Elizabeth Olsen’s Ax Killer Candy Montgomery

Love and Death has a pedigree as famous as recent HBO efforts. The most recent success comes from prolific showrunner David E. Kelley. Big Little Lies And undo. It stars Elizabeth Olsen as a confused, disgruntled, and ultimately volatile suburban housewife—a role vaguely reminiscent of her Emmy-nominated lineup. WandaVision. It features a stellar cast of Jesse Plemons, Lily Rabe, Patrick Fugit, Elizabeth Marvel, Tom Pelphrey, and Krysten Ritter. And it’s based on a notorious true crime case that continues to be hotly debated today.

Considering the dramatic retelling of this story last year, thanks to Jessica Biel’s five-episode Hulu initiative, the only thing that’s really missing from it is originality. Sugar.

While the bloody saga has a few revelations, it’s up to the audience to decide whether twice is good (or necessary) when it comes to Candy Montgomery, which has been revived with aplomb. Love and Death. Kelley’s limited seven-episode HBO Max series premieres April 27, and his most important contribution to the discourse surrounding the murder is his portrayal of its subject matter in a relatively empathetic light.

Based on your collection Texas Monthly book by Jim Atkinson and John Bloom, as well as articles Proof of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbstransmits a version of events that are assumed to be certain; “This is a true story,” he says at the beginning of each installment. However, in the end, the series still tends to raise eyebrows, as well as some questions.

main attraction Love and Death Temporarily released from Marvel duties, Olsen’s lead performance shines charismatically as Candy, his wife and mother in Wylie, Texas, who shot and killed his friend Betty Gore (Rabe) 41 times on June 13, 1980. with an ax. Candy claimed that this murder was committed in self-defense after Betty’s husband Allan (Plemons) attacked her after she learned that she was having an extramarital affair with Candy. Whether Candy chopped up Betty or her previous meeting with Allan is beyond doubt, the true nature of the two women’s fateful encounter remains a matter of speculation – it’s true crime buffs (and Sugar As viewers know, Candy was finally found not guilty of murder.

At the show’s early start (starting two years before Betty’s death), Olsen embodies Candy as a lively woman, albeit bored. It’s the everyday boredom that inspires Plemons to ask the boring, grumpy Allan to really sleep together. Charged with a spouse suffering from postpartum depression and overwhelming separation anxiety (Betty acts unhappy every time she has to go on a business trip) a writhing Allan before he reluctantly accepts a sexual arrangement as neatly constructed as the place settings Candy arranges for lunch together. motel rooms.

Far from a “whirlwind romance”, theirs is a relationship that aims to bring some spark back into their lives even if it doesn’t ruin their marriage, Allan stubbornly puts Betty’s well-being first, and Candy shows no signs of wanting to leave her. , but the kind wife Pat (Fugit), whose defining characteristic is that she is a good choir singer.

Candy and Allan’s relationship, the main crime and the ensuing case, is not complex enough to require seven episodes, and yet Love and Death it never feels overly padded. Kelley and his collaborators (including director Lesli Linka Glatter) spent their considerable time painting a comprehensive picture of the circle of the Methodist Church (led by Marvel’s pastor Jackie Ponder and later by Keir Gilchrist’s less popular successor, Ron Adams). they use for. the focal point of everyone’s life, connecting them in a pious spirit of sacrifice and friendship.

Jake Giles Netter/HBO

They also capture the special circumstances of Candy’s headspace, largely thanks to Olsen, whose wide eyes and cheerful smile reflect her pragmatic and confident, do-anything attitude that forces Candy to engage with Allan and empower her with her scandal. arrest, charge and prosecution.

In many ways, Love and Death it feels certain: many of its characters are well defined; all the details of the plot are dramatized from beginning to end; and multiple perspectives have been adequately explored. Still, though very watchable from start to finish, Love and Death Something is missing.

Part of that has to do with Candy, who, as embodied by Olsen, is almost too cunning, charming, and restrained for this story; It’s hard to imagine someone so attractive (and stunning) stuck in such dead-end circumstances, filled with a lover who should have been encouraged to sleep with her in the beginning. Olsen lives from the inside out, capturing Candy’s boredom, frustration, and pent-up anger in a unique way. Still, almost too many movie stars are attractive for a figure like Candy, which underscores the material.

Patrick FugitElizabeth Olsen

Jake Giles Netter/HBO

What’s even more problematic is that the show adheres so tightly to Candy’s point of view that it generates compassion for her (innocent) plight, while avoiding any complexity that might make revisiting this story worthwhile in the first place. Love and Death gives voice to a series of damning prosecution arguments. However, he really only imagines one scenario: Candy defends herself against Betty’s attack, during which she suddenly goes mad and more or less frantic.

All in all, there are no big bombs to be found here, just a sympathetic portrait of a woman who finds herself in a mess of her own (and Allan’s) making and has to convince the world that her lover has no intention of murdering his wife. . The show is pretty convincing on that front, but as it progresses through its litigation-centric second half—invigorated by the animated return of Pelphrey as Candy’s lawyer who regularly fights with the presiding judge—there’s a feeling that the proceedings have taken a narrow perspective. mystery at hand.

bright and interesting, Love and Death The defense team allows for a touch of skepticism about Candy’s narrative to emerge—especially regarding the idea that Candy lost control due to her long-buried maternal trauma uncovered through hypnosis and hacked Betty 41 times. Still, Kelley has nothing particularly fascinating to say about the protagonist of the latest, nor does he have anything new to add to the conversation about his infamous encounter. She leaves people wanting more and not in the way she intended.

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