Netflix’s Murder Mystery is a major disappointment

I was really hoping that a new murder mystery starring Jon Bernthal and Tessa Thompson would be a Netflix winner, but after a pretty good start, His & Hers it goes downhill fast. There’s a murder mystery here, with a few twists and turns along the way, as well as a story about an estranged married couple dealing with the grief of losing a child. But the actual detective work is almost non-existent, and I never connected with any of the characters enough to really care about their personal struggles. It’s also oddly reminiscent of a much better show: HBO’s excellent Sharp objectsstarring Amy Adams.

Both shows follow a reporter who is sent to a small town – Dahlonega, Georgia His & Hers and the fantastic Wind Gap in Sharp objects – where a brutal murder has taken place. These journalists are both from the city in question. Their families are still around. The towns haven’t changed much, and skeletons are in every closet.

Both are also adaptations of novels. Sharp objects adapted from Gillian Flynn’s 2006 first novel of the same name. His & Hers is adapted from Alice Feeney’s 2020 novel of the same name, although Feeney’s story is set in the United Kingdom. Whether His & Hers is derivative or not, this is how I feel watching.

There are some big differences, of course. Sharp objects is a Southern Gothic murder mystery that is absolutely gripping from start to finish, with incredible writing and performances throughout. His & Hers it’s a generic mystery that tries hard to shock its audience, but is ultimately both predictable and, with its big twist at the end, ridiculously unlikely.

The other big difference is the husband. Thompson plays journalist Anna Harper, who left her husband and hometown and disappeared for a year after the death of her child. Bernthal plays her husband, Jack Harper, a detective in the Sheriff’s Department. Both have ties to the victim, and as the story progresses, their involvement becomes increasingly suspicious. This is as much a story about Anna and Jack’s troubled marriage as it is a murder mystery.

This takes the focus away from a single protagonist that we can relate to, and it makes the audience question the credibility of our leads. This has the unfortunate consequence of making both Anna and Jack thin caricatures of the ambitious small-town reporter and cop.

The limited series scratches the surface of Anna’s past and a deeply disturbing event she experienced in high school. This fact, we discover, is central to the murders now taking place in Dahlonega. This might have worked better if Anna was the main character and not Jack. It’s also awfully similar to Sharp objectswhich is about Camille (Adams) coming to terms with her past and her hypochondriac mother and how everything is tied together to make sense of what is happening in the present.

While I enjoyed the first two episodes of it His & Herswent down fast. Bernthal’s Jack becomes increasingly impulsive and restless. Only his partner does real police work. It was billed as some kind of rivalry between Anna and Jack, with each suspecting the other of being behind the murders, but that never actually happened. They clash endlessly about their pasts and estrangement, but neither seems to believe the other was actually responsible for any murders.

In many ways, His & Hers it felt like he had no idea what kind of murder mystery he actually wanted it to be. Jack barely pays attention to the investigation, ignoring key details that would help him put two and two together. He makes wild accusations against the first victim’s husband that make his character look weak and pathetic. Anna’s motivations are strange and confusing. I wouldn’t mind so much if Jack’s mental state made sense or Anna’s characterization was less vague. The show needed to either lean more into the idea of ​​one of these people being the killer, or just dump that angle altogether and focus on delivering a good mystery.

One of the first big twists towards the end turns out to be a red herring, but the twist itself is so absurd and stupid, so unlikely and random, that the only reason you might not think much of it is the even more ridiculous twist that comes right after. I won’t spoil anything here, but I rolled my eyes throughout the last episode (or two) and by the end, by the final reveal, I wanted the last six hours of my life back.

Bad dialogue, phone calls to performances, and incredibly amateurish scripting make it easy to skip on Netflix. It would be much better to watch Sharp objects or, if you don’t have HBO, check it out Lupin, Department Q or Giri/Haji on Netflix.

You watched His & Hers? Did you enjoy it? Please let me know Twitter, Instagramor Facebook.

I also recently reviewed the British cat and mouse crime thriller, The Gamewhich I found a little less ridiculous than his and his.