The story looked intriguing- dorky Jeanette steps into the shoes of a popular girl whilst the popular girl Kate has been abducted and locked in a basement for months. Kate accuses Jeanette on national TV of seeing Kate and ignoring her cries for help, and now Jeanette is hated. Who is telling the truth?
It's an unteresting central gimmick- events play out on the same day but one year before the kidnapping, year of the kidnapping and one year after. The 90s are trendy so it's set in 1993, 1994, 1995. Admire the 90s fashion as it gets grungier in 1995. The 90s nostalgia is definitely a large part of the appeal.
It is however 90s filtered down to appeal to Gen Z, so instead of getting original songs of the period, we get overwrought breathy cover versions. The small town Texas is more nonchalent towards race than would actually have been the case for that era. It all kind of adds to the superficial gloss.
I found it easy to keep track of the years when Jeanette was there- 1993 is dorky Jeanette, 1994 is popular Jeanette and 1995 is moody Jeanette. The cinematography also becomes notably darker for 1995. A little harder to tell the difference between 1994 Kate and 1995 Kate.
Whilst the gimmick is appealing and the contrast between the years is interesting, there is a lot of filler and unnecessary characters to fill 10 episodes. Basically the mystery is whether Jeanette saw Kate or not; the programme adds twists so that our sympathies are meant to be changing but Jeanette always came across as a creep (which is why the ending was no surprise as her intentions had been clearly foreshadowed) and Kate was still a victim whichever way her story played.
Needlessly dragged out to fit ten episodes, there is a lot of filler and side characters. The final episode doesn't even make sense- the press report Martin's death as being the result of a shootout yet the autopsy would show it wasn't. Unless the police conspired to bury the truth but this is more of a story about who and why rather than what.
Having said that, the grooming was depicted very believably- not romanticised but not making the abuser an OTT villain. The scary thing is that he seems normal, even 'nice'; that is how he is able to win Kate over.
I don't know how they're going to do a Season 2 when everything has already been wrapped up.
It's an unteresting central gimmick- events play out on the same day but one year before the kidnapping, year of the kidnapping and one year after. The 90s are trendy so it's set in 1993, 1994, 1995. Admire the 90s fashion as it gets grungier in 1995. The 90s nostalgia is definitely a large part of the appeal.
It is however 90s filtered down to appeal to Gen Z, so instead of getting original songs of the period, we get overwrought breathy cover versions. The small town Texas is more nonchalent towards race than would actually have been the case for that era. It all kind of adds to the superficial gloss.
I found it easy to keep track of the years when Jeanette was there- 1993 is dorky Jeanette, 1994 is popular Jeanette and 1995 is moody Jeanette. The cinematography also becomes notably darker for 1995. A little harder to tell the difference between 1994 Kate and 1995 Kate.
Whilst the gimmick is appealing and the contrast between the years is interesting, there is a lot of filler and unnecessary characters to fill 10 episodes. Basically the mystery is whether Jeanette saw Kate or not; the programme adds twists so that our sympathies are meant to be changing but Jeanette always came across as a creep (which is why the ending was no surprise as her intentions had been clearly foreshadowed) and Kate was still a victim whichever way her story played.
Needlessly dragged out to fit ten episodes, there is a lot of filler and side characters. The final episode doesn't even make sense- the press report Martin's death as being the result of a shootout yet the autopsy would show it wasn't. Unless the police conspired to bury the truth but this is more of a story about who and why rather than what.
Having said that, the grooming was depicted very believably- not romanticised but not making the abuser an OTT villain. The scary thing is that he seems normal, even 'nice'; that is how he is able to win Kate over.
I don't know how they're going to do a Season 2 when everything has already been wrapped up.