Fool Me Once Series Review: Perfect for Opening the Year with a Long Binge-Watching Session
Cast: Michelle Keegan, Dino Fetscher, Danya Griver, Adeel Akhtar, Emmett J. Scanlan, Richard Armitage, Joanna Lumley
Created By: Harlan Coben
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3.5/5 (two and a half stars)
A new thriller miniseries is about to arrive on Netflix, ready to leave you in suspense. It’s called Fool Me Once and is an 8-episode series written by Danny Brocklehurst and directed by David Moore. In this series, Maya Stern (Michelle Keegan) tries to overcome the brutal murder of her husband Joe (Richard Armitage), but when she installs a baby monitor to keep an eye on her daughter, she is shocked to see a man she recognizes in the house: her husband who thought he was dead. But let’s try to delve more into the plot of this series and find out when we will find it in the Netflix catalog. Born from the already long collaboration with the writer Harlan Coben (we are already at the eighth adaptation of one of his works!), Fool Me Once makes twists and unexpected turns the strong point of its very complex plot.
Many elements are on fire, which at times could confuse the viewer, but which in the end blend quite well and work, capturing the viewer in an always interesting and engaging mystery. As we will see in this review of Fool Me Once, the series created by Coben, written by Danny Brocklehurst, and directed by David Moore takes us into the lives of numerous characters, in particular we will follow the events of a woman who, after the mysterious death of her husband, will decide to do everything to find out who the culprits are: in doing so, as is tradition in stories of this type, he will open a Pandora’s box in which his past in the army mixes with the conspiracies of an evil pharmaceutical company, in which the death months before of his beloved sister could be somehow linked to a group of hackers and the return to the scene of an old flame with dark objectives. In short, so on and so forth in this thriller (far too) full of ideas but extremely engaging in its way.
Fool Me Once Series Review: The Story Plot
We cannot help but provide you with some details on the plot of Fool Me Once, to make you understand how complex and detailed this story is. The first episode opens in media res, catapulting us into a situation set in motion by the dramatic death of Joe (Richard Armitage). Joe was walking near his house with his young wife Maya (Michelle Keegan), a former soldier on leave, when two men on a motorcycle suddenly cut him down, leaving him bleeding and dying on the side of the road. The man, who works for a major pharmaceutical company, apparently had no enemies, and no one can explain what happened to him. But Joe’s is not the first death to devastate Maya’s life, a few months before her the woman had also lost her sister, a brilliant chemist employed in the same company as her husband and killed during a robbery that ended badly.
The past of the woman, who was dishonorably discharged from the army, hides numerous secrets, which could be linked to what is happening. Even her husband’s family, headed by her cold and manipulative mother-in-law (Joanna Lumley), is no exception: many years earlier Joe’s younger brother died in a terrible boat accident, but there are rumors that it may have been a suicide… Investigating this confusing tangle of deaths and secrets we find detective Sami Kierce (Adeel Akhtar), an expert investigator worried about a mysterious syndrome that strikes him, causing him to suddenly lose consciousness, at the most unexpected moments. To stir the cards on the table even more, as if there were any need, an incredible discovery made by Maya herself while observing her daughter and the babysitter from a hidden camera in the little girl’s bedroom: Joe is more alive than ever and enters in the frame to hug his daughter. What’s going on? Is the loss and pain playing a trick on the woman’s mind or did her husband just fake his death?
Fool Me Once Series Review and Analysis
As we anticipated, Fool Me Once is designed to progressively capture the viewer and drag him into a story that unfolds through twists and turns. The information we are given – and the secondary characters introduced right away – is truly a lot, so a little patience is needed to get into the story, to put together the various pieces of the puzzle provided to us by the screenplay. At times one wonders if so much “richness” and complexity were really necessary, the mysteries and secrets pile up one on top of the other without a moment to catch one’s breath (from the mysterious illness of detective Sami to the return to the scene of the Maya’s sister’s ex-boyfriend, from the hackers who got her discharged from the army to the involvement of the local school’s soccer coach!), but somehow they fit together well, and the viewer ends up getting caught up in the story, swallowing one episode after another until the exciting finale.
Michelle Keegan works extremely well in the role of the tireless protagonist, willing to do anything to reveal what happened to her husband and beloved sister. Keegan is believable in her portrayal of a woman devastated by grief and a victim of PSTD due to her past in the military, the doubt that much of what we see is only in her mind (such as the sudden appearance of her husband in the recordings which coincidentally no one else can see) accompanies us for much of the vision, adding that extra layer to the mystery that unravels before us. For some reason, mostly stemming from editing and storytelling choices, it starts pretty poorly. It overwhelms us with information at a very high pace as if it bombards us with notions and characters, which are initially difficult to place in the plot when we don’t know their relationships and relatives. After the pilot episode, things are already improving but from the fourth episode, exactly halfway through the story, Fool Me Once transforms. Radically.
To be precise, everything changes from the moment the protagonist Maya (an adorable Michelle Kegan, former protagonist of the Our Girl series) stops in a park to talk to her brother-in-law Eddie Walker (Marcus Garvey, who you will remember in that television gem by Broadchurch, also on Netflix). The attention to that long dialogue, the shots, the editing, and the background of the children playing outdoors: everything finally restores worthy attention to the care taken in the staging. Set design, settings, photography, costumes: everything is very carefully crafted and only after the beginning is it accompanied by an equally careful narrative. From this sequence onwards, naturally, the narrative pace changes: it becomes “slower” if you like, but much more sensible. It effectively becomes an investigation conducted on one side by the police and on the other by Maya.
The entire first part of the story, however, is thrown away by providing too many elements to the viewer, as if it were assumed that he has read the book from which the series is based. But this is not the case – one should never make such an assumption in an adaptation – and therefore everything is very confusing, excessive (the proverbial “too many irons in the fire”), and not very plausible. We don’t know the background, we quickly forget the premise dated 1996. We are told everything that will only be revealed later with the result of being incomprehensible and losing the emotional impact that certain information if inserted at the right time, would have on the public. To be honest, after the pilot episode and the start of the second, I was about to throw in the towel and give up on finishing the viewing. But my professional deformation as an analyst and above all as a screenwriter got the better of me: I wanted to see how they would handle the rest of the story, up to its surprising resolution.
My screenwriting professor at Film School, many years ago, laughingly maintained that shouting at the TV was useless, but maybe this time it worked – because at a certain point, as if by magic, everything changed. Fool Me Once becomes a rational story, full of tension and unexpected turns, with the right amount of time dedicated to each scene. The story has changed. Drastically. A transformation that you will have to wait for by quickly storing information, especially in the pilot episode, but which will give you satisfaction in the end. The main reason that pushes us through a rather chaotic and disorganized pilot episode is the characters. Maya is an ex-military widow who has just suffered her second tragic loss in a short space of time. Judith, the matron who manages the family and her infinite money, and who lives exclusively according to the same old habits.
Sami, the slightly clumsy but nice policeman makes fun of the rookie who is assigned to him – Marty, another interesting character – and who has a mysterious health problem. There’s enough to pique our curiosity. Not to mention the constant allusions to Maya’s military past – which however will only be revealed to us in the seventh episode, one step away from the end. It would have been much more useful to see the flashback in question in the second or third episode because we would have known our protagonist thoroughly and we would have followed her with different eyes. And the ending would have been even more effective. Secrets are revealed about all the characters. Some of these revelations are easier to understand, others are truly shocking. And once again, the entire success of the series relies on the characters. Characters are the only means of overturning the vision of a story. If we rely on our impressions, and the emotional closeness with the protagonists, we end up believing what they say.
If all their words are to be somehow rewritten, we need to understand their reasons. This rule applies to both good and bad guys, so to speak. Negative characters can perform extremely positive actions, and vice versa. Blurring the boundaries between the two classical camps. Thus, the spectator is surprised. In screenwriting, the conclusion of the story is fundamental. If it comes with a series of twists that force us to reevaluate our positions on the characters, then it’s bound to leave its mark. Fool Me Once, as long as you don’t run into spoilers (and there are none here), will remain in your memory for how it directs us toward a certain narrative and then drags us in the opposite direction.
Fool Me Once Series Review: The Last Words
Fool Me Once, adapted by Harlan Coben himself from one of his novels, is the first Netflix miniseries of 2024. After a somewhat chaotic and confusing start, with a pilot episode that could have been done much better, the narrative slowly changes pace and dedicates itself to building great tension while the investigations into two murders, one official and one parallel, proceed. Thanks to endearing characters who are all hiding secrets, our first impressions are rewritten episode after episode. Until an unexpected, surprising, and also rather courageous ending. The meaning of this story is very clear: one way or another, justice arrives. Not always at the right time, not always by those who should exercise it. But somehow the victims are avenged.
Fool Me Once Series Review: Perfect for Opening the Year with a Long Binge-Watching Session - Filmyhype
Director: Harlan Coben
Date Created: 2024-01-01 18:33
3.5
Pros
- Gripping Mystery: The central mystery is undeniably intriguing, with enough red herrings and cliffhangers to keep you guessing until the very end. The show's fast pace and constant revelations make it difficult to look away.
- Compelling Characters: Maya is a well-developed protagonist, and her journey of grief, anger, and determination is relatable and engaging. The supporting cast, including Joanna Lumley as Maya's sharp-tongued aunt and Richard Coyle as a mysterious neighbor, also add depth and intrigue.
- Stylish Production: The series boasts a slick and polished look, with beautiful cinematography and evocative settings.
Cons
- Predictable Twists: While some twists are genuinely surprising, others feel predictable and rely on familiar tropes. The reliance on coincidence can also stretch believability at times.
- Uneven Pacing: The show occasionally gets bogged down in unnecessary subplots and character relationships, disrupting the overall flow of the narrative.
- Melodramatic Dialogue: Some of the dialogue, particularly in moments of high emotion, can veer into melodrama and feel slightly over-the-top.
