The Last Thing He Told Me - General Discussion

[StillCrazy]

I started watching this but the daughter is so annoying I may just skip to the end. 

[KaveDweller]

19 hours ago, Rickster said:

Rarely been so annoyed at a series ending as I was with this one. I guess the whole point of the book/show was for her to get the mob to leave her alone? I thought we were going to go much further into the hubby’s disappearence.

The jump forward makes me doubt there will be a season 2.

 

I liked the book for the thriller/mystery aspect, but I think a big part was supposed to be about the relationship between Hannah/Bailey and Bailey starting to think of her as a mother. The husband's disappearance was just a way to start that journey.

[Rickster]

1 hour ago, KaveDweller said:

I liked the book for the thriller/mystery aspect, but I think a big part was supposed to be about the relationship between Hannah/Bailey and Bailey starting to think of her as a mother. The husband's disappearance was just a way to start that journey.

I think the show was not effective, or maybe incomplete, as a thriller and not very well done as an exploration of the mother/stepdaughter relationship either. Maybe the book was better.

[MicheleinPhilly]

I really disliked this book but thought I would check this out because of Jennifer Garner and Hello Sunshine. It was fine for a weekend binge but had I followed it from the beginning and been forced to wait a week for each episode, I would have bailed after week 1.

If I was Hannah, I would have just taken the money and run. WITHOUT the PITA step-daughter. 

[hendersonrocks]

Good lord this was terrible. It had promise, with okay source material and a good cast, but it's like every single opportunity was squandered. When I - as someone who read the book - have to Google what the final lines of the show were because I honestly had no idea what he said or why it mattered - you.have.failed.

As so many others have said, this needed to be about half the length and way better acted. 

[KaveDweller]

On 5/21/2023 at 8:27 PM, Rickster said:

I think the show was not effective, or maybe incomplete, as a thriller and not very well done as an exploration of the mother/stepdaughter relationship either. Maybe the book was better.

I agree the show was not as well done as the book. But I read the book in a day because I wanted to know what was going to happen. With the show I already knew so I didn't care about the cliffhangers.

I think it would have been better as a movie where it could have been more fast paced. If they cut out all the flashbacks of Hannah and Owen, they could have made it a lot shorter.

[iMonrey]

On 5/22/2023 at 10:52 AM, MicheleinPhilly said:

t was fine for a weekend binge but had I followed it from the beginning and been forced to wait a week for each episode, I would have bailed after week 1.

Agreed. It was just OK as a weekend binge. Would have been painfully slow week to week. There were some plot contrivances I found annoying, like how Hannah kept asking Jules to find out things for her like Google didn't exist. Smartphones have really made it hard to do mystery stories effectively anymore. And Bailey - what a brat. They really went out of their way to make her as unlikable as possible.

I'm not sure the premise really held together, either. Just leaving a note that said "Protect her" had the opposite effect. If he'd just told her what was going on and warned her to stay in California none of this would have ever happened.

[A.Ham]

Well, that ending sucked in my opinion. Really wish I hadn't spent time watching this. 

[norcalgal]

On 4/28/2023 at 7:16 AM, HerkyJerky said:

Jennifer Garner and Victor Garber together again? I LOVED Alias!

I binged the series in one sitting because I just recently got Apple+.

This was THE BEST part of the entire series. In fact, I was squeeing so hard seeing SpyDaddy and Sydney together again that I basically wasn't following much of their initial conversation.  

I put it out to the Universe there has to be an Alias reboot.  Syd & Vaughn's kids can be the next generation spies with Syd (& Vaughn) occasionally out in the field. Make it happen Universe!

On 5/18/2023 at 7:23 PM, Renee in CA said:

 Who was the mob contact inside the Marshall’s office? 

Many of you have posted my main thoughts on this series (slow, somewhat boring, too many flashbacks, key in piggy bank was recent, Max seemed sketchy) but the quote above is the main thing that struck me as a big dangling thread. Hannah has really good instincts & can make quick evaluations to get people to cooperate (see the church admin), so good for her making the deal she did with the grandfather because Grady just saying "oh the leak is fixed - don't worry about it anymore" was dumb.  How does he know Bailey/Hannah wouldn't be exposed if they went into WitSec? 

Lastly, miss me with Bratty stepdaughter calling Hannah "mom" in the 5 years later epilogue. Show never put in the work to show Bailey grew to love and accept Hannah so the jump to "mom" was jarring, unrealistic and unearned.

 

[HerkyJerky]

1 hour ago, norcalgal said:

put it out to the Universe there has to be an Alias reboot.  Syd & Vaughn's kids can be the next generation spies with Syd (& Vaughn) occasionally out in the field. Make it happen Universe!

YES!!

[Kel Varnsen]

Watched the first episode after seeing a trailer before Physical. Definitely has enough to make want to watch more. I have always liked Jennifer Garner and she can pretty easily carry a show like this. I am.a pretty big fan of Aisha Tyler, especially from Archer. Although it will be weird that based on their jobs in this show, neither of them will probably kick anyone's ass.

Also the use of Long Lost by Lord Huron at the end of the episode was really well done. 

 

[Kel Varnsen]

Finished episode 5 tonight and I am still mostly enjoying it. Jennifer Garner makes it way better than it would be otherwise. Her "undercover" in the bar was a lot of fun and something she can probably do in her sleep. And her and Victor Garner together was great and I could have watched a whole episode of them just talking.

But man it was super obvious that Owen was in witness protection,  and the fact that it took 5 episodes to reveal it was super frustrating. I think I figured it out in episode 2 when the lawyer guy said something like what would a US Marshall want with Owen, they only care about fugitives. Even I know that Marshalls also deal with witness protection people and I am just some guy who watches a lot of TV. It was annoying that a lawyer didn't know that too.

[Kel Varnsen]

Finished the series last night and it was good but I didn't love it. The end was an interesting twist but I am not sure I buy that Owen can never come back to his life. Because I am not sure organized crime people would hold a grudge for that long. Not because they are forgiving people but because it's not a job where you have a long career and new guys wouldn't have the same need for revenge. I mean the book Wise guy (that Goodfellas was based on) came out in 1985, 5 years after Henry Hill flipped on the NYC mob. And Hill lived until 2012.

[GiandujaPie]

Just binged the whole show this weekend. I agree that if I had had to wait every week for an episode to drop, I don't think this show would have worked as well. It works better as a binge-able show. 

It was entertaining for the most part, but I did guess Owen's "secret" and reason for running away pretty early, especially after the US Marshall showed up. If Owen had spent all that time putting together a money bag and writing up a will, why wouldn't he have put together a secret letter that would have told Hannah what exactly was going on? 

I also think that Hannah ultimately did what she did because she didn't want to lose her way of life and identity. She was a successful artist in her 40s and she didn't want to lose that and go into witness protection with Owen. When they told her that she wouldn't be able to do her art, I think that's what pushed her over the edge. Yes, she also brokered that deal with grandpa on behalf of Bailey but she did it for herself too. Hannah decided that she'd rather be a stepmom to a teenager and be able to keep her identity and career as a successful artist than go into hiding with Owen and the teenager and be miserable as a secretary or whatever lame job they put her in. The show never couched it that way, but I see it as she chose herself over Owen. The teenage stepdaughter just turned out to be a bonus, since the girl ended up calling her "mom". 

I've been to Marin county numerous times and so I enjoyed seeing that they actually filmed there. Jennifer Garner posted on Instagram a few months ago about a restaurant in Sausalito that she loved and I wondered how she knew about it. Now I know! The restaurant was actually referenced a few times in the movie (Poggio) and it does have really good food. 

[Anela]

Call me crazy, but maybe leave a bit more in the note, or leave information with the freaking law enforcement handler, so they don’t go rushing into danger, trying to figure out what he did/what’s happening. These aren’t our real names, we had to go into hiding, this man will tell you more, and help to protect you. 
 

I guess we wouldn’t have a show, but you don’t just ditch and leave them in the dark. 

[HerkyJerky]

I was watching Hoda and Jenna and they had the cast of "Mean Girls" on and I kept thinking why does that girl look so familiar and then it dawned on me that she was the daughter from here.

[BetterButter]

Apple’s ‘Last Thing He Told Me’ Renewed for Season 2

[KaveDweller]

On 3/25/2024 at 12:32 PM, BetterButter said:

Apple’s ‘Last Thing He Told Me’ Renewed for Season 2

Another "limited series" changing their minds.

I wasn't thrilled by the series, but I did love the book, so am glad there is a book sequel coming out too. Even though I feel like it might kind of ruin it.