Stay Close - General Discussion

[AnimeMania]

Stay Close is an Thriller Coming to Netflix with all eight one-hour episodes being released on December 31.

Nicola Shindler and Richard Fee are executive producers. Harlan Coben and Danny Brocklehurst are the lead writers. Harlan Coben has a five-year deal with Netflix to develop 14 of his titles into film and TV dramas. Other works on Netflix by Harlan Coben include The Innocent (Spain), Gone for Good (France), The Woods (Polish), The Stranger, Safe and The Five. The US location for Stay Close,  Atlantic City, New Jersey has been changed to the UK. Filming took place in Manchester and Blackpool. Harlan Coben's TV adaptations sometimes use new locations for the stories and use local talent for the productions, focusing on the countries where Harlan Coben's books are popular.

Four people, dark secrets, and a past that threatens their lives... Stay Close is the gripping new thriller from Harlan Coben which questions how much you really know someone.

 

The story follows three people living comfortable lives who each conceal dark secrets that even the closest to them would never suspect; 

Megan Pierce/Cassie (Cush Jumbo), a former stripper, now a working mother of three who has a secret past. 

Ray Levine (Richard Armitage), the once talented documentary photographer, whose career has nosedived and who now finds himself in a dead-end job earning a living as part of the Paparazzi pandering to celebrity obsessed rich kids, who is missing a portion of his memories.

Michael Broome (James Nesbitt), a detective who’s unable to let go of a missing person’s cold case. Each of them is battling to conceal their own long-buried secrets, but when Megan’s old friend 

Lorraine Griggs (Sarah Parrish) shares some shocking news it throws their lives into disarray and their demons return to haunt them, threatening to ruin their lives and the lives of those around them, what will be their next move? As they all confront the reality of the suburban dream, they soon realize that the line between respectability and the truth is incredibly thin. 

Daniel Francis plays Dave Shaw, engaged to Megan.

Bethany Antonia plays Kayleigh Shaw, Megan and Dave’s eldest daughter.

Rachel Andrews plays Bea, Kayleigh Shaw’s best friend, greatest ally, co-conspirator and support mechanism.

Eddie Izzard plays Harry Sutton, a small time heroin addicted lawyer who is very familiar with women from the local strip club Vipers, who has fallen on hard times. 

Jo Joyner plays Erin Cartwright, a quick witted, highly observant Police Detective and Jack Broome’s ex-partner/ex-wife.

Andi Osho plays Simona, a retired ex-army sergeant who is currently pregnant with her first child.

Poppy Gilbert plays Barbie, a sweet girl who's seemingly in the perfect relationship with Ken.

Hyoie O’Grady plays Ken.

Youssef Kerkour plays Fester, a security guard that works with Ray.

[AnimeMania]

‘Stay Close’ Creator Harlan Coben: “The Worst Adaptations Are Slavishly Devoted To The Original Text”; Novelist Talks Post-Netflix Plans

Harlan Coben has plans for at least two more Netflix adaptations of his books, which would then bring him up to nine of the planned 14 book adapations in the deal that he struck with Netflix in 2018.

Harlan Coben’s daughter joined the writers room for the Netflix adaptation of Stay Close and he credited her with improving the dialogue on the younger characters.

[AnimeMania]

Stay Close Episode Descriptions

Spoiler

 

Episode 1

As her wedding approaches, Megan Pierce is troubled by a visitor from her past. Det. Mike Broome finds a new disappearance reminiscent of a cold case.

Episode 2

Megan enlists help from an old friend as she seeks out the truth about Stewart. Broome suspects a connection as more missing persons start piling up.

Episode 3

Dave's mother's claims of an unwanted visitor prove unsettling for Megan. Ray and Kayleigh both revisit the night Carlton — and others — went missing.

Episode 4

Harry brokers a meeting for Megan. Broome takes a leap in his personal life. Ray is questioned by the police as he tries to piece together his memories.

Episode 5

Megan's reunion with Ray is cut short. Broome and Erin investigate an anomaly in the pattern of disappearances, leading them to a complicated old case.

Episode 6

Dave's stag night turns testy thanks to an uninvited guest. Ken and Barbie turn their focus on Megan's family. Lorraine mourns the loss of a friend.

Episode 7

Broome and Erin try to deduce who the leak is on the force. Megan finally comes clean to Dave. Del Flynn realizes his hold on Ken and Barbie is tenuous.

Episode 8

In the wake of a shocking discovery, the case turns deeply personal for Broome. Megan and Ray finally unpack one fateful night from their past.

 

 

[QQQQ]

Uffda. The acting was fine, but there were so many plot holes and improbabilities!! Apparently Megan/Cassie was able to start a brand new life and go completely undetected for 17 years by moving 15 minutes away?! Judging by the people enamored with her snatch of gold, she should have been running into them at Boots, soccer games, and McDonald's on a regular basis. And CCTV is only occasionally available (and not even at all police station doors), but when they need to identity Ken and Barbie - two Clockwork Orange escapees who hang out in broad daylight on street corners - nope! Then there's the issue of caller ID. No one ever knew who had called after a hang up. Finally we've got the main police officers who couldn't find their butt checks with both hands.

This was bonkers.

Edited December 31, 2021 by QQQQ

[AnimeMania]

‘Stay Close’ Review: Netflix’s Latest Harlan Coben Series Is a Forgettable Waste of Cush Jumbo’s Talents

[Irlandesa]

I was going to watch a few episodes, take a break and then watch some more because I read some of the meh reviews.  I ended up binging the whole thing in a day like I've done with past Coben adaptations.  This probably wasn't as good but it was still easy to keep going.

I think the main performances helped. 

This was, however, a mystery series where I felt the outcome was pretty obvious from very early on. 

[Melina22]

3 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

This was, however, a mystery series where I felt the outcome was pretty obvious from very early on. 

I don't know, I was convinced it was Ray's friend! 

I thought this was an entertaining, well acted, but completely ridiculous series. Where do I start? 

- How are there any people left alive in England? Apparently everyone is either a murder victim, or the target of a murderer, or an actual murderer. 

- Lorraine seemed like a likeable character for most of it, but wow, was she ever active and peppy for someone with terminal cancer! 

- The music! So loud and extremely OTT that I kept having to mute it. 

- The two dancing psychos!! What show did they come from? They were like cartoon villains. I thought they removed any credibility the show had left. 

I could go on but I think I'll save the rest of the snark for the next Harlan Coban series that pops up. 

Anyway, it held my interest for a few hours so that was good. 😁

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, Melina22 said:

I don't know, I was convinced it was Ray's friend! 

I thought maybe he would be responsible for one of the killings but once they started to realize more than one of the dead guys had a history of domestic violence, I realized that it was probably a vigilante killer who either had experience with domestic violence or lost someone because of it.

Although the last victim was basically killed because he hit on another woman?  The motive behind that one was weak.

1 hour ago, Melina22 said:

The two dancing psychos!! What show did they come from? They were like cartoon villains. I thought they removed any credibility the show had left. 

That was in episode 2.  Ha.  It did crack me up at how random it was but I liked their singing.  But this reminds me, I thought for sure the bright redhead/orange haired woman was going to be related to the red headed chief of police.  I was surprised when they didn't actually know one another.

I kind of wanted Cassie and Ray together at the end.  I thought their kiss was pretty hot.

Oh--are we expected to believe that Kayleigh, who is clearly about 16 or 17, isn't Ray's daughter?  They never even brought that up as a possibility but she almost has to be, right? 

Edited January 2, 2022 by Irlandesa

[Melina22]

19 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

But this reminds me, I thought for sure the bright redhead/orange haired woman was going to be related

Me too! I thought maybe she was his sister or something, but obviously she wasn't. 

20 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

Oh--are we expected to believe that Kayleigh, who is clearly about 16 or 17, isn't Ray's daughter?  They never even brought that up as a possibility but she almost has to be, right

This literally never occurred to me but you could be right. I guess we'd find out if there was a second season. 

[Tiggertoo]

I couldn’t figure out the relationship between the police officer and the red headed psycho girl.  Not related?  He was just a cop on the take?

Is this a spoiler free zone?  I was in awe of the look on James Nesbitt’s face as the truth dawned on him.  No words.

 I missed how Kayleigh ended up with Carlton’s necklace?  Was it when she pushed him in the trunk?

Poor Tawny Allure.

[Straycat80]

This was the first Harlen Coben series I’ve ever seen. I have never read his books or seen any movies/TV series so had nothing to compare it with. I actually liked this, I binged it because I really could not tell who the killer was and was surprised at who it was. Plus it was suspenseful and a couple times had me on the edge of my seat.

It wasn’t perfect though. The dancing psychos were really over the top. They never showed how Cassie and her daughter got out of that locked room at the police station. And why didn’t Cassie tell Broome about it? And way too much stuff going on in broad daylight, like the bloody knife fight in the care home parking lot, and no one seeing or hearing anything? 

[Straycat80]

4 hours ago, Tiggertoo said:

I couldn’t figure out the relationship between the police officer and the red headed psycho girl.  Not related?  He was just a cop on the take?

Is this a spoiler free zone?  I was in awe of the look on James Nesbitt’s face as the truth dawned on him.  No words.

 I missed how Kayleigh ended up with Carlton’s necklace?  Was it when she pushed him in the trunk?

Poor Tawny Allure.

The father of missing Carlton was paying the police officer to find his son, he hired the two psycho’s to do it for him. Guessing he needed the money for the daughters piano career. 
When Kayleigh and her friends were drinking at the bar with Carlton he gave Kayleigh his necklace. 

[HerkyJerky]

On 12/31/2021 at 12:57 PM, QQQQ said:

The acting was fine, but there were so many plot holes and improbabilities!! Apparently Megan/Cassie was able to start a brand new life and go completely undetected for 17 years by moving 15 minutes away?

THIS!

[Paloma]

On 1/1/2022 at 10:25 PM, Melina22 said:

On 1/1/2022 at 10:03 PM, Irlandesa said:

Oh--are we expected to believe that Kayleigh, who is clearly about 16 or 17, isn't Ray's daughter?  They never even brought that up as a possibility but she almost has to be, right

This literally never occurred to me but you could be right. I guess we'd find out if there was a second season. 

It never occurred to me either, but I kept thinking that Kayleigh had to be older than 16 or 17 because she just looked older--in some scenes I thought she looked older than her mother. 

On 1/3/2022 at 4:10 PM, Straycat80 said:

They never showed how Cassie and her daughter got out of that locked room at the police station.

At first that didn't make sense because you saw the corrupt cop locking them in, and then going to let the Barbie killer in the side door to supposedly bring her to the room where Cassie and her daughter were. However, that was a fakeout because he locked Barbie in to a different room, telling her that murder was going too far and he couldn't let her do it (I don't remember exactly what he said, but that was the gist). So he must have then gone back to the room with Cassie and her daughter, let them out and put them somewhere else (I think he told Barbie he had put them somewhere safe). Maybe he told another cop to hide them? 

[AnimeMania]

Why Netflix Changed Stay Close's Twist Ending

Netflix's crime thriller series Stay Close has a huge twist at the ending. However, the twist wasn't in the book. Here's why Netflix changed the end.

[Paloma]

2 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

Netflix's crime thriller series Stay Close has a huge twist at the ending. However, the twist wasn't in the book. Here's why Netflix changed the end.

Interesting, but I have to disagree with the writer saying that the "Barbie and Ken assassins are a particular highlight of the show." I thought they were completely out of place and turned some scenes that should have been suspenseful into something ridiculous.

[gesundheit]

21 hours ago, Paloma said:

Interesting, but I have to disagree with the writer saying that the "Barbie and Ken assassins are a particular highlight of the show." I thought they were completely out of place and turned some scenes that should have been suspenseful into something ridiculous.

Agreed, those two turned it into a black comedy. Nothing wrong with a good black comedy, but you can't just put it in the middle of a gritty crime drama where we're meant to take things seriously!

 

Harry was definitely the highlight of the show for me.

So what does Lorraine think happened to Carlton? She didn't kill him and nobody else killed him so...?

[raven]

On 1/8/2022 at 2:49 PM, gesundheit said:

Harry was definitely the highlight of the show for me.

Me as well.  I knew he was doomed as soon as they did the whole family meet cute.

I binged this - it was kind of batshit, full of ridiculous coincidences and plot holes BUT the performances were decent, it held my interest and I was entertained.  There were some intentionally funny bits too.  I think of Broome saying to Erin (his partner) after she says they already went through all of the evidence - "once more with feeling"  LOL.   Yes, they were not very good police officers.   He acknowledges that he received Megan's message to check on Harry yet he never did.  *shakes fist*   Let's just say that I was mentally yelling "Broome!  answer your phone!" at several points.

I wondered how Megan and her daughter got out of the locked room but I remember after they went in there that there was another door, maybe they went through there?  Why did Dead Redhead Cop lock them up if he wasn't going to feed them to Lady Redhead Assassin anyway? 

The pair of assassins were absolutely ridiculous.  I knew Lady Redhead would be killed by Megan though.  We saw Megan take out the two guys who tried to steal her jewelry, that redhead was no match for her.  I also knew Preppie Assassin would be no match for Lorraine but I didn't see it coming that she was the killer.  I remember thinking that they really normalized her after she was introduced, when she was basically stalking Megan with crazy eyes and obviously she was a combo of both.

I have to give props to the teen girl testing the drink - smart.   Teens will be dumb and do dumb things to get into clubs but at least she wasn't taken in by Dead Predator.    I liked Megan's daughter realizing how close she came to something awful happening in that situation, even after being kidnapped.   I did like Megan's relationship with her kids.

I did feel somewhat badly for Megan at the end - she carried secrets for 20 yrs or whatever and now will have to carry this one.  She can't tell her daughter that Dead Predator died because he was locked in the trunk nor can she tell her husband.   Maybe some day the daughter would tell her father, yikes.  Or someday someone will find the car in the lake.

Best thing though - living space porn!!!  Gorgeous houses and sets.  I coveted Lorraine's apartment - the open space, the light.

 

[Paloma]

14 hours ago, raven said:

Why did Dead Redhead Cop lock them up if he wasn't going to feed them to Lady Redhead Assassin anyway? 

Good question that didn't occur to me before (though I had plenty of other unanswered questions). I can think of two possible answers: (1) He locked them to keep them safe until he could deal with LRA, with the intention of finding them a safer place after. (2) He originally intended to let LRA into the same locked room to kill them but had a last-minute crisis of conscience and decided to lock LRA in a different room. 

Of course, in either case he obviously underestimated the ruthlessness of LRA.

[CarpeFelis]

Does that roofie-detecting nail polish really exist?

And WTF was so freaking special about Megan/Cassie that multiple men were completely obsessed with her? Did she have a gold-plated vagina or what?!

I figured out who the killer would turn out to be as soon as it was pointed out that all the missing men had been mistreating women.

Funny how Megan beat the crap out of the two thugs at Harry’s office yet it was never explained where or how she’d picked up that particular skill set.

Edited January 11, 2022 by CarpeFelis

[QQQQ]

5 hours ago, CarpeFelis said:

Does that roofie-detecting nail polish really exist?

Undercover Colors

[CarpeFelis]

13 hours ago, QQQQ said:

Undercover Colors

Looks like it did exist at some point. Now their website shows something called a Sip Chip that’s currently unavailable and no nail polish. (Not that it matters to me at my age and decades of marriage, but it could have been useful to my daughter.)

[QQQQ]

2 hours ago, CarpeFelis said:

Looks like it did exist at some point. Now their website shows something called a Sip Chip that’s currently unavailable and no nail polish. (Not that it matters to me at my age and decades of marriage, but it could have been useful to my daughter.)

Hey, Dave and Megan/Cassie discovered new sides of each other after almost 2 decades... you never know!! 

 

On a serious note, they do make roofie-detecting tests strips (e.g. https://www.testmydrink.com/). Which seems more appealing than putting a germy finger in a drink.

[twoods]

I’m only two episodes in but Megan/Cassie irritated me galavanting around trying to find Stewart Green and neglecting her kids. And I also didn’t understand why so many people were obsessed with her. 
That creepy psychopath duo is FF material. I just can’t with them.

Richard Armitage is still yummy.

Edited January 13, 2022 by twoods

[lightninggirl]

Firstly, I was completely bummed out because I briefly moved far enough from the TV and thought that Cassie/Megan's husband was Idris Elba for a hot minute. From then on, whenever he was onscreen I was mentally pining for Idris to be in the role.

I loved Richard Armitage in "The Stranger," but here he just looked busted.

As someone who beat cervical cancer after years of treatment, I really felt for Lorraine's character. Then finding out that she'd offed those asshole predator/abusive guys made me like her even more. 😉 Also, as mentioned above, James Nesbitt was really great in his role as Broome.

And Eddie Izzard - I will watch anything they are in, periodt.

Otherwise, I wasn't as bugged by the plotholes as I was the Dancing Assassins and just the overall "who is this person again and why are they connected?" feeling that I had. Maybe I was distracted in the earlier episodes but this series felt like a lot of jumbled-ness.

[HelloooKitty]

Add me to the list who thought that the oldest daughter was Ray’s! I kept waiting for it to come up. 
Megassie and hubs has been together for 17 years and she was 16 so I guess it was possible for him to be the baby daddy but Megassie moved quick, especially for someone who was trying to start a new life!

Who was the old lady? I thought she was Dave’s mom but then why did Megassie tell her   the truth about her life? That was poorly explained. 
 

I do have an answer as to why Lorraine took the fall for Carlton or whatever his stupid name was. 
In the flashback when he gets trunked, Lorraine saw it happen from the shadows of Vipers. So she figured oldest daughter has something to do with whatever happened. She took the fall to protect her and thus to protect Cassie. Lorraine looked after and loved her “girls”. To the end. 
 

 

I didn’t guess The Who done it though. At one point I wondered if Ray was truly psycho. Especially after Lorraine called his feelings for Cassie more like an addiction. I was trying to remember if we saw flashbacks from cassies POV or just his. Like maybe, in his mind, they were in love, but what actually was happening was her just being polite enough to keep him from going apeshit. So he thinks she’s dancing and flirting with him- actually she’s dancing and just smiling pleasantly. He sees himself proposing and her responding enthusiastically- she laughs and plays it off like a joke. And Stewart was actually there as a type of bodyguard for Cassie. He stands next to Ray to make sure he’s not a problem in the club and tags along on the “date” to keep her safe. 
 

it didn’t help that at first Cassie didn’t use a name and just kept talking about a bad man/psychopath who was obsessed with her. 
 

but then the scene in the head happened and that theory was debunked. 

Edited January 20, 2022 by HelloooKitty

[AnimeMania]

Stay Close showrunner breaks down the thrilling end to mystery miniseries

[jabRI]

On 1/13/2022 at 3:42 PM, twoods said:

I’m only two episodes in but Megan/Cassie irritated me galavanting around trying to find Stewart Green and neglecting her kids.

I thought the same. I realize they aren't toddlers, but it seems she took off without a word, spent a lot of time wherever and just assuming her kids were OK.

[BusyOctober]

Soooo sooo soo many questions and they all start with the letter WHY.

Why was Dave never the person called when Megassie ( love that, BTW) realized any of her kids were missing?

Why wasn’t the UK equivalent to Child Welfare called to investigate why the kids were left unattended so often? 

Why would Dave be so jokey and all “OMG! You will never believe what I did to help our daughter without telling you when the shit was raining down upon our family and especially after I told you our relationship needed a break because I was so traumatized when you confessed you actually had a life in the years prior to meeting me!” I know Dave had no clue the creepy would be daughter rapist was in the trunk, so he thought he “only” hid potential evidence.  However his deep sigh of relief after confessing his deed was so cavalier in light of how butt hurt he was that his common law wife dared to date and be engaged before he rolled into her life.

Why bother to put Megassie and her family in protective custody if strangers can approach the safe house, with a cop casually watching the conversation 10 feet away?   Why would the ‘protect-EE’ be allowed to leave the safe house and hop in her car without an police escort?

Why did it take so long to find dead red head boss cop in the basement?  He turned out to be crooked, but no one knew that until later.  He was a lead detective and had on going cases and other subordinates aside from Boome and Erin that would’ve needed his attention.

Why was Megassie always the one to go see Dave’s mom?

Why did the tell us in the beginning that Megassie had a job, but then never mention again?  Did she just happen to be on vacation the week all this shit went down?  She was always driving around or coming back to her house from a jaunt about town. 

Why would anyone think settling into a suburban neighborhood 10 miles away from their previous residence would be the best place to hide from your stalker boyfriend(s)?

Lastly, a ‘How’….How did Lorraine get the men she murdered into a neat little pile in that bunker? We saw she lured them to the woods, slit their throats and then use a hand truck to move them to the hatch. OK, so she opened the hatch, rolled the bodies into the hole, then what?  Are we supposed to believe she tossed or carried the hand trunk down the ladder to wheel each of them to the heap?  That’s a hell of a workout, even if it’s only once a year.

 

 

[rollacoaster]

On 1/31/2022 at 10:25 PM, BusyOctober said:

Lastly, a ‘How’….How did Lorraine get the men she murdered into a neat little pile in that bunker? We saw she lured them to the woods, slit their throats and then use a hand truck to move them to the hatch. OK, so she opened the hatch, rolled the bodies into the hole, then what?  Are we supposed to believe she tossed or carried the hand trunk down the ladder to wheel each of them to the heap?  That’s a hell of a workout, even if it’s only once a year.

Honestly, Lorraine was a ninja assassin by the end of this thing. 

On 1/10/2022 at 11:07 PM, CarpeFelis said:

Funny how Megan beat the crap out of the two thugs at Harry’s office yet it was never explained where or how she’d picked up that particular skill set.

I just knew it'd be revealed that she was some kind of secret agent or assassin in her previous life! I can imagine that dealing with handsy creeps would make a stripper tough and scrappy, but her fighting skills seemed a bit beyond that. 

[LakeGal]

I never understand why in a movie people remember that it is exactly 17 years since they have seen someone or something has happened.  I always have to stop and think and add in my head.  Would it not be more realistic if someone said it was 15 - 20 years since they had seen someone?  Who really remembers exactly how many years ago something happened?

The show really goofed at one point.  Harry was keeping the wife busy so Megan/Cassie could go in the basement.  Megan was watching on her phone what Harry was seeing so she knew when to leave the basement.  Yet she saw the back of Harry walking out of the yard.  Harry's cell phone was in his front jacket pocket.  How did Megan see the back of Harry walking out of the yard?  Harry still had his cell phone in his front pocket when he met up with Megan.  That made no sense at all.