Summary
Siobhán Cullen’s strong performance can’t overcome lackluster character development and a failure to live up to a promising premise.
A journalist obsessed with death and with her job on life support takes drastic measures to save her career in the Hulu original series Obituary. Writer/Creator Ray Lawlor develops his own Dexter-style six-episode series that sees Siobhán Cullen star in the lead role of Elvira Clancy. And while Cullen’s great here, something seems to be missing in the character, and that final piece to the puzzle is what ultimately prevents Obituary from living up to its arresting premise.
Obituary Season 1 review and plot summary
Obituary follows the story of Elvira Clancy, a small-town obituarist who begins killing the locals when work dries up.
When we meet Elvira, she learns from her boss that her job will move from salary to freelance work. She will get paid $200 per article, but as people’s deaths are weeks if not months apart, her pay as an obituarist will drastically decrease.
Clancy, at a young age, realized that she liked death when she shot and killed a deer. This developed in a way that she would envision her classmates and co-workers as if they were dead. So Clancy decides that she is going to take matters into her own hands and start killing people one by one to bring in the money needed to help pay her bills and take care of her father.
RELATED: Will there be an Obituary Season 2?
Ray Lawlor’s premise of Obituary is something on paper that has all the potential in the world to be good. However, the series struggles to lean into this “dark” comedy that it presents, meaning that it gets far too serious for its own good. Early this year, Prime Video released a series called Deadloch, and while the premise isn’t the same, the series found that healthy balance of dark humor and drama. I was hoping for that type of series, but Lawlor didn’t connect the dots.
Another thing I didn’t like in Lawlor’s writing was his development of Elvira. Of course, this character is doing many illegal things to get a paycheck, which blurs the line between good and evil. Although you can write this in a way that makes Elvira a likable character, Lawlor didn’t, and that makes the overall investment in Elvira a waste.
Siobhán Cullen is an absolute delight
Despite my issues with Lawlor’s writing, Siobhán Cullen is a delight as Elvira. If not for her ability to take this character up a notch with her often deadpan delivery of the dialogue, you might not make it past the second episode. Her acting in this role reminded me of the early days of Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan. I found myself enamored by Cullen’s ability to stay captivating amid the sloppy writing.
Ultimately, Obituary falls short of being anything but forgettable. Is it a bad show? No, and the most frustrating aspect is that it has potential, but it fails to deliver on it. The big thing Obituary has in its favor is the fact that it’s only six episodes. Because of this, it’s an easy binge if you decide to check it out.
What did you think of Obituary Season 1? Comment below.
RELATED: Obituary Season 1 Ending Explained
