Hulu launched another exclusive Monday, this one an enigmatic serial called "The Booth at the End" that is set entirely at a table in a diner and told through a series of conversations.
Xander Berkeley plays a mysterious man who has set up shop in the titular booth, where individuals seek him out for the ability he seems to have to give people what they want.
"The Booth at the End" has already aired for one season in the U.K. Hulu will air those 30-minute episodes to take the action up through the current on-air run.
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Berkelely's character corrects one such potential client who says that she's heard he can do things: "I create opportunities for people to do things."
His questionable m.o. involves offering Faustian bargains to the desperate and dumb, who seem all too willing to go along with the offers, which often involve elaborate, dangerous or ridiculous steps to complete.
For example, a young woman who wants to be prettier is told that it'll happen — if she steals precisely $101,043 from a bank.
An elderly women who wants to prolong her Alzheimer's-stricken husband's life is informed that she must build a bomb and use it to kill a number of people for the deal to be consummated.
Berkeley's real-life wife, Sarah Clarke, plays another sucker, a disillusioned nun who offers a hint at what's really happening here.
"How do I know you're not the devil?" she asks after sitting down.
Berkeley's answer: "You can't."
To hear God speak to her again, she's told that she must get pregnant.
Deliberately slow moving yet compelling nonetheless, "The Booth at the End" is a fine addition to Hulu's growing exclusive content. Its stand-out drama to date, "The Confession," starred Berkeley's old "24" pal Kiefer Sutherland.
Here's the first 22-minute episode for "The Booth at the End."