A bloodied woman takes her final breaths on a car hood deep in the woods. Miles away, another woman stumbles home gasping, wine-desperate, frantically scrubbing her hands before purging her apartment of—everything.
“There are two sides to every story,” a voiceover declares. “Which means someone is always lying.” Complete rubbish as logic goes, but it sounds compelling—and confirms we’re settling into a sleek thriller adaptation where brain-off enjoyment is the entire point (unless you’re the puzzle-solving type, in which case, godspeed with your energy reserves).
His & Hers, Netflix’s six-part adaptation of Alice Feeney’s 2020 bestseller (two more adaptations are coming: Sometimes I Lie and Rock Paper Scissors). Produced by Jessica Chastain and starring exceptional leads, this series delivers precisely what early-year television requires.
Jon Bernthal (The Bear, We Own This City, and for long-time fans, The Walking Dead) plays Jack Harper, a small-town detective investigating the murder. Tessa Thompson (Westworld, Creed) portrays Anna, a formerly prominent TV news anchor who catches wind of the case in her hometown and sees her comeback opportunity. She lost her position to a younger, blonder rival while grieving her child’s death—though we’re not here for profound sorrow exploration, just narrative momentum. Anna recruits her rival’s husband Richard (Pablo Schreiber) as cameraman and, after undermining his marriage and questioning his masculinity (invisible beside your celebrity wife earning five times your salary?), her off-duty companion. Anna is also the blood-covered woman from the opening.
The kicker: Jack and Anna are estranged spouses—though not estranged enough for him to accept her sleeping with the cameraman. The victim, Rachel Hopkins (Jamie Tisdale, Isabelle Kusman as teenager), was reportedly the quintessential mean girl who never improved. We see young Anna watching Rachel trick someone into drinking urine—standard mean-girl flashback fare.
Suspects pile up: Anna. Jack, who conspicuously refuses the cheek swab required to eliminate investigating officers. Rachel’s cuckolded husband Clyde (Chris Bauer, whose veteran character-actor skills manage lines like “She had a mercenary energy that I found intoxicating” without collapsing the whole enterprise). Multiple affair partners. Probably that urine-drinking girl if she stuck around.
Additional complications include other former clique members, Jack’s alcoholic sister Zoe (Marin Ireland), and Anna’s deteriorating mother—neglected by Anna, still cared for by Jack—whose fragmenting memory likely retains crucial buried secrets. Dementia as thriller plot device deserves complaint, though perhaps I should confirm His & Hers actually employs it first.
The twists arrive frequently. Absurdities multiply. Viewing pleasure escalates. The script—mercenary intoxication aside—works adequately. The series begs binging. Nobody requires more this early in the year. Comfort television for two is sufficient.
His & Hers streams on Netflix now
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