His and Hers: A glossy, twisty, ludicrous murder mystery

The six-part, high-profile Netflix adaptation of Alice Feeney's 2020 best-selling novel starts on a promising note with a complex, character-driven mystery that unfortunately fails to deliver, as the plot discards basic logic and turns ludicrous.

"There are at least two sides to every story. Yours and mine. Ours and theirs. His and hers. Which means someone is always lying."

This opening hook may get you all excited for a nail-biting murder mystery, but the phrase alone does not produce much meaning. And this is exactly what viewers will feel after completing the show – frustration about how little sense this potentially great show makes in the end.

This Jessica Chastain production features a stellar cast, including Tessa Thompson as the reclusive reporter Anna Andrews and Jon Bernthal as the estranged Detective Harper. The show also boasts other stars, such as Rebecca Rittenhouse and Marin Ireland, as supporting characters.

The plot is set in a small town named Dahlonega, where a woman is found lying on the bonnet of her car, murdered in the middle of the woods: 40 stab wounds, fingernails removed, and a friendship bracelet stuffed in her mouth. To add gravity to the mystery revolving around this grotesque murder, the lead investigator, Detective Jack Harper, somehow has a mysterious connection with this dead woman, as he tries to tamper with the evidence.

But he is not the only one in this small town; everyone here is connected like an interwoven web. Anna Andrews, a field reporter for a famous news channel who happens to be the detective's wife, has returned from a year of quarantine to cover this violent murder and regain her position at her job. Coincidentally, the dead woman, Rachel Hopkins, is an old friend of hers, but their relationship was not really amicable, to say the least.

The rich, eccentric husband of the victim, Clyde, is also not above suspicion. His exaggerated display of emotion, his wife's well-known promiscuous behaviour, and his attempts to sabotage the investigation make the viewers question his involvement in the murder.

The mystery intensifies as suspicion shifts from one suspect to another since everyone seems to have a turbulent past that could give rise to a motive. As the viewers try to fathom the possible mastermind and the motive, the complexity deepens as more bodies pile up.

For a storyline that ought to prioritise character-driven mystery and develop heavy themes such as sexual assault, dementia, and loss of a child, it painfully resorts to prioritising cheap shocks over actual plot development. The show suffers severely from poor writing, where the supposedly impactful dialogue sounds hollow despite Thompson's enigmatic delivery.

However, Thompson and Bernthal save the show with their spectacularly nuanced performance and undeniable chemistry. The scene where they confront their past and finally lay out their repressed emotions and grieve for their lost child has to be one of the most realistic portrayals of shared grief; poignant and emotional. Not only them, but the entire cast delivered stellar performances, with a special mention to little Meg, whose innocence captured viewers' hearts within her short screen time.

Perhaps the most commendable factor of the entire show was the visuals and the camera work. The earthy, muted, neutral colour palette and frequent low-light scenes created a dark atmosphere, befitting the southern Gothic tone of the plot. When noticing an individual frame, the delicate craftsmanship of a simple yet aesthetically pleasing setting is apparent.

Some of the scenes are shot from outside, allowing viewers to see inside, giving the impression of an onlooker's or stalker's perspective, which heightens the unease in the viewer's mind. A few other shots included symmetrical framing that emphasised the shared isolation of the main characters. The camera work in this show has been executed in a way that heightens the mystery and serves the momentum required for such an intense show; it is a testament to craftsmanship at its best.

Some of the shots are paralleled beautifully, such as Meg walking with great difficulty wearing heavy boots and Priya discovering the same boot prints at the crime scene, or the bracelet being discovered in dead Rachel's mouth and Anna bringing out the bracelet from her old memory box. These parallel shots heightened the intensity of the drama to the maximum level and were artistically creative.

Out of plenty of 'whodunit' murder mysteries, His and Hers barely stands out among the crowd. The mystery goes back and forth to the extent that it becomes less enthralling and more irritating, even though the final revelation is somewhat climactic and satisfying. However, that alone cannot save the viewers from all-encompassing disappointment, as everything feels like getting back to square one.