Cheating spouses. Scheming teenagers. Creepy guys in hoodies. For lovers of TV thrillers, the list of possible murder suspects is long, if somewhat predictable. For makers of TV thrillers, however, the show-killer list is short, but also predictable.
It is the series format itself, and the process of stretching one nail-biting story over many hours will get you almost every time.
The latest victim of the Too Many Episodes Killer is "Pieces of Her," a new drama that debuted Friday on Netflix. Based on the bestselling Karin Slaughter novel of the same name, the series stars Toni Collette ("Nightmare Alley") as Laura Oliver, a speech therapist and a woman with many secrets. Bella Heathcote ("The Man in the High Castle") co-stars as Laura's daughter Andy, a would-be artist who has moved back home to bucolic small-town Georgia and pretty much given up on life.
After a sudden act of violence, Andy discovers that she doesn't know her mother at all, which means she doesn't really know herself. And she quickly finds out that her search for answers could kill her.
Who can Andy trust? Does anyone tell her the truth, ever? And by the way, how did her mother get to be so good with a knife?
Get used to these questions, because they are going to be with you for a while.
From car chases and shootings to nightmarish flashbacks and dysfunctional rich-family drama, "Pieces of Her" has plenty of thriller-type action. But the juicy stuff — the details of Laura's back story, the source of Andy's traumatic childhood memories, assorted evil conspiracies — is dribbled out over eight episodes, each running about 50 minutes. The time between revelations is packed with filler designed to make the plot proteins go a long way.
Like Hamburger Helper, only for television.
After the incident that blows Laura's cover, the Oliver women go their own way. For all of her Mama Bear roaring about doing whatever it takes to protect her daughter, Laura sends the totally unprepared Andy off on her own, where she becomes an easy mark for the many people who are out to get her mother.
And for all its lip service to the mother-daughter bond, "Pieces of Her" keeps Laura and Andy apart for a good chunk of the series. This is bad news for Andy, who spends a lot of time panicking and making bad decisions.
It is also bad news for viewers, who are forced to spend too much time watching Andy flail around while waiting for Laura to make good on the avenging-angel promise of her earlier actions. Instead, Laura makes phone calls and signs papers as she methodically prepares for the breakout move we can only hope is on the way.
It isn't until the fifth of the eight episodes that "Pieces of Her" begins to slowly reveal the circumstances that led to Laura having a suitcase full of cash and some heavy-hitting enemies. Laura's origin story has some real Patty Hearst-style intrigue, but it is told in such miserly increments, it doesn't accumulate the kind of adrenaline-fueled power you want in a thriller.
According to the reviews, Slaughter's novel is a real page-turner. But as written by Charlotte Stoudt ("Homeland"), who is also the show's executive producer, the Netflix adaptation is more of a time filler. For a series that always seems to be on the move, it doesn't always go much of anywhere.
Stoudt has a great knack for episode-ending cliffhangers, and there are some twists and reveals that you won't see coming. Collette spends much of the earlier episodes looking grimly determined, but she seems to have a hard time selling some of Laura's more bewildering decisions. Heathcote isn't given much in the way of character development, leaving her to run on fumes. Just like Andy.
Omari Hardwick ("Power") and Gil Birmingham ("Twilight") are fine, understated company as the (probably) supportive men in Laura's life, and Terry O'Quinn ("Lost") brings a welcome infusion of elegant malevolence to his role as a purveyor of pharmaceutical horror. More of him, please.
When I think about great thrillers, I think about movies like "The Fugitive" or "Alien," neither of which had to keep the action going for eight hours. Maybe the thriller and the TV series are two pop-culture forces that should never meet, for fear that mutual destruction will ensue. Maybe "Pieces of Her" is one of those inevitable casualties.
Having watched just five of its eight episodes, I can't say if "Pieces of Her" comes together in the end or not. But I can say that if a series is not at least partway together by the halfway mark, you do not want to follow it anywhere.
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‘PIECES OF HER’
Rating: TV-MA (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 17)
Where to watch: Premiered Friday on Netflix
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