My Favorite Final Girl Returns Tonight

Hey Creepy Catalogers,

Tonight is the premiere of Clarice on CBS at 10/9c. You’ll be able to stream it here. I’ve seen the first two episodes so far and I’m so excited about this reboot!

Growing up, final girls were one of my introductions to feminism. First it was Sidney Prescott from Scream. As I got older it was STEM goddess Dana Scully from The X-Files and then the fearless FBI trainee who went toe-to-toe with Hannibal Lector and came out on top. I’m talking about Clarice Starling.

What most people forget about The Silence of the Lambs is that Clarice Starling was just a student at the FBI academy. She was called out of Quantico by her mentor to begin work in the FBI’s Behavioral Sciences Unit by interviewing convicted serial killer Hannibal Lector. Clarice and her boss believed that Lector could provide desperately needed insight on another serial killer, Buffalo Bill, who was terrorizing the country.

As if there is any doubt that (especially in the early 90’s setting) Clarice was taking up space in a man’s world, on her very first FBI assignment interviewing Lector at the asylum he’s committed to she’s sexually harassed by the asylum’s director and then attacked by an inmate who throws his semen at her. 😰

Clarice persevered, got the information from Lector, and closed the Buffalo Bill case, rescuing the daughter of a U.S. senator in the process. She became a hero in the press and went home to graduate with honors from the FBI academy. The Clarice series picks up one year after the events of The Silence of the Lambs.

Clarice is again asked to leave her comfort zone and work with men who don’t want her there. U.S. Senator Ruth Martin (whose daughter, Catherine Martin, Clarice rescued from Buffalo Bill) is now the Attorney General. She asks Clarice to join her in Washington, DC to investigate a strange string of serial murders. The boys in Washington aren’t happy.

You can watch the trailer here.

Clarice premieres tonight on CBS at 10/9c. Join me in the comments section here if you want to chat/drop your thoughts on the episode. I’ll be back tomorrow with some recommendations for horror streaming this weekend, especially if you’re looking for some slasher movies to snuggle up with for Valentine’s Day.

Stay Spooky!