Two out of four stars
Here’s a simple TV rule: If Kerry Washington again Elisabeth Moss there is something, you look at it. Add Kate Mara, Corey Stoll, Joel Kinnaman and a host of other “oh, I see them!” face, and eight episodes of the Apple TV adaptation Araminta HallThe 2020 novel is a fun way to spend a few nights – even if the plot is far from sound.
Perfect Women (airing Wednesdays through April 29) follows three lifelong friends: socialite Nancy (Mara), nonprofit bidwig Eleanor (Washington) and homemaker Mary (Moss). When Nancy turns up dead after a girls’ night out, the other two must track down the latest to find out what happened – and face secrets they’d rather keep buried.
Soapy, intense and sometimes confusing, the show doesn’t quite live up to, say, a Netflix thriller The beast in mebut it’s an adequate addition to the popular Complicated Rich Ladies Solve a Murder catalog. Part of the whodunit is the head, but the creator Annie Weisman and it tries to present a 360-degree version of old women’s friendships and the lies we tell ourselves to survive.
Although it runs out of steam before the final reveal of who killed Nancy and why, there’s still enough juice (and awesome fashion) to make it a shiny distraction worth finishing — even if the emotional details aren’t always as sharp as Washington’s chic bob.
Elisabeth Moss in “Imperfect Women”.
Apple TVThe show currently has a 43 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Below, what some critics thought about the Apple TV Perfect Women:
The guard: “That is, a murder mystery written over, far-fetched, brilliant but derived from murder – the offspring of Big Little Liesshe’s married to a touch of everything else Nicole Kidman has done in the last 10 years. Adjust your expectations accordingly and you’ll have a perfectly acceptable eight hours of entertainment. Throw in the fact that you’d expect the best from an Apple TV production with a great cast including Kerry Washington, Elisabeth Moss and Kate Mara and you’re not going to have a good time. Don’t do that.”
IndieWire: “The limited series feels similarly silly, right up until the end of the narrative. Perfect Women it’s so ineffective as a human drama and murder mystery that it renders its award-winning cast useless. Washington stared blankly at the ceiling, over and over. Moss yells at bad men as he does The Handmaid’s Tale. Mara looks suitably shocked and confused, or maybe that was my face on the screen.”
One of the benefits of Apple TV’s less-is-more approach to TV programming is that most of its big shows last longer. For example, the historical/sci-fi alternative series All Mankind debuted in 2019 and was among the first Apple TV series. It will return in March for season 5. But first, Apple TV has it […]
Variety: “Perfect Women It’s a wonderful mystery game enhanced by a great sounding lead. It’s also a profound portrait of friendship, femininity and the openness needed to build trust and real community. Women learn to protect themselves by keeping things inside. However, this series shows that the most important thing these lifelong friends can do is to let everything come out, to come out, to free themselves and free themselves.”
