The series tells about three families who lived in different years in the same mansion in the wealthy area of Pasadena, California.
1963 Aerospace engineer Rob Stanton (Sam Jaeger) and his wife Beth Ann (Ginnifer Goodwin) move into the mansion. Beth Ann is a housewife, she spends all her free time cleaning the house and cooking.
The Stantons met their Italian neighbors Sheila (Alicia Coppola) and Leo (Adam Ferrara) Mosconi, after which Beth Ann began to periodically drink coffee with Sheila and chat with her about this and that. One day, after accidentally overhearing Sheila’s conversation in the store, Beth Ann learned that Sheila saw her husband Rob kissing a waitress in a diner.
Beth Ann went to chat with a waitress named April (Sadie Calvano), and somehow she and the girl became friends. Of course, April does not know that Bette Ann is Rob’s wife: Beth Ann called herself Sheila and gave April the Italian phone: if April calls, Sheila will call Beth Ann to the phone.
1984 The mansion is home to married couple Simone (Lucy Liu) and Karla Grove (Jack Davenport). Simone is married for the third time, she is very, very rich, the couple owns an art gallery. Simone is a socialite, she considers her life ideal. But everything changes dramatically when Simone finds out that her husband Carl is gay and that he is dating a certain waiter.
Then Simone herself indulges in all serious and starts a secret affair with an eighteen-year-old boy Tommy Hart (Leo Howard), the son of her best friend Naomi (Katie Finneran).
2019 year. The family of Eli Cohen (Reid Scott) and Taylor Harding (Carby Howell-Baptiste). Eli is a screenwriter who once wrote the script for a sensational film, but for the past two years he has been in crisis: he sits at home and does all sorts of nonsense. Taylor is a successful lawyer: she earns very good money, which allows her to pay for this mansion in which they live.
Eli and Taylor have an open marriage. Eli dates other women periodically, and Taylor dates periodically… other women.
At some point, Taylor brings her friend Jade (Alexandra Daddario), whom she has been dating for a long time, to the house. Jade is threatened by her ex-boyfriend, and Taylor asks Eli for permission to have Jade stay with them for a while.
***
Great series. It begins as a kind of black humor comedy, develops very actively and dynamically, and by the end turns into a powerful action-drama, and such a shift to another genre in this case looks quite logical and natural.
The dramaturgy is great! It is clearly seen how scrupulously the scriptwriters (there are eleven of them) worked on numerous storylines: interest in what is happening while watching is constantly growing, the finale became a real powerful climax, and also at the very end, the creators of the series skillfully and effectively connected several plot threads that have not crossed before.
In the course of the series, viewers are given hints several times about what will happen: literally in the second episode they show that in all three cases there were murders in this mansion, a certain mortuary worker also talks about the murders, but this does not spoil the impression, because anyway You can’t guess what will happen in the end.
It also looks very interesting move with the fact that viewers are shown three different time periods and episodes from these eras are mixed with each other, so here you get three exciting stories at once instead of one. And exciting – one way or another – they are all.
The sixties with their cars, hairstyles, manner of dressing and glued smiles, the eighties with exquisite outfits, social life and trendy clubs, the two thousandths with free relationships in the family and an interesting experiment when a married couple decided to try to live as a threesome – with a new girlfriend who was sunk both wife and husband.
Beth Ann from the sixties, performed by Ginnifer Goodwin, at first seemed like a kind of Betty housewife who doesn’t dare to utter a word against her husband, and when she finds out about his betrayal, she will simply suffer long and quietly, but this is actually one of the most interesting characters in the series . Let no one be fooled by her submissive appearance and constant, slightly embarrassed smile. Beth Ann is very, very difficult and capable of strong deeds. Here, purely scripturally, the role developed simply brilliantly, and Ginnifer played it in such a way that you understand: she is a really desperate housewife! (By the way, one of the directors of this series, David Grossman, just filmed Desperate Housewives, and the showrunner there is also Mark Cherry.)
And in this time zone, the Italian Sheila, played by Alicia Coppola, is still very interesting. Spectacular and domineering lady, explosive, like many Italians. At first, she seems to take Beth Ann under patronage, considering her to be incapable of anything, but in the process of observing how Beth Ann acts, Sheila quickly realizes that this woman does not need anyone’s patronage.
Lucy Liu as Simone – and does some kind of perfect disruption of the stereotype. Lucy Liu with her very characteristic appearance – and in the role of a socialite? However, the actress played Simone superbly: the character turned out to be very bright, going through numerous transformations throughout the series. And if at first it seems that Simone is just an exemplary glamorous rich bitch, then in the process you quickly begin to understand that – but no, this heroine is not at all as simple and primitive as it seems for some time when you first met her.
Very good is her husband Carl, played by Jack Davenport. A very smart, gentle and ironic person who really loves Simone. Their relationship by the end of the series became very touching.
In the third family of the two thousandth, the characters themselves are somewhat less bright, and I thought that they would mainly explore the “family of three” situation itself, but this part takes it at the expense of an action-packed development and everything is also not at all what you expect. And, as in the case of a family from the sixties, some stories from the past are very dosed to the audience, and then the picture of what is happening changes somewhat.
Captivating stories from the sixties and eighties, an interesting story from the 2000s, a very good production, a brilliant work of the scriptwriters, a powerful work of some of the actors, especially Ginnifer Goodwin and Lucy Liu, masterfully recreated the respective eras.
A wonderful series, I really liked it, I watched it literally in one breath and I strongly recommend not to miss it!
Initially, apparently, it was supposed to be a mini-series consisting of one season, where all the storylines ended at the end.
However, it has already been announced that CBS has ordered a second season of the series. (Now, however, it is not clear what will happen to all this because of the epidemic and quarantines.) I have an assumption that this will again be a format of three families from different times, only, of course, with completely new characters.
Why Women Kill serie meaning
Director: Mark Cherry Cast: Lucy Liu, Ginnifer Goodwin, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Alexandra Daddario, Sam Jaeger, Sadie Calvano, Jack Davenport, Reid Scott, Alicia Coppola, Leo Howard, Cathy Finneran, Adam Ferrara
Series, USA, 2019, 50 min. tragicomedy-drama, 10 episodes, season 1