The phrase "if you've seen one, you've seen them all" is rarely all that useful when talking about popular entertainment. Television thrives on genre stories, telling seemingly endless variations of medical, detective, and demonic procedures, all without losing its hard-earned audience attention. Also, dismissing any story as nothing more than a carbon copy of what you've already seen usually overlooks the craft of good television and/or its evolution. Sure, you could argue if you've already seen "Columbo" or "Monk" then you "understand" what "Poker Face" will be, but then you'd be dismissing Natasha Lyonne's smoky star power, Rian Johnson's ability. direction and artistic attributes within a clever "howcatchem".
But when it comes to "Love and Death," the original Max series from writer-producer David E. Kelley, the previously released options prove as plentiful as they are hard to ignore. More recently, there's "Candy," the 2022 Hulu original series from Nick Antosca and Robin Veith about Candy Montgomery, a suburban housewife who, in 1980, killed her friend Betty Gore with an axe. “Love and Death” tells the same true crime story across seven episodes, but despite being based on the exact same well, what really drowns out the new edition are its similarities to Kelley's previous projects. Whether Meryl Streep lured you into season 2 of "Big Little Lies" or she was unfortunate enough to endure "The Undoing," then she knows what to expect with "Love and Death," a provocative synopsis turned yet another paint-by-numbers. , disingenuous courtroom drama, where the only shocking twist is how little effort is put into distinguishing this series from all that came before it.
Stars: Elizabeth Olsen, Olivia Grace Applegate, Jesse Plemons
That being said, not everyone involved is guilty of negligence. Lesli Linka Glatter directs five of the seven episodes with a patience and curiosity that only her central star can match. “Love and Death” implements the dreaded opening in medium resolution, fast-forwarding to a glimpse of the grisly scene of the crime, but keeps the clues short enough to work more as reassurance than tease as the story takes its time. to get to the titular death. . Glatter enjoys setting the scene. Her camera sweeps across the city, inviting viewers into the warm, familiar, and spiritually guided streets of Wylie, TX. Candy (Elizabeth Olsen) sings in the church choir. She and her husband, Pat (Patrick Fugit), are on the parish council. She plays on the Methodists volleyball team and he cheers her on from the stands. Her best friend, Jackie (Elizabeth Marvel), is her preacher.
A random collision on the court leads her to notice Allan Gore (Jesse Plemons), and by "advertisement" from her, I mean she likes the married father of two. While she is an excellent homemaker and well-mannered member of the community, Candy is not one to mince words. She has an uncanny understanding of her desires, as well as what drives them, and she's quick to tell her "backdoor friends" exactly what she's thinking. "What do you mean 'he smelled like sex'?" Candy's other confidant, Sherry (Krysten Ritter), questions when she is informed of her sudden attraction. Candy, like any good parishioner, knows that having an affair is not a good idea. She is well aware that she could hurt her husband and Allan's wife, Betty (Lily Rabe), not to mention that she could jeopardize her good reputation in town. It's not that she doesn't care about those things, it's that she needs this. “I wasn't looking for the best. She was looking for something more transcendent,” she says.
Boy, does she find it, even if the series certainly doesn't. As Candy embarks on her fateful adventure, Kelley's interest in what forces her main character to take big risks plummets. The show seems content with the "boring housewife" explanation, acknowledging her repressed identity but never following through enough to point a finger at her faith, her education, or even tight-knit community. that she covets. The best that can be said of "Love and Death"'s thematic contributions to true crime is her surprising empathy for Candy. She doesn't exactly release her, but instead of looking at the many unknowns of her case, she completely buys into her story.