The title of this new TV show grabbed my attention, as it would anyone. The poster further lends to this attraction so I downloaded two episodes for watching. That's how I rate series to know if they are worth devoting my precious time to or not.
Fatal Attraction (2023) is an American psychological thriller with some eroticism. That's a fascinating mix of excitement and danger. I understand it's kind of a reboot of a film with the same name released in 1987. The film featured Michael Douglas and Glenn Close as the lead cast.
This new release focuses on Alex Forrest (played by Lizzy Caplan) as the femme fatale who gets Dan Gallagher's (played by Joshua Jackson) attention and the two of them hit it off. Dan Gallagher who seems to have everything loses control of his pleasant and happy life simply because he did not get what he wanted—judgeship.
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He begins an affair with Alex Forrest who seems like the perfect lady. Then she begins to spin out of control, showing signs of attachment and some mental issues. Her perfect demeanour has chinks after all, leading to her death and Dan wrapped up in it. How does Dan Gallagher get out of this mess and prove his innocence?
Review
I have watched the first two episodes and can say it's not a bad show. It's neither good nor bad, somewhere in the middle. I think it will get better with each episode. The plot is compelling in the sense that we are attracted to the morally wrong attraction between Dan and Alex.
We want to know for how long this couple gets away with the affair and if they would ever be caught. Dan seems to be having a great time with his perfect Alex until she begins to spin out. Like most psychological thrillers that I have seen, one of the leads always seems to grapple with a mental health issue.
The first two episodes of a series should grab the audience's attention and make them want to continue watching. Fatal Attraction's first two episodes were pretty slow and tedious for my liking. I understand the filmmakers' need to develop the characters and make the plot engaging but the pace was too slow. Each episode was almost an hour each, enough to be a snooze fest.
There are so many things going on at once, yet the pace feels sluggish. There's the affair of Dan and Alex, Dan's work and home life, flashforwards to Dan in prison and out on parole, Dan's daughter and her visit to the therapists, and the efforts made to revisit Dan's case and prove his innocence. I feel these subplots are all clustered into the show to make it not boring yet the first two episodes are. Perhaps because it's just the beginning but if these subplots are to be resolved in later episodes, then the pace may remain slow all through and the storytelling clustered.
The cast is excellent and their acting is impressive. The chemistry between Joshua Jackson and Lizzy Caplan is not too great but manageable. We can make do with it and still enjoy the show.
Much of Fatal Attraction revolves around who murdered Alex Forrest and whether Dan Gallagher is innocent. The plot and acting normalise infidelity, some gender behavioural issues and murder which I don't agree with. Other themes covered in this show apart from mental health and infidelity include murder, consequences and some courtroom dramas.
Overall, this psychological thriller is not bad and hopefully gets better in the remaining six episodes. I'll rate it 3 stars out of 5.
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Other images are screenshots from the movie
Posted using CineTV