This review of the Netflix series Fatal Seduction Season 1 Volume 1 does not contain spoilers.
Look, let’s be frank here. Nobody cares about the plot of Fatal Seduction, do they?
For one thing we’ve seen it all before. It’s a South African adaptation of the Mexican telenovela Dark Desire, also on Netflix, but it’s reminiscent of a hundred films and shows before it, all cautionary tales about the potentially mortal consequences of cheating on your spouse.
Even Obsession, a hysterically terrible recent miniseries also on Netflix, paddled in the same sort of waters.
So, no, nobody cares. Why would they? What matters in an erotic drama such as this is just superficial details. Are the leads hot? Do they have a lot of revealing sex? Is there at least a tiny bit of logical coherence and recognizable human behavior?
In the case of Fatal Seduction, the answer to those questions are, respectively, “yes”, “a fair amount”, and “no, not really.”
Fatal Seduction Season 1 Volume 1 review and plot summary
Here’s the idea. When Nandi (Kgomotso Christopher), a law professor who recently suffered a miscarriage, discovers her judge husband Leonard (Thapelo Mokoena) is having an affair with his assistant Ameera (Rizelle Januk), she goes on a weekend getaway to the beach house of her friend Brenda (Lunathi Mampofu).
While frolicking, Nandi is almost forcibly introduced to Jacob (Prince Grootboom), an enigmatic man whom she vaguely recognizes and with whom she engages in a well-earned tryst.
Needless to say, various rather unpleasant things ensue.
To be fair to Fatal Seduction it’s probably better constructed than this kind of material strictly deserves. It’s surprisingly well shot, which runs somewhat contrary to the show’s current, obviously overblown reputation as Netflix’s steamiest ever. The sex scenes are clearly framed with a kind of artistry in mind, and some bare backsides notwithstanding, they’re not especially explicit, egregious, or overly frequent.
Is Fatal Seduction good or bad?
The main hiccup of the show, I think, is that it’s not nearly as clever as it thinks. You can tell sometimes that it’s reveling in a fake sense of ambiguity, as though we haven’t figured out what’s going on a mile away. That can be quite trying, as it affects the way episodes are structured and paced.
Luckily, Fatal Seduction adopts the same two-part strategy as other recent Netflix releases such as The Witcher Season 3 and The Lincoln Lawyer Season 2 – only seven of the fourteen total episodes are currently available, with the second volume due to release at some indeterminate point in the near future.
Since Dark Desire had 18 episodes, which was ridiculously on the lower end for a telenovela, this is obviously an improvement, and makes Fatal Seduction more appealing for the binge-watch crowd.
Is Fatal Seduction worth watching?
Anyway, you know better than I do whether you’ll be into this kind of thing. Watch a trailer, read a synopsis, and it’s pretty much exactly that all the way through. There are some surprises, sure, but only minor ones, and none that really effect the overall outcome.
You know what you’re getting into. Fatal Seduction might be an oddly respectable version of the usual trash, but at the end of the day, it’s still just trash.
What did you think of Fatal Seduction Season 1 Volume 1? Comment below.
You can watch this series with a subscription to Netflix.
