S01.E01: Murder Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry

[formerlyfreedom]

One Pasadena, Calif. house serves as the focal point for three decades worth of marital strife. In 1963, Beth Ann's life as a doting housewife is upended when she learns of her husband Rob's infidelity. In 1984, socialite Simone is blindsided by her husband Karl's devastating secret. In present day, high-powered lawyer Taylor has an open marriage with husband Eli.

Coming Thursday, August 15, 2019, on CBS All Access.

[skotnikov]

The show is amazing. 

[Chaos Theory]

First I need to get this out of the way.  The opening credits for this show are perfect.  A mini show all its own and funny.  

CBS All Access finally reeled me in with something that isn't trek.   The main three wives play their rolls to perfection.  I love Beth Anne and Simone.  I am still warming up to Taylor.  But the first two stories are near perfect.  

I love Beth Anne's story and I love her neighbor.  I forget the characters name but she is a weird mix of bad gossip but good neighbor and it appeals to me.  I also love Simone (good on Lucy Lui for getting paired with a young actor)  the story with her gay husband and her young man affair has a lot of potential.   Again the only story that isn't already pulling me in is Taylor, Eli and Jade makes three.

Still I am in for the long haul.

[preeya]

I'm in. I really enjoyed #1.

[Featherhat]

I really enjoyed this and I wasn't expecting to. I only watched for Lucy Liu and Ginnifer Goodwin but it was great. 

I really liked all three main women's stories, although I'm least interested in the 2019 open marriage, which is surprising because I've wanted to see more poly and unconventional relationships on TV as opposed to love triangles and cheating, although given the title of the show it's all going to go horribly wrong. 

I can see Beth Ann going completely off the deep end because as she said, she has made her life 100% about her husband and has also gone through loosing a child.

Lucy Lui was great as the 80s socialite with a gay/bi husband and a soon to be toyboy. I liked her look of complete incredulity that other women might not want to hear about how fabulous her life was when theirs was falling apart. 

[preeya]

5 hours ago, Featherhat said:

Lucy Lui was great as the 80s socialite with a gay/bi husband and a soon to be toyboy. I liked her look of complete incredulity that other women might not want to hear about how fabulous her life was when theirs was falling apart. 

Best line by Lucy Liu:  "You think you're gonna get out of this by dying? Fuck you! I want to see you suffer in a one-bedroom apartment next to the airport"

[Ms Blue Jay]

Lucy Liu is so wonderful in this that I can't even take it.  I'm loving the show.

17 hours ago, preeya said:

Best line by Lucy Liu:  "You think you're gonna get out of this by dying? Fuck you! I want to see you suffer in a one-bedroom apartment next to the airport"

The line was amazing, the delivery was amazing.  I just love her.  So cool to see her in something so outlandishly comedic again.

[Featherhat]

Yeah that was great. I didn't know Jack Davenport was going to be in this so it was nice to see him again as well.

Whenever a female character asks a male character "have you done any writing today?" on any TV show or movie they might as well just hand them a stick of dynamite, it would save time. 

[Keywestclubkid]

Lucy chewing the scenery and acting her best 80s soap I am here for 

[Joimiaroxeu]

Yeah, within the first five minutes I thought Rob needed killing just for the way he treated Beth Ann.

I loved those 80s clothes. So over-the-top.

Taylor has passive-aggression down to a fine art. At first I figured the husband would be the one to kill her instead of the other way around.

I'm wondering if Taylor's girlfriend targeted her specifically to get to her husband. His just happening to be the writer of her "favorite" film seemed too much of a coincidence to me, especially if she's an aspiring actress.

This is a great show.

Edited August 19, 2019 by Joimiaroxeu

[Chaos Theory]

I have a friend in an “open marriage”.  They ironically have more rules then a traditional marriage does.  They have to to survive.   Taylor inviting Jude to stay with them breaks all kinds of rules.   Eli is completely in his rights to call bullshit.  The problem is he doesn’t and when he instead lets Jade seduce him it comes around on him being wrong again.   Threesomes never rarely work.  Someone always gets hurt.   Someone always breaks the rules.  

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

Threesomes never rarely work.  Someone always gets hurt.   Someone always breaks the rules.   

I think three-person situations rarely last in general because two of them will almost always get closer in ways that leave the third person out. Then jealousy and resentment become a problem.

[Claudio Coppola]

Just finally got around to watching this and I gotta say I was disappointed.

Waaaaay too many stereotypes crammed into an almost 1-hour show for my liking: I do not believe for one second a 1960s housewife would let her husband treat her like a dog (as in "I'll tap on the side of my cup and you'll come running with a refill and be all smiles about it"), as much as taking care of the husband was the wifey thing to do back then; I'm Italian and from the South, and I'm beyond tired of us Italians being stereotyped as white trash with campy hair, tacky clothes and nails who "twalk" like this and swear (at this point, I just find it offensive); I do not believe for one second that a rich socialite would be going around saying her life is perfect to friends who are going through a trying time and be surprised by the fact it upsets them; Taylor was just every single negative stereotype you could think of about a nazifeminist rolled into one charachter ("I'll call the shots here because my dick is bigger than yours", "I'm the breadwinner here because I'm a woman = special and my husband is a man = a loser", "I won't cook or clean up because we're not in the 1950s anymore"), not to mention how obvious it was that her lover would be hot and her husband would be attracted to her.

I just found the writing terribly lazy and predictable, to the point I was able to call every "oh so shocking" (NOT!) plot turn a good 10 minutes before it actually panned out. And what is the show supposed to be about, anyway? Beth Ann's husband is having an affai; Simone's husband is having multiple affairs, and now she will too to get back at him; Taylor is having an affair (albeit they conceal it under the "open marriage" facade) and now her husband will cheat on her with her lesbian GF. COOOOOOOME OOOOOOOOON, you cannot seriously get excited over something like this! And who is supposed to get killed, anyway? The husbands by their respective wives? For cheating on them? Only that it wasn't them, but someone else?

I do realize this was just the pilot, but I hope the show picks up and gets a little bit deeper (even though I don't think that's gonna happen, judging by tomorrow's episode's preview). If it turns out "Why women kill" is just about a bunch of people fooling around for 45 minutes, I'm out!

I'll give this a 4/10

PS: The only saving grace was Lucy's acting

Edited August 21, 2019 by Claudio Coppola

[preeya]

1 hour ago, Claudio Coppola said:

Waaaaay too many stereotypes crammed into an almost 1-hour show for my liking: I do not believe for one second a 1960s housewife would let her husband treat her like a dog (as in "I'll tap on the side of my cup and you'll come running with a refill and be all smiles about it"), as much as taking care of the husband was the wifey thing to do back then; I'm Italian and from the South, and I'm beyond tired of us Italians being stereotyped as white trash with campy hair, tacky clothes and nails who "twalk" like this and swear (at this point, I just find it offensive); I do not believe for one second that a rich socialite would be going around saying her life is perfect to friends who are going through a trying time and be surprised by the fact it upsets them; Taylor was just every single negative stereotype you could think of about a nazifeminist rolled into one charachter ("I'll call the shots here because my dick is bigger than yours", "I'm the breadwinner here because I'm a woman = special and my husband is a man = a loser", "I won't cook or clean up because we're not in the 1950s anymore"), not to mention how obvious it was that her lover would be hot and her husband would be attracted to her.

What did you expect from a "dark comedy?"

[Claudio Coppola]

12 hours ago, preeya said:

What did you expect from a "dark comedy?"

You don't get to talk to me like that, because I used to watch Desperate Housewives and Devious Maids, and it was never (well, at least the 4 seasons of DH) this dull and stereotypical. Literally, the only time I laughed was when Lucy uttered that line about the one-bedroom apartment. I've also watched several sitcoms, and even they were funnier and more original than this shit

[shapeshifter]

7 hours ago, Claudio Coppola said:

19 hours ago, preeya said:

What did you expect from a "dark comedy?"

You don't get to talk to me like that, because I used to watch Desperate Housewives and Devious Maids, and it was never (well, at least the 4 seasons of DH) thi

Just to clarify, this ^ is supposed to be self-deprecating/kidding, right?

Anyway, I think it was supposed to be super-stereotypical to make a rather packed pilot easy to follow
—and funny
but
humor is always subjective.

I'll watch 1.2 later this evening.

[rhys]

Plus this is Mark Cherry, right? He's pretty camp writing at what he *thinks* women would do and say. 

BethAnn wouldn't wear gloves & a hat to grocery shop in 1963. I was around in 1963 & that sartorial choice was for Sunday mass only. 

still, I'm in for awhile longer as I adore Lucy, too.

[shapeshifter]

34 minutes ago, rhys said:

BethAnn wouldn't wear gloves & a hat to grocery shop in 1963. I was around in 1963 & that sartorial choice was for Sunday mass only. 

Definitely the gloves outside of church would have been 10 years earlier, so I assumed it was to indicate how out-of-step and square BethAnn was.

[Chaos Theory]

Mark Cherry has never been subtle.  

If a deep dive into the female psyche is what you are looking for.....

[txhorns79]

Quote

Definitely the gloves outside of church would have been 10 years earlier, so I assumed it was to indicate how out-of-step and square BethAnn was.

I'll just say that my mother was alive during the time period, never attended a church in her life (outside of weddings or funerals) and we have numerous pictures showing her wearing gloves outside a church setting.  To give an example, she attended the World's Fair in 1965, and they took a picture of her getting on the plane to go to New York, and she was wearing gloves.  I would agree that they did go mostly out of style, particularly for younger people, by the later-60s, but I can see someone Beth Ann's age wearing them late into the decade.  My only point being that there was no uniform rule for how someone must act or dress during a particular decade.  Some people were forward thinking in their dress and actions, others seemed like relics from a different time period, while many were just some combination of the two.        

I liked Lucy Liu a lot.  She seemed to be having real fun with her character. Though I will say I don't believe for a moment that the neighbor's son was a teenager.  I was kind of meh with the 2019 couple.  I found their storyline to be the most predictable.     

[rhys]

Yep, people used to dress up to fly. I have pix of my folks flying somewhere (Vegas?) & my dad is in a suit. It was the 60s. Crazy times. No jetways either, so lots of steps to & fro & decidedly disastrous while wearing heels!

[Chaos Theory]

On 8/22/2019 at 5:45 PM, rhys said:

BethAnn wouldn't wear gloves & a hat to grocery shop in 1963. I was around in 1963 & that sartorial choice was for Sunday mass only. 

BethAnn is by no means a forward thinker.  She was a virgin when she married Rob.   I can see her always being old fashioned and it got worse after whatever happened to their daughter.  

[Ms Blue Jay]

8 hours ago, rhys said:

Yep, people used to dress up to fly. I have pix of my folks flying somewhere (Vegas?) & my dad is in a suit. It was the 60s. Crazy times. No jetways either, so lots of steps to & fro & decidedly disastrous while wearing heels!

LOL!  My dad still does this!  

[Kromm]

On 8/23/2019 at 9:18 AM, Chaos Theory said:

Mark Cherry has never been subtle.  

If a deep dive into the female psyche is what you are looking for.....

Yeah but this one is just a blunt instrument. 

 

On 8/17/2019 at 9:11 PM, Keywestclubkid said:

Lucy chewing the scenery and acting her best 80s soap I am here for 

Honestly it's the only part of this I truly enjoyed. Lucy going so ridiculously over the top, with such uber-commitment, I had no choice but to love it. But this is kinda crappy otherwise. 

[Anela]

On 8/16/2019 at 10:27 PM, preeya said:

Best line by Lucy Liu:  "You think you're gonna get out of this by dying? Fuck you! I want to see you suffer in a one-bedroom apartment next to the airport"

This was my favourite part. Lucy Liu is hilarious.

I wish I'd known about this show in August. Glad that I get to binge it now. 

[Shermie]

Quote

Waaaaay too many stereotypes crammed into an almost 1-hour show for my liking: I do not believe for one second a 1960s housewife would let her husband treat her like a dog (as in "I'll tap on the side of my cup and you'll come running with a refill and be all smiles about it"), as much as taking care of the husband was the wifey thing to do back then;

Wanna bet? My Mom and her peers were totally like that. The woman served the man, especially if he worked all day and she was "only" a housewife. On the farm, both spouses would work side by side doing chores, but when they came in for breakfast, the husband got to rest and enjoy his coffee and newspaper while the wife cooked breakfast. My mom would tell me to get my brother a coffee because he worked all day even though I also worked all day in a physical job. My husband's mother would make the girls get stuff like ketchup or milk at dinner for their brothers. And they called it the good old days. 🙄

As for dressing up, I have a great photo of my parents at Expo '67 in Montreal, and he's wearing a suit, tie and hat (straight out of Mad Men) and my Mom is wearing a fab red suit (a la Jackie Kennedy). Not what I'd call holiday attire, but it was a different time.

Loving the show so far, nice and campy.

[HolmesUltimateQu]

Marc Cherry also created Desperate Housewives and there was also a married woman sleeping with an actual teenager on that show. So... all I'm saying is, what is going on with Marc Cherry and why does he think this is appropriate?

[EtheltoTillie]

On 8/15/2019 at 3:51 PM, skotnikov said:

The show is amazing. 

Yes it is!  I never knew about it till a week or so ago.  They’re suddenly promoting it a lot on social media.  Aside from the acting and stories, the sets and costumes are brilliant.  The 1963 and 1984 period costumes are dead-on accurate but with that extra something of artistry. 

On 8/22/2019 at 6:21 PM, shapeshifter said:

Definitely the gloves outside of church would have been 10 years earlier, so I assumed it was to indicate how out-of-step and square BethAnn was.

@shapeshifter why didn’t you tell me about this show 5 years ago?  Lol