If you like murder mysteries and have a few hours of binging to spare, give this one a chance.
I'm a sucker for murder mysteries and have been in the mood for them lately {possibly due to the upcoming "spooky season"}. The one thing I feel this was missing was the thrill most mysteries have. I guess that would make it more of a dark comedy? There are some "WTF" moments and moments that raise your eyebrow in confusion. Thankfully, the pieces will come together. You just have to be patient.
My favorite part of mysteries is trying to make an early guess and sticking to it. I like being right but it's also fun to be wrong and shocked. Without knowing any knowledge of the book and strictly going off the trailer, it's not hard to guess that Merritt was the show's victim. Not to toot my own horn, but I guessed right away that Abby was her killer. There were moments I groaned thinking it would turn out to be an accident. I also thought maybe a weird twist would be it was all fake in order for Greer to have content for her next book. But it was simpler than that. Abby had some very odd dialog in the police station that almost made me think she could be a sociopath. She didn't even try to fake any emotion, just more of an attitude like "Yeah, I married into a crazy family." Up until she was sunbathing rubbing on her weird stretch mark cream, I suspected she might not even really be pregnant. {Honestly, what pregnant woman would try to break up a fight then worry more about getting cake on her dress than her baby being harmed??} Her comment about being a white woman made me think "Is that her mindset? That she could really get away with murder just because she's white?" Instead, she must've thought being pregnant was her get-out-of-jail-free card because that was her argument. She's so unlikeable you don't even feel sorry for her. I didn't expect her motive to be what it was, though. I thought maybe she was jealous of Merritt's friendship with Amelia and it was an argument gone wrong. Or Merritt found out she wasn't really pregnant {when I was still assuming she was faking} or maybe she thought Tom was having an affair with her. Instead, it all came down to greed over an upcoming 18th birthday and trust fund.
I wasn't expecting the ending to be what it was, but I was pleased. Right off the bat, we don't like Greer and that doesn't change. But then she finally becomes tired of living a lie and in a dysfunctional marriage. It gets the ball rolling for everyone to be "free" {except for Abby, haha} and move on. I liked that she went through the trouble to find Amelia and ask for her blessing on the new book and sounds like they will be friends, or at least civil.
I didn't understand the choice of a flash mob-style opening theme, but didn't hate it either. All in all, I'd say this is worth a watch. Just don't expect to be wow-ed and you'll be fine.
