“Hunting wives” take no chance | TV / Streaming

Although I spent most of my life in America as a resident of Texas, I have not yet seen a series that really draws on the madness of the place. The creeping and unrepentant hypocrisy is a fact, but the inconsistency of the social and philosophical tendencies of most people. The same man who will save you politely from a highway ditch in the aftermath of a car accident, and will refuse any payment or even thank you in return – something that has happened to my family – will also wear stickers for bumpers on his truck which clarifies his allegiance to his AK -47 and his hatred of abortion rights. One day, someone will make a film or a television show that captures the deep strangeness of Texas, but that day, unfortunately, is not today.

Based on the novel of the same name of Texas native of Cobb, “The Hunting Wives” takes place in the rich fictitious town of Maple Brook, in Texas, to which Sophie O’Neil (Brittany Snow) has just moved with her husband architect Graham (Evan Jonigkeit) and her seven year old son Jack (Emmet Moss). Sophie and Graham are from Cambridge, Massachusetts (“where Harvard is located”, they add timidly, when new friends look at the name of the city).

While Graham is busy building the headquarters of an oil company led by the governor of Aspirant Jed Banks (Dermot Mulroney, making a hell of a good job by capturing the testosterone obnoxiation of wealthy oilmen), his wife anxiety, who abandoned his career in public relations for the political campaigns even more gave birth, to copy with his new environment and his social circle. narrow. Maple Brook is directed with a cowboyée cave by cowboys by rich housewives, never an out of words, which gives six figures to the local mega-church as easily as they flirt with 18-year-old high school jocks and carry out sumptuous fundraising of NRA in their manues. With the enthusiasm that is both confident and relaxed, they organize shopping trips to the local cannon emporium (tchekhov) as if they put gas in their SUVs. On the other hand, Sophie struggles with an anxiety disorder and, in accordance with the request of her husband after a dui in her past, plus drinks or pipes. But it won’t last long.

Leading for Sophie to kiss a more loose and more hedonistic life is the queen of Maple Brook, Margot Banks (Malin Akerman), the second wife of Jed, who works in overtime to keep a heavy and heavy lid on her summary past and her current dalliances. Her relaxed but undeniable magnetism hooks Sophie during their first meeting. Margot’s outfit (a lot of neckline, tight in good places), its charm, its slow but regular persuasion encourages Sophie to everything she has not touched for years. Downing whiskey and donuts in empty car parks give Sophie a new lease on life, although her assaults make her unconscious of the changing dynamic of the group of friends, including the obvious jealousy of Margot Callie’s best friend (Jaime Ray Newman).

Jill (Katie Lowes) is completed by distribution, whose perfect veneer is regularly tested by the stress by her husband’s coldness at home and reckless behavior (that is to say sex before marriage with her girlfriend of erroneous basketball (George Ferrier), with whom she shares a deeply frightening relationship. And although the story of everyone is told in flashback, murdered today was found in the woods.

To give a credit where credit is due, at least Mulroney and Akerman have a good time, with mainly solid accent work, drawing the best party from wobbly writing. Costume designer Heidi Higginbotham has a decent eye to differentiate women in the show: articles saved for Ashley and her mother Starr (Chrissy Metz), cowboy boots of various shades and textures for the cast depending on the class and the personality. Its arc for Sophie’s outfit is quite good, although a little predictable: conservative dresses, blouses and pants in white, black or cream end up transforming, just like Sophie, into dresses in catchy colors and lower necklines. However, almost all the other creative choices, it is a rehearsal. Snow performance is too brittle, too light to make a sensation; Jonigkeit receives no characterization (too bad, because he is capable of much more, as he proved in “Archive 81” of Netflix); And writing, photography and management have been open as the four -day brioche on my kitchen counter.

Sometimes I have the impression of beating a dead horse in my criticisms, but it is really true: “hunting wives” is the last mediocre draft that pushed the public’s throat in the name of art. The showrunner Rebecca Cutter, in his criticism, calls the series “Good Soapy Fun, and I really don’t think there is an existing balance for this”. I politely ask to postpone. “The big point Garden Society” covered similar terrain, as “Desperate Housewives” did. The transformation of the action east of Texas could provide fertile terrain to explore the Southwest Psyche, but writing is simply not careful. And on the three episodes that I was allowed to watch, none really stood out either. Soapy, of course, but “why the women kill” were better in this game and showed the work of the sublime costumes of Janie Bryant to start.

At the bottom of the mrasing sorry for the even lower dialogue and management, is a convincing story about how white liberal women can be seduced by conservatism. It doesn’t take much to Sophie to find salvation, to her guilt in the end of chic hidden weapons, a mega-church redemption, Rising Xanax and whiskey bottles of $ 25,000. Apparently, the book does not generate sympathy for Sophie as easily as the series; In the novel, his inactive hands, the result of being a home for the first time in his adult life, lead his obsession for Margot and his friends. But the television show is much less nuanced, and Sophie is simply an lost lamb. And a forgettable to that.

Three episodes projected for examination. Now on Netflix.