All week long, Baby Gojira and I were psyched on how this show would spin the "killer nanny" story, that is Yoselyn Ortega, whose story was novelized to chilling effect in "The Perfect Nanny," by Leila Slimani.
The nanny was represented by a character named Delores Alverez, played by an actress named Soleidy Mendez. I really thought she was going to be nailed by the squad, and I was looking for the twisted way she would spin justification for what she did.
But it was not just the Mill children who were killed. The father, Julian, a stay at home hubby who writes--sound familiar, girls???????--was also stabbed to a bloody pulp and left discarded.
The highlight of the entire episode was the performance of Sasha Alexander, as Anne Mill. She got the grieving mother/widow thing right, but, as the story began to twist and turn, it horrified me to realize where this show was going with this. Not necessarily because of what it turned out Anne did--but because it detracted from the nanny, and was something done many times before on such shows. Though usually by a man, and not a woman.
When Sandrine Holt, as psychologist Lisa Abernathy showed up, I cringed. What a poor choice for a shrink, I cannot emphasize this enough--bring back Dr, Skoda. or Dr. Elizabeth Olivet. She is my favorite.
Holt looks like she barely made it through Psych 101. And when she spoke the words "family annihilator," as though speaking to Helen Keller, I was insulted. So, the much hyped supposition that this would examine the Ortega case, was jettisoned, in favor of a modern Medea, or, in more criminal terms, a female John List. And it was the same reason--the family, of whom Anne was the soul support, was crashing financially, she was facing fraud charges at her law firm, so, like List, she thought the safer thing to do was to save her husband and children, by ending their lives. Hey, Anne, while you were at it, why the hell didn't you end your own? Like List should have done?
Why was the nanny thing jettisoned? Too tough for the writers to tackle? Too many producers afraid of lawsuits?
The verdict was bogus. She was found guilty for killing Julian, the husband, but not guilty of killing the children. The dumb jury, who must have been rejected from "Judge Judy," could not conceive of a woman killing her children. Hey, folks, remember Susan Smith? Or Andrea Yates??????????????? This bitch is headed for the canner's, because when the inmates find out she committed infanticide, they will tear her apart.
I felt completely let down. Get rid of Sandrine Holt, and Gary Basaraba, who played defending attorney Billy O'Boyle, had the most annoying speaking voice since I first heard Harvey Fierstein, in the original "Torch Song Trilogy," and that was 38 years ago!!!!!!!!!
Next week, it looks like the show if going to tackle the Mario Batali sexual assault allegations. After the failure of this episode, I have no more hope that the cream will rise to the top on this show; it is much too curdled.
But Sasha saved the day, with her truly chilling performance
No comments:
Post a Comment