Parents' Guide to The Consultant

Wonderfully weird and at every turn unexpected, this series simultaneously works as an absurd workplace comedy and sci-fi horror drama, both anchored by idiosyncratic writing and strong performances. The thing about The Consultant that keeps delighting viewers is its surprises, as if we'd wandered into a season-long episode of The Twilight Zone. Open a door and there might be a supply closet behind it, or a long corridor full of unearthly pulsing blue lights that leads to another dark doorway. Regus Patoff twinkles and chomps on churros like a friendly wacky-neighbor type, right before he does something positively inhuman to the terrified workers hanging in there for their paycheck.

The other great thing about The Consultant is that the cast, with the definite exception of the unsettling Waltz, perfectly recreates normal human reactions to all the weirdness. Elaine and Craig are drawn into trying to uncover Patoff's origins and identity, but the coworkers around them are just getting through another day at the office. Whether they can keep populating the background and drawing a salary while Elaine and Craig continue to make dismaying discoveries is anyone's guess. But it's fun to see them try.