Summary
Impressive Hollywood actors and striking visuals may win over audiences, but this style of mystery series has been done many times before, to a much higher degree.
Reese Witherspoon’s production company Hello Sunshine has carved out a pretty successful niche in the modern TV landscape since the release of Big Little Lies back in 2017.
The company predominantly follows a specific style, delivering glossy American mystery dramas set in picturesque towns, featuring some of Hollywood’s finest actors. These addictive shows are mainly best-selling book adaptations, hinging on dark mysteries set within the mundanity of modern-day America.
Apple Original series, The Last Thing He Told Me, fits this mold perfectly. Adapted from Laura Dave’s novel of the same name, this thriller miniseries follows the mysterious disappearance of coder Owen Michaels (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), who appears to have both a seedy past and a scandalous present.
The Last Thing He Told Me Season 1 Review and Plot Summary
Owen’s wife Hannah (Jennifer Garner) and daughter Bailey (Angourie Rice) are the ones left picking up the pieces after Owen’s sudden disappearance. The husband leaves without a word, sending Hannah a disturbing note that says: protect her.
While he gifts his daughter with a duffel bag full of cash and her own cryptic note to decipher. In the midst of all this chaos, Owen’s tech company, The Shop, is under investigation by the FBI, and their CEO is arrested on fraud charges.
With the FBI breathing down Hannah’s neck and a US Marshal scoping out her home, Hannah has no choice but to delve into Owen’s disappearance to prove his innocence or at least gain some answers. She works with her angsty teenage stepdaughter Bailey to uncover the truth about Owen before they are arrested or placed in further danger.
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Scattered throughout the miniseries are an array of important flashbacks, which help build a better picture of the main cast’s lives. Owen seemed to be the perfect husband and father, while Hannah and Bailey struggled to form a bond.
These flashbacks may aid in providing clues and backstory, but they plague the series, distracting viewers and stalling the show’s overall rhythm and flow.
Is The Last Thing He Told Me Season 1 good or bad?
The Last Thing He Told Me is an average mystery drama series following your standard plot beats. The leading ladies follow vague connections and forced clues as they hunt for Owen, indulging in eye-rolling espionage along the way.
This is then inter-cut with those jarring flashback sequences that are poorly placed throughout each installment. Sometimes they even appear mid-scene to supposedly help viewers understand our character’s thought processes better. This works perfectly in a novel setup but is poorly conveyed within the show.
For all its faults, the series is well-made and features some surprisingly impressive Hollywood talent though. All against an exquisite modern backdrop. That boat house neighborhood in San Francisco is truly captivating, showcasing a cinematic location that seems totally overlooked in film and TV to date.
Is The Last Thing He Told Me Season 1 worth watching?
The Hollywood names and the show’s excessive budget will draw viewers in from the advertising alone, but there are far better TV shows to be watching on Apple TV+ and on the many other streaming platforms out there. I would advise skipping this one.
What did you think of the Apple TV+ series The Last Thing He Told Me Season 1? Comment below.
I loved it. Would like a sequel