Starz's new series "Gaslit" – created by Robbie Pickering and based on the first season of the "Slow Burn" podcast – starts out like an outtake from "Apocalypse Now." A heavily mustached G. Gordon Liddy (Shea Whigham) lectures about masculinity while holding his hand over a burning flame until his skin sizzles. It's a strange start, but Whigham sticks with the robust program, portraying Liddy like a violate Robert Bly, his antics over the top, cartoonish, even for Liddy.
Whigham is one of several cast members in "Gaslit" unrecognizable under facial hair or prosthetics. Sean Penn is another, extra chins and heavy black eyebrows adding years. His portrayal of John Mitchell stands out in the series, as does, of course, Julia Roberts as his wife, Martha. Deeply loving, deeply violent and always sparring, increasingly desperately, the two have a relationship that recalls another Martha, from "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
