Is it worth watching "Love and Death" - a series in which Elizabeth Olsen beats off her lover with an ax

On April 27, three episodes of Love and Death premiered on HBO Max. The story that inspired the TV show took place in Texas in 1980. Housewife Candy Montgomery killed her friend and part-time lover's wife with an axe. In 2022, the TV series Candy was filmed about this, and now a new film adaptation has been released.

The screenplay for "Love and Death" was written by David E. Kelly, best known for The Lincoln Lawyer, Mr. Mercedes, and Big Little Lies. Most of the episodes were directed by Leslie Linka Glatter (Ray Donovan, Homeland).

Starring Elizabeth Olsen ("The Avengers"), Jesse Plemons ("Breaking Bad", "Fargo"), Krysten Ritter ("Jessica Jones", "Breaking Bad") and Lily Rabe ("American Horror Story»).

USA, late 1970s. Candy Montgomery is an ordinary housewife from Texas. She brings up children, sings in the church choir and, it would seem, is happy. At the same time, her relationship with her husband has long cooled. Unexpectedly for herself, she decides to have an affair with another man - Allan, the husband of a friend of Betty's. When her lover tells him that he doesn't want to cheat on his wife anymore, Candy decides to get him at any cost.

Real history wins

It should be noted right away that this is another true-crime series - it is based on real events. Moreover, he shows one of the versions of events, sympathizing with Candy Montgomery. The same one that, in self-defense, inflicted 41 blows on the victim with an ax. By the way, she was acquitted, but this is not so important for the series.

Another factor that comes from "based on a true story" is predictability. The viewer who opened the information about the series on IMDb, Wikipedia and anywhere else knows that there will be a murder and a lawsuit, so unexpected plot twists are excluded.

It is logical that the emphasis is on other things. For example, on the psychological portrait of the heroine, on the reasons why she started change husband, as well as external signs of the late 70s. The problem is that every component of "Love and Death" raises a lot of questions.

The plastic world has won

Imagine a small American town from the late 70s. Everyone goes to church, men work, women just raise children. Old music is playing, people are wearing old clothes. To imagine such a picture, it is enough to watch several films about this era.

It seems that the authors of the series act according to the same logic. The characters they invent live surrounded by plastic houses and plastic churches. They are surrounded by a boring LEGO set. Sometimes it seems that even the sun has been replaced with a flashlight.

The world of the series is in many ways reminiscent of "The Truman Show». But if they created a caricature of the American hinterland, then "Love and Death" shows the same thing, but with a serious face.

Heroes are disgusting

"Love and Death" collects the external signs of a certain time and endows the heroes with them. This makes them look like cartoons.

Pat, Candy's husband, is a scientist. And this is dullness multiplied by boredom. In the evenings, he watches stupid TV shows, constantly adjusting his glasses. He is incapable of uttering anything lively and interesting. For three episodes, he tries several times to explain his feelings, and it would seem that he should be sorry, but the character is so dead that it does not evoke any emotions. Not a hero, but a piece of furniture.

Allan, with whom Candy starts a relationship, is no better than Pat. The same no, and even the skin on the face is worse. He begins to cheat on his wife with the same emotions that he eats a sandwich or fills up a car. And Allan's wife is a hysterical and unpleasant housewife who eats kilos of antidepressants and other drugs that she is prescribed.

The first series easily describes all the characters, since they can be characterized in one or two scenes. Flat, simple, dead - they do not cause any interest. The fact is that "Love and Death" shows not characters, but types, stereotypes.

And on this (very gray) background, Candy, of course, stands out. She doesn't know what she wants, and that's why she seems complicated. While everyone else lives in robot mode, Candy doubts her faith, feelings, desires. She even has emotions - a rarity for the heroes of "Love and Death". Her interactions with the characters are reminiscent of dialogues with NPCs in old games. Because of this, every exchange of remarks turns into a boring pronunciation of the obvious things.

Flirting with religion failed

In the very first episode, an event occurs that tries to take the story to another level - the head of the local church divorces her husband. The event, as it were, hints at the fact that the world is changing and the religious province is losing its faith. After that (chronologically, not causally), the main character begins to think about betrayal.

Several of Candy's lines also hint that she has doubts about her faith. True, it is difficult to understand something from her words, she speaks allegorically. So the question of whether she stopped believing in God is, as it were, hanging in the air. However, in itself it is not interesting. And that doesn't mean murder. There are hardly any statistics that show who more often strikes a girlfriend with 41 blows with an ax - atheists or Protestants.

Artistic works often show how a single terrible event stems from a sick society, an unhealthy atmosphere. «Meir of Easttown”, “Mayor of Kingstown”, but at least “Dislike” by Zvyagintsev - there are a lot of examples. "Love and Death" enters this territory, but does not explain what is wrong with the society in which the heroine lives.

Actors make the series better

Probably the best part of the show is the cast. Elizabeth Olsen is great as a distraught aunt who gets on a slippery slope. She manages to play both a kind, caring mother, and a sex-shy person, and going crazy with jealousy woman. Her emotions describe the character better than lines.

Jesse Plemons, who plays Allan, looks the most appropriate as a provincial man who is bored with life. The actor had a similar role in the second season of Fargo, so he doesn't have to portray anything new. His absent and mentally retarded gaze (Plemons has exploited it since Breaking Bad) gives the character a little bit of life.

Krysten Ritter also looks funny as a provincial housewife with bad makeup who loves gossip. True, she pleases only at the first appearance, and then it’s boring to follow her - the hero is too simple.

The first three episodes came out on the same day, and it’s quite possible to master them because of the excellent cast (or if you’re too lazy to look for another series for the evening). But to wait for the continuation and watch a series a week is a decision that only a few will make. "Love and Death" is so engrossed in reproducing external signs that it ignores the content, relying on the brightness of a real event. But it seems that even a brief retelling of Candy Montgomery's story is more interesting than the series.