John and Debra's relationship comes to a head in an unexpected way.John and Debra's relationship comes to a head in an unexpected way.John and Debra's relationship comes to a head in an unexpected way.
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Season One Review
Having never read the article, or listened to the Podcast, I came to "Dirty John" on a Netflix whim, with little more than the brief synopsis and that impressive cast to go on. I found a show that was somehow still entertaining, despite it's disturbing real life story and which was elevated by the performances of the stars.
Debra Newell (Connie Britton) meets John Meehan (Eric Bana) on a dating website and the pair hit it off immediately. Despite the reservations of both her daughters, Veronica (Juno Temple) and Terra (Julia Garner) and Nephew Toby (Kevin Zegers) the pair continue to see each other and even marry in secret. Once married the manipulation begins, as John isolates Debra from her family, installs cameras in the home and office and starts to move money around. Though initially unwilling to see it, Debra's eyes are opened when she learns of John's criminal past and addiction issues, but is she too late to extricate herself, before the real damage is done?
What might have been done in a soapy or frothy way in the hands of another creative team is, as I say, taken to another level by the quality of the cast and by the research done into the story by a multitude of writers at each stage in the production. Bana and Britton are great, they make a couple with chemistry and Bana keeps finding ways to make you forget about who his character really is, enough that you can see why Debra was taken in. Juno Temple has a deceptive amount of work to do in the series, as in the early episodes there needs to be a spoiled child element about her actions, before she sees the real danger. I did wonder why Julia Garner had agreed to play that relatively small role of younger daughter Terra, given she's proved so capable on "The Americans" and "Ozark" but it does make more sense given how the series ends.
It doesn't sit at the top tier of television drama, but it was a smartly made and entertaining series, and I'm interested to see how the anthology-isation (making words up there) works for season two.
Debra Newell (Connie Britton) meets John Meehan (Eric Bana) on a dating website and the pair hit it off immediately. Despite the reservations of both her daughters, Veronica (Juno Temple) and Terra (Julia Garner) and Nephew Toby (Kevin Zegers) the pair continue to see each other and even marry in secret. Once married the manipulation begins, as John isolates Debra from her family, installs cameras in the home and office and starts to move money around. Though initially unwilling to see it, Debra's eyes are opened when she learns of John's criminal past and addiction issues, but is she too late to extricate herself, before the real damage is done?
What might have been done in a soapy or frothy way in the hands of another creative team is, as I say, taken to another level by the quality of the cast and by the research done into the story by a multitude of writers at each stage in the production. Bana and Britton are great, they make a couple with chemistry and Bana keeps finding ways to make you forget about who his character really is, enough that you can see why Debra was taken in. Juno Temple has a deceptive amount of work to do in the series, as in the early episodes there needs to be a spoiled child element about her actions, before she sees the real danger. I did wonder why Julia Garner had agreed to play that relatively small role of younger daughter Terra, given she's proved so capable on "The Americans" and "Ozark" but it does make more sense given how the series ends.
It doesn't sit at the top tier of television drama, but it was a smartly made and entertaining series, and I'm interested to see how the anthology-isation (making words up there) works for season two.
- southdavid
- Dec 8, 2020
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- Runtime42 minutes
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