Well acted and highly suspenseful, the eight-part Netflix thriller “Pieces of Her” never lets up. This is a good thing for the first five episodes. Then it grows exhausting.
Based on a book by Karin Slaughter, “Pieces of Her” — premiering Friday, March 4 — stars Toni Collette as Laura, a Georgia speech therapist who stops a mass shooter after he opens fire in a cafe where she is dining with her police dispatcher daughter, Andy (Bella Heathcote, “The Man in the High Castle”). The subsequent publicity puts Laura back on the radar of people she has been hiding from for years.
不知道她的女儿在她的过去,刘ra sends Andy away for her own safety, instructing her to pick up an old car from storage and head to a motel in Maine. To avoid detection, Andy cannot use her cell phone, GPS or credit cards.
For lovers of old-school thrillers where characters rely on their wits rather than technology, this is a delicious development. Seeing a modern 30-year-old wrestle a giant paper map outside a gas station is oddly satisfying.
“Pieces of Her” deepens its retro feel with a Reagan-era backstory that includes cheesily gothic elements reminiscent of miniseries like “Princess Daisy” and “Lace.” Reinforcing this vibe is Terry O’Quinn, who plays one of many creeps in Laura’s past. O’Quinn might have starred on “Lost,” but to us he always will be “The Stepfather.”
Shot in Australia with Aussie leads — Collette and Heathcote — who convince as an American mother and daughter with a complex but loving relationship, “Pieces of Her” is not as tacky as those 1980s camp fests. But it does indulge in moodily lit shots of imperiled young people that are clearly meant to tug at the heartstrings. It stops just short of showing a creaky swing without a rider.
Showrunner Charlotte Stoudt (“Homeland”) and director Minkie Spiro allow Laura and Andy about 10 minutes of peace in this whole limited series, at the start of episode one. Everyone makes good use of this time.
We first see each woman at work: Laura gently encouraging a military veteran whose speech is halting, Andy idly sketching while a crank who called the police about a minor issue tries to engage her.
一位有抱负的艺术家，安迪回到纽约回家，在她生病时帮助她的母亲，然后在劳拉康复后留下来。由于这对Andy的30岁的诞生，劳拉问她的女儿，如果她想改变她的调度师制服。安迪说不，Heathcote的分心空气强调了她的角色的漫无目的的状态。
Collette专注于Laura的回答：震惊，迅速接近一个“我该怎么办？她30“辞职。这种交易所感觉真实，必要，因为这个家庭债券是唯一一个将在几个南方国家和湾区（澳大利亚肆无忌惮地扮演旧金山）来回移动的故事。
At the cafe, Andy learns her mother holds secret skills, including an ability to take down a killer with his own knife. Is she ex-CIA or something? Laura does not give Andy any ideas about her past, or why they both are in danger as she pushes Andy out the door.
Even with mother and daughter apart for most of this limited series, we can see they both are resourceful and determined, if also the flip sides of each other emotionally. Heathcote portrays Andy, finally given a purpose as she heads out on the road, as sure in intent but visibly anxious. Collette, by contrast, appears stonily resolute while offering glimmers of Laura’s underlying pain.
在第一集于最多10次驾驶后，该展示的应力水平很少低于8.5。没有一些扭曲，启示或误导，15分钟不能去。虽然你永远不知道发生了什么，但你总是知道somethingis. By episode six, these “surprises” lose all impact.
L“Pieces of Her”:Drama series. Starring Toni Collette, Bella Heathcote. (TV-MA. Eight approximately hour-long episodes.) Available to stream on Netflix starting Friday, March 4.