(MINI SERIES) All Her Fault - A Drama Thriller Series With Brilliant Performance by Some of Its Cast Based on Best Selling Novel

After completing another series earlier, I browsed various new shows in different streaming platforms and came across this Mini Series that looked interesting on HBO Max. If you have read my previous posts, you would know why I was interested in limited series as it definitely had a closure. OK then, let's get started shall we?

Brief Story Line

A pretty successful wealth manager Marissa Irvine (Sarah Snook - Succession TV series, Predestination etc) went to pick up her 5 year old child Milo (Duke McCloud) after his play date with the son of Jenny Kraminsky (Dakota Fanning - The Perfect Couple mini series, The Equalizer 3 etc), another mom from same school. To her surprise, there was no such play date and the address was also fake. Marissa's husband Peter (Jake Lacy - The White Lotus TV series, Rampage etc) and his younger siblings Lia (Abby Elliott - The Bear TV series, Sex Ed etc) and Brian (Daniel Monks - Ricky Stanicky, Pulse etc) were not aware of Milo's location either. 

The police detective Alcaras (Michael Peña - A Working Man, Dora and the Lost City of Gold etc) was assigned to the missing child case which later turned out to be a kidnapping. The Irvines themselves also coordinated a volunteer information gathering around the neighborhood with the help from Marissa's business partner Colin (Jay Ellis - Top Gun: Maverick, Insecure TV series etc) who was very good friend of the family. 

So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this series.

End of Brief Story Line

OK that was a pleasant surprise. Although I was interested in the premise and the fact it was mini series, I was a bit doubtful when I started watching cause it looked a lot like a drama. But then the first episode ended with a huge teaser that I would not go into detail as it would spoil the fun. Anyway, as the story progressed, the tension was quite strongly felt by the solid performance of the cast. However, even though it was the part where critics highly praised the series, I personally felt some of the dramatic moments were a bit of a distraction from the main plot. Not until I reached the 7th episode (which was the best to my opinion) that made me satisfied with the series. The series finale was also pretty awesome as it provided a proper conclusion.

The series itself only had 8 episodes with duration between 48-56 minutes which was the reason why I was able to finish watching in 1 full day. All of them were made available in HBO Max on 6 November, something that is quite uncommon for them. Although I think it has got to do with the series being a Peacock original. Whatever the reason, I am glad that it was released through HBO Max so audience in Indonesia can also watch it. From the opening credit, it was mentioned that the series was based on the novel of the same title written by Andrea Mara and created for TV by Megan Gallagher (creator of Seizure and Grenseland TV series). 

What made this series stood out to the critics was the performance of its cast particularly Sarah Snook. For me aside from her, I also admired the acting of Jake Lacy, Michael Peña, Dakota Fanning and the child actor Duke McCloud who was really amazing considering his very young age. In addition to the ones categorized as main cast above, there were also the name of Sophia Lillis (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, The Chair Company TV series etc) as Jenny's nanny Carrie Finch. Other support characters were Detective Alcaraz partner Greco (Johnny Carr - The Survivors TV series etc), Marissa's nanny Ana (Kartiah Vergara), Jenny's husband Richie (Thomas Cocquerel - The Gilded Age TV series etc), Sarah Larsen the school's parent representative (Melanie Vallejo - Winners & Losers TV series etc) and few others. The first 4 episodes were directed by Minkie Spiro (also served as one of the Executive producer) while the remaining were directed by Kate Dennis, both of whom were experienced directors for TV series.

Overall this is a wonderful series if you are looking for a strong drama mystery thriller with surprising twist. It should have been easy to deduce as the hints were quite clear if I just put more attention and give them proper thoughts. But still it was a great one that I think most people would not have seen coming. The fantastic performance of the main cast was definitely worthy of critics praise, although for me a deeper focus on the mystery might have been more satisfying. Yes, some of those dramatic scenes were important to provide characters background and reason for their actions, but there were also parts which I thought did not have any added value to the main story (particularly those scenes related to one of the character). In fact, without those scenes, I think the series could have had a shorter duration (perhaps just 6 episodes). So if you are in the mood for something like this, then you can give the series a try. It would not take long to finish as it only had 8 episodes, plus it had a satisfying conclusion. 

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars