IR TV Review: HIS & HERS [Netflix]
The aspect of two-handers within the thriller/jealousy/revenge genre is that they pursue a perspective that might incriminate all involved. With "His & Hers" starring Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal, the approach as it winds on becomes much more soapy then edge of your seat. The intention and story structure works well but is not quite enough. The story is set in a small Georgia area outside Atlanta when a murder rocks the town and foul play is involved...and everybody, in a way, knows everyone. This coincides with the return of Anna (Tessa Thompson),a former Atlanta news anchor who disappears from her family and husband before re-emerging to cover said murder. This set up is a little bit too coincidental in terms of its contrivance. Showrunner Dee Rose ran the show "Nashville" and the story was developed by British theater director William Oldroyd. In its delivery despite offering some twists and high tension, it feels in many ways b-grade in certain ways and melodramatic and soapy at most points.
The lead characters, especially Bernthal's Detective Harper are meant to be both strategic and aloof but tends to come out muddled. Bernthal is a good actor but the depth here (or maybe it is the way it is written) really doesn't stick. Again it might be the soapiness of the situations and writing despite some quite good production value. Thompson on the other hand (coming out of "Hedda") plays a damaged woman in a certain sense who, through her actions, seems the most viable focus in certain parts of the storyline and the most cunning and strategic. There is of course a certain "Mean Girls" structure also running in the background in flashbacks which reflects back eventually into daily life. But again certain motivations of the characters involved are supposed to feel very heavy but are almost treated superficially, except for one...but even in that instance it almost happens too late in the story. It does have power and fuels everything but again, there is an underlying melodrama underneath whereas a more cinematic look or sequence would have been more effective.
At six episodes "His & Hers" actually feels too long at times. Pablo Schreiber plays more of a plot ploy in a cameraman but even that when it gets to its specific point just comes out arbitrary, despite again, him being a good actor. After "Halo" one would hope for something more dynamic for him. The actor in this whole series that really fares the best because her character is about the detail and throughout keeps her progression very grounded (though that might simply be how the script painted her) is Sunita Mani as Priya. Mani has been seen on "Mr. Robot" and "The Good Place" so she gets the balance but it is her progression here that feels the most real in the entire narrative.
Everyone else seems to be, in certain shapes or forms, overacting and overreacting...and yet she is focused. Another actor that does this to a lesser degree and is in certain ways the most tragic is Marin Ireland as Zoe, Harper's sister. Her arch again adds a layer of reality (in however fully formed it is). However, following on those scenes comes one like a scene near a waterfall with Bernthal and Thompson. That one which should be a breaking point comes over very basic...in the way it was shot, covered, delivered, resolved or even the location (which seems very high school). Maybe this series was made for a certain time and price and for many this will be an enjoyable 2 night watch but the narrative subtleties needed more development. But it really could have been capable of so much more, despite its step by step want to be something more. C+
By Tim Wassberg
