nothing more. The TAU acts on further clues that lead them to the theory that Thomas was the intended target and not Hannah. They find a neighboring woman who lost a son about Thomas' age. Perry returns to confront Beth, who punched him in a parking lot in the previous episode. Janice invites Jack out for drinks to celebrate the collar in the Thomas case, but he politely refuses. Near the end of the episode, Amanda gives Jack a stern warning to leave L.A. within two weeks or she will reveal a damaging secret from his past. Perry is shown to have followed Beth and makes contact with a friend of hers.
Jack wonders aloud why Beth seems to hate him. A woman named Cara is about to marry her lesbian partner when she is shot by a sniper. Cara's ex-husband Paul (Preston Jones) is immediately suspected, as he showed up at the ceremony two hours earlier and was upset about losing his romantic relationship to a woman. But, in a twist, the team finds that Cara's father Jimmy (Louis Herthum), an LA policeman, has enemies—including Silas Martin (Michael Irby), a Special Forces veteran whom Jimmy fired for being unstable. At the end of the episode, Jack learns he only got the TAU job because his former captain in New York was owed a favor by the L.A. captain, Trent, who is Beth's boss. Beth says there were 372 applicants and Jack wasn't even in the top 20, but she acknowledges, "you're lucky you don't suck". Amanda reminds Jack that the clock is ticking on his two-week timeline to leave L.A. Jack later spies on Amanda and Ethan again, and sees that Trent is Amanda's boyfriend.
The TAU team tackles the case of a stalker who plays on the phobias of various women. Upon further investigation, Jack offers a theory that the suspect is motivated by excitement to terrorize his victims rather than kill them. This leads them to dating websites that connect the victims, and a past rape case in which the suspect, Chris Powell (David Chisum), was able to escape conviction. The rape victim reveals she moved to a top floor of a high-rise building because Powell has a fear of heights. After he and Beth locate the suspect in an abandoned office building, Jack uses Powell's fear to get him to reveal the location of his current victim. Elsewhere, Beth's friend Tracy talks about her romantic interest, a much younger man who is later revealed to be Perry. Perry extracts information about Beth from Tracy. He uses it to discover that "Beth Davis" did not exist until she enrolled in the police academy. It is also revealed that Perry has drawn several gruesome sketches of Beth and himself, including one in which he is choking her on a bed. At the end of the episode, Jack and Janice begin a physical romantic relationship but not until he quickly tears his photos of Amanda and Ethan off the wall.
A college sophomore is stalked in a costume shop by a clown that is suspected to be her obsessive ex-boyfriend. Ben finds evidence online that it was the ex-boyfriend's roommate, acting on his behalf. The girl and her roommate rent a house that is rumored to be haunted after a woman Amy hung herself in the basement and her husband Greg committed suicide after discovering her body. When the girl is stalked again at the house, her ex-boyfriend and his roommate have indisputable alibis. Jack finds evidence in the basement, pointing the TAU team toward a professor of paranormal and occult studies at the college. However the professor dies when the girls throw a Halloween party at the house. Ben and Janice research the house's former owners. They call Jack to tell him the legend is only half true. Amy committed suicide, but there is no record of Greg's death. Jack discovers a hidden room in the basement. He is attacked by Greg, who is quickly neutralized by Beth. Elsewhere, Perry learns that Beth's real name is Michelle Webber. He reads an article that says Michelle had lost her family (father, mother, sister and family dog) in a house fire and she was the only survivor. A masked Perry later follows Beth around at the Halloween party, and she discovers him. He calls her Michelle in a low voice. At home, Beth calls a psychiatric institution and confirms that a certain patient number 5679 is still confined there and asks if he has had any visitors. Amanda gives Jack a final warning to leave Los Angeles, and their heated conversation is witnessed by Janice. When Jack follows Amanda and Ethan during Halloween night, he makes contact with Ethan by helping him.
The home of Andrea Brown (Jessica Tuck) is invaded during a dinner party, though the culprit disappears before being seen. The home has been vandalized with graffiti about greed and evil. Andrea, the chair of an arts foundation, has a restraining order against her ex-husband, Kenneth (Alex Carter). Detective Janice Lawrence is her case manager. They confront Kenneth in his new home with his new girlfriend, Melissa (Caity Lotz). The two insist it is they who are being harassed by Andrea. Next, Andrea returns home and opens a package addressed to her. It contains the dead body of her dog with a passage from the Bible about greed. Because of the Bible passage, the TAU team considers Melissa a suspect due to her father being a pastor. Andrea is then brutally attacked in a parking garage. Later at a charity event, Jack notes the font on some posters is the same as that used in the graffiti. The team then considers the artist (Michael Roark) a suspect. The artist has been sleeping with Andrea and says Andrea paid him to attack her. After the interview, Andrea's story begins to unravel. Meanwhile, Ethan bumps into Jack while Jack is watching him leave for school. Amanda confronts Jack and insists he must relocate immediately; her waiting time has ended. She mentions an incident in New York in which Jack had a romance with a witness, which she will report to Beth. Jack says if she does, Amanda will also be exposed for wrongdoing because she knew about the incident and did nothing. Jack tries to preempt any action by revealing the incident to Beth, who simply tells Jack to "fix it". He later pleads with Amanda for a second chance to stay in LA and promises to stay away from Ethan.
Actress Nina Pressly (AnnaLynne McCord) is a popular star of a show called Savage Shore. While she is home, her home is invaded; music plays, candles burn, a dinner has been prepared and flower petals are spread on the bed, but she does not get a good look at the invader. She has had four stalkers in the past three years. The team first investigates Heather Miller (Bethany Orr), a delusional, potentially violent stalker who had been arrested in the past, but she does not appear to fit the profile of the crime scene. They also investigate paparazzo Edward Gaines (Scott Michael Campbell), who has a knack for knowing exactly where Nina will be. Gaines reveals he has an insideinformant, Nina's sister and assistant Emily (Heather Matarazzo). When Nina learns of this betrayal, she and Emily have a bad fight. Nina banishes her from the house. Outside the house, Emily is attacked in a manner reminiscent of a scene from Savage Shore. The team finds out the attacker, Robbie (Brendan Sexton III), has a delusional disorder but has stopped taking his anti-psychotic medication. Robbie's domineering and overprotective mother, Nancy (Molly Hagan), is revealed to have acted on her son's behalf. Meanwhile, Tracy's boyfriend "Brody" (Perry) steals Beth's personal information from Tracy's phone. He later breaks into Beth's home and makes himself comfortable while she is not there. Beth receives a letter with a copy of the article on the fire and she thinks it is from Ray (patient number 5679), but the institution says there is no way the patient could have sent it.
When menacing motorcyclists drive by his house during a neighborhood cook out, Mark Evans Richards (Marc Blucas) hurries his family indoors. Later that night while he is showering, his wife Christina (Christina Vidal) yells. He rushes outside to see a fire in the front yard. Without his shirt on, his tattoos reveal his Nazi sympathizing, white supremacist past to his neighbors. The team questions him about his past to assess the threat to his family. He explains that he changed his ways after falling in love with his Hispanic wife. Later Mark receives a phone call in which his family is threatened. He tells the team he recognizes the voice as Chad Hewitt (Darri Ingolfsson), a former protege who leads a white separatist group that Hewitt claims is a non-violent political organization. After the team questions Chad in his home, a bomb nearly kills Mark's son in his backyard. Mark assaults Chad in revenge, but after the TAU team questions Chad, they realize he did not plant the bomb. Attention turns to Mark's neighbors, one of whom is an Asian American who was the victim of a racially-motivated hate crime in the past. Elsewhere, Trent correctly deduces that Ethan is Jack's son. Trent asks Amanda why she will not let Jack have contact with Ethan. Amanda explains "it's complicated," as Ethan listens from behind a wall. In the last scene, Beth receives a package containing a teddy bear. It is identical to an old one she has in storage that was damaged in the house fire.
Psychiatrist Adam Lewis (Jay Karnes) hears an intruder in his office and later finds a gift box with a pair of women's panties. He consults the TAU and tells them of a woman suffering from auditory hallucinations named Claudia Burke (Madeline Brewer) who has stalked him in the past, even following him and his wife (Kate Norby) on a trip to Phoenix, Arizona. At Claudia's home, Jack and Janice discover her attempting suicide in her garage. Verifying Claudia's alibi for the night of Lewis' office break-in, the team investigates other patients who had issues with Dr. Lewis. Ben finds negative reviews on a website, and Lewis suggests they were written by a former patient named Shelly Walker (Vedette Lim), an alcoholic whose posts blame Lewis for ruining her marriage. At Shelly's home, Jack and Ben find only her husband, Jason Walker (Wes Ramsey). Jason confirms Shelly left him when he became sober and she could not, but an interview with Shelly reveals it is Jason who is still drinking, while she is the sober one. The team returns to the house and finds liquor bottles along with proof that Jason wrote the damning web reviews of Lewis, posing as Shelly. They race to Lewis's office and find Jason there, preparing what would appear to be the doctor's suicide. Elsewhere, Beth confronts Tracy and asks if anyone could have extracted information from her phone, but Tracy insists that Beth's personal information is password protected. At the end of the episode, Beth secretly follows Tracy and sees her meet with Perry in a bar. Beth then breaks into Perry's apartment and sees his gruesome drawings.
Henry White (Jeff Howard) is a bus driver who is beaten one night in the bus yard. Henry reports to the TAU that he suspects Nora Garcia, a woman with whom he had a one night stand, but Nora has a solid alibi. Shortly after, Henry is brutally attacked by a woman (not Nora) in his home; his hands are nailed to the head of his bed. Later, Sophia (Chasty Ballesteros), a hairdresser, is attacked by a client, "Danielle", after hours in her hair salon. The TAU makes a connection and identifies "Danielle" as Cory James (A Leslie Kies). Cory had been reported missing by her mother (Jennifer Parsons) who explains her daughter changed drastically after the drug overdose death of her best friend. The TAU find a yearbook in Cory's room with pictures of Henry and Sophia blacked out. From this connection, Cory's motivation for the attacks is revealed: she and her friend were raped in high school. They eventually take Cory into custody, but they inform her they have caught and will prosecute her rapist which provides closure for her. Meanwhile, Beth explains to Tracy she has identified boyfriend "Brody" as Perry Whitley, a stalker she had previously arrested and tells her about the photos found in Perry's apartment. The TAU team ask Beth what is wrong, but she rebuffs their offers for help until after Perry confronts her in the parking lot, telling her he knows about her old life, especially about Ray burning down the house and killing her family.
Stella (Laurie Fortier), the ex-wife of professional hockey player Tom Wade (Jason Wiles) is stalked in her home. Suspicion falls on Tom, but he appears to have a solid alibi. The TAU team finds that Stella has written a tell-all book that has yet to be published, and they start investigating people who were shown in a negative light in the book. But when a few of these people wind up missing, they learn the publisher has been leaking drafts of the book to create a pre-release anticipatory excitement and resulting chatter. The team finds that the missing people have disappeared in the order of the book's chapters. When the next victim that disappears is out of order, Ben deduces that the real suspect has an earlier draft of the book, leading the team via a ghostwriter back to Tom. Elsewhere, Beth finally asks Janice for help, revealing the issues with Perry. Beth says Perry is very intelligent, and he has not left behind clues that can get him arrested, so Janice provokes Perry until he explodes, after which he is arrested for attacking an officer. Ethan approaches Jack in the street, and Jack then goes to Amanda with suspicions that Ethan knows who he is. Amanda remembers the conversation with Trent and realizes that Ethan must have overheard. She later invites Jack to visit with Ethan.
The office of Mayor Will Hayes (Brett Cullen) receives a threatening package in the form of a scary clown. The TAU looks into previous threats: Alice (Angela Gulner), an escort he has known; and Drew (Raphael Sbarge), a possessive client of Alice. Given the mayor's relationship with the escort, they also question his wife Elaine (Andrea Roth) and son Craig (Benjamin Papac). Meanwhile, Beth asked Amanda for help with Perry. Amanda offered Perry probation. Perry makes bail, then disappears. He is later shown visiting Ray in the mental facility, saying they have a common interest.
John Bardo (Kerr Smith) is being stalked. A former stalker of his, despite being recently released on parole, is deemed not to be the culprit after he violates his parole after attacking John's new girlfriend, Lauren (Erin Daniels). John's girlfriend turns out to be a former stalker of Keith (David Julian Hirsh), John's rival at the station. She holds him hostage in the station's dressing room. John eventually disarms her while she is distracted as she talks to Keith. Perry has Ray released by using a specialist's evaluation. Ray calls Beth, telling her he will see her soon. Ben is informed of Beth's history with Ray as Michelle. The team comes to Beth's place for a pizza and beer night to keep her company.
Dave Knox (Michael Rady) proposes to Nicole Clark (Phoebe Tonkin) on a pier. She happily accepts, but the engagement ring is snatched. At the police, Dave and Nicole report this to the TAU because they thought it might be related to a red truck that seemed to be following them. They also explain neither of their exes took their relationship well. Dave's ex, Stephanie (Ashley Johnson), is not bitter and has moved on with a better boyfriend. Nicole's ex, Mike Harris (Sam Page) is her boss in her lifeguard position at the beach. He agrees he didn't take the break-up well, but that he is happy for her. At a nighttime beach party, Dave leaves to get beer. In a tunnel, a hooded figure throws a lighter onto an accelerant which burns Dave to death. The TAU pursue another lead, Juan (Hector Luis Bustamante) and Isabelle (Andrea Savo), the parents of a boy who died at the beach on Nicole's watch. Juan denies that they would do anything to hurt anyone. Later, it is discovered that the red truck belongs to Isabelle, though she explains away her presence. When it is discovered that Nicole rescued her friend and roommate Zoe Parsons (Nicholle Tom), a new motive emerges. Elsewhere, Amanda invites Jack to a dinner with her and Ethan, causing a break-up with Trent, while Jack shows up at Beth's home alone to support her with food and movies.
Baker (Andrew W. Walker), a young and handsome high school coach, receives threatening text messages and is nearly killed under the basketball court's bleachers. Suspecting a student named Jenny Klein (Cole Bernstein) whom he believes is romantically interested in him, he reports this to the TAU. Jenny and her adoptive mother (Lauren Bowles) confirm she has a rocky relationship with a boyfriend Emmet (Peter Coventry Smith), but insist she is not threatening Coach Baker. This brings the team into a morass of high school antics with Jenny's best friend Alexis (Caitlin Carver), Dierdre (Sofia Vassilieva) who is trying to steal Emmet, Tripp (Austin Lyon) the gossip, and Ian (Sterling Beaumon) the instigator. The TAU team is baffled until discovering that Alexis is actually 21 years old and that Jenny's adoptive mother is Alexis' birth mother. Meanwhile, Perry and Ray share a hotel room together, where Perry gets to know Ray, but Ray hits Perry and asserts control of their relationship. Ray then hatches a plan to make contact with Beth by going after her work family.
After being threatened by a man (Craig Gellis) outside her apartment, Isabelle (Sara Paxton) tells the TAU about a boyfriend, Oscar (J. D. Pardo), against whom she has a restraining order. After a threat from a group of people surrounding Isabelle's car, the TAU investigate a "Celestial" cult whose leader is a charismatic man named Abraham (Michael Landes). It is revealed that Isabelle's friend and neighbor Lucy (Samaire Armstrong) is a member of the cult. Meanwhile, Perry and Ray discuss plans for isolating Beth by removing members of her "family" (the TAU personnel), but Perry wants some ground rules. Ray's first victim is Amanda, as he slams her head against her car.
As Amanda recovers in the hospital, Ray kidnaps Tracy, escalating tension between himself and Perry. When the investigator hired by Perry's father tracks Perry to the hotel room hideout, Ray kills him. Meanwhile, Beth is relieved of her command by experienced stalker expert Vicki Gregg (Mira Sorvino) as the team focuses on saving Tracy. Ray leaves a trail of clues for the investigators, hoping to lure Beth to an auto junkyard where he is keeping Tracy. Perry tries to stop Ray and helps Tracy escape, only to have Ray beat him to death. The team finds Tracy alive, but the distraction gives Ray the opportunity he wanted: to attack Beth in her home. After apparently overcoming an officer stationed outside the home, Ray shoots Ben and kidnaps Beth. As the TAU team tries to save Ben's life, Beth awakens in the trunk of a car, next to Perry's dead body.
While Ben is in critical condition in the hospital, Beth fights for her life after Ray drags her to a remote cabin in the woods. Agent Gregg tells the TAU that the FBI is managing the case, given the strong possibility that Ray has taken Beth across state lines, most likely back to Washington. Jack and Janice work on their own, digging into Ray's profile and history to discover the hideout location. They determine that Ray and Beth are in Ojai, California, and, defying Agent Gregg, they rush to try and save Beth. Also, Ben awakens in the hospital.
Pam Tyler (Shanola Hampton) is stalked and attacked, leading Janice to suspect a serial killer may be at large, targeting members of an addiction support group. Beth considers her future in the LAPD.
Beth, Jack, Vicki and the rest of the TAU team continue their search for a serial killer, and Vicki learns some startling information about her ex-husband.
Critical reception
Stalker received negative reviews from critics. The review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes reported that 20% of critics have given the show a positive review based on 49 reviews, with an average rating of 3.19/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Stalker is chock full of perverted subjects and ugly storylines, making it hard to watch even for those who like to watch."[24] Maureen Ryan of The Huffington Post called it "exploitative, misogynist trash".[25] At Metacritic, the series premiere garnered a score of 17 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike". The show also received negative reviews from Variety, USA Today, and The A.V. Club.[26]
Stalker was picked up by several broadcasters outside the United States. The Belgian station Vier airs Stalker as well every Sunday night as a part of their crime night. In South Africa, the series premiered on October 22, 2014, and airs on M-Net Edge on Wednesdays.[28] It premiered in the UK and Ireland on November 10, 2014, on Sky Living and airs on Mondays. In Romania, it airs every Wednesday on Diva.[29] In New Zealand the series premiered on TVNZ on January 12, 2015.[30] The series premiered in Australia on Nine Network on April 12, 2015.[31] The show also airs in France, on TF1. In Japan, Stalker is shown on cable/satellite channel AXN. In Greece, the series premiered in September 2016, on Star Channel.
