All Her Fault

17

Ms. Hipster and I — okay, it’s really just me — have taken to just blurting “It’s all her fault!” whenever anything bad happens. Federal agents murder a citizen in the street. It’s all her fault! Someone burns Hipster Jr. Jr.’s frozen pizza. It’s all her fault! We slog through another terrible episode of television. It’s all her fault! You get it. You may also take from my sarcastic whatever that I think the title All Her Fault is kind of dumb. And, quite frankly, this limited series was something that sat there in my queue — the trailer looking just a bit too overwrought for my taste — until we somehow ran out of media in the 2025 / 2026 turn. And so it got boosted to the top of the list, knowing full well that it would be one of those shows that would be second-screened or generally dismissed as over-the-top drivel the thirty-second time Sarah Snook’s blotchy, ginger cry-face graced my screen.

But, yes, this is yet another story about affluent white folks and their problems. Because being rich isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Uh, yeah, it is. From what I’ve heard. But Snook’s Marissa Irvine character — a wealth manager in Chicago who doesn’t seem to work a whole lot — goes to pick up her young son from an after-school playdate and finds out that her son has actually been abducted by some mysterious woman. And the case is on. Who took Milo, the precocious five year old? Everyone seems to have some sort of secret hand in his abduction — or so the narrative would have us think. The husband, Peter (Jake Lacy), is kind of a control freak with a savior complex and sneaks off to take calls at odd times. Peter’s live-in brother, Brian (Daniel Monks), is disabled and, well, he also has a shaky alibi during one piece of the mystery. But, honestly, the dude can barely walk, so he’s really not a suspect. Peter’s sister, Lia (Abby Elliott), is a recovering drug addict who has clearly fallen off the wagon several times and, like her disabled bother, depends on Peter for living expenses. And she’s wacky, so of course she could be involved for some reason? Marissa’s business partner, Colin (Jay Ellis), is a recovering gambling addict who also sneaks off to take calls at odd times and just basically looks kinda guilty. Point is, I didn’t think any of these people would be directly involved in the kidnapping, but perhaps some of their associates or something they did inspired this abduction. Or, perhaps not.

Wrapped up in this whole thing for absolutely no reason is another mom from the school, Jenny (Dakota Fanning). It seems that the original scheme to steal Milo revolved around this fake playdate that was to take place at Jenny’s house. But the kidnapper just used her as a front and pretended to be her to set up the date. Jenny had absolutely nothing to do with it. Yet she feels guilty originally, and even more so later (which I won’t give away). But, suffice it to say that she is one of the people who think… It’s all my fault! While Marissa thinks… It’s all my fault! You know who doesn’t think it’s their fault? The men. Especially Jenny’s absolute garbage husband, Richie (Thomas Cocquerel), who is truly one of the worst, most cartoonish men ever to be stuck in a TV script ever. Total f’ing clown. His sole purpose in this series is to make men look dumb and helpless. And selfish. Weird thing is, he’s a school teacher, yet seemingly has no interest in parenting and not a whole lot of care about children in general. Save Dakota! His character plays no part in the narrative whatsoever other than to drive Jenny into a closer relationship with Melissa and kind of put exposition in Jenny’s mouth to make Melissa realize that some of the bad traits of her husband also exist in Melissa’s husband, Pete. It’s very Lifetime movie coded. In fact, the entire bad-man, women-gotta-stick-together plot does feel like a slightly elevated version of so many of those movies. Better acted, of course. Better looking. But definitely some similar themes and similar twists and turns. We think it’s the bad lady… No sir, this is the bad man channel, don’t you know!?

Of course, you also have the cop leading the investigation, Detective Alcaras (Michael Peña). A cop who sees beyond the obvious, but also walks in a different world than these wealthy suburbanites. He’s smart, but not too smart. A good dad. A way better husband than any of the other men on the show. Yet, he too is infected by these weirdo richies. How could he not be? The show is meant to pull you this way and that way, giving you every reason to suspect everyone — displayed by Alcaras’ running commentary with his partner and his murder board as the bodies start stacking up. I’d give the mystery angle of it a six out of ten. It’s not terribly obvious what actually happened with Milo, but it’s also not hidden all that well. I don’t think at any point we really have the idea that any of these people were complicit in the kid’s kidnapping. Sure, some of them are shady, but none of them are criminals in that way. Maybe they use some drugs. Maybe they embezzle a little. Maybe they lie about all sorts of stuff. But we’re never under the impression that they don’t love their child or nephew or child of their best friend. The kid is cute and actually a decent little actor. Who doesn’t love that? So, we have to assume something else is going on. And we have to assume that something will eventually go off the rails. And we have to assume that when it goes off the rails, that the rich people will prevail. Because, well, being rich is awesome. Point being, when we find out exactly how all of the people and everything connect, it’s quite… stupid. Like in a way that makes one of those Lifetime movies seem pretty tame and logical. Because, let me tell you, it’s bonkers. Like I saw it coming and discounted the mystery solution out of hand because it would be too ridiculous. But, no, they just went for it. Which made me wonder if all the actors — all of whom do an admirable job here — were let in on the ending before they signed on. Because they might have looked crossways at the showrunner and possibly tried to back out of their contracts.

Look, there is a lot of TV out there. I’m sure a lot of it is worse than this series. I liked the actors. The story wasn’t terrible. But it is pretty asinine when it comes down to it. Granted, I assume they stuck to the plot of the novel on which it’s based. “Novel” being a description that’s a little too generous for what I assume is more of a beach read than a serious literary novel. It has some of the same vibes as the myriad rich white people doing other rich white people dirty mystery series like Sirens, The Better Sister and the 47 campy series Nicole Kidman has made in the last several years. A kind of hiding-the-ball stage play on sets filled with fancy houses and luxury automobiles. I’m not sure what this genre should be called, but apparently it’s one that’s here to stay. Which I suppose is fine because I clearly haven’t tired of them, as they make a decent screen-filler when I’m just not feeling anything else. Honestly, though, I blame Ms. Hipster for this one. It’s all her fault!