Minor spoilers ahead.
The miniseries "All Her Fault" is a Lifetime movie on steroids. Created by Megan Gallagher and based on the novel by Andrea Mara, It starts with the kidnapping of a five year-old boy named Milo (Duke McCloud), but then uses that to springboard into examining a complicated web of secrets and lies involving all the adults in Milo's life. First there's his mother Marissa (Sarah Snook) and father Peter (Jake Lacy), who both work in finance and are quite wealthy. There's Ana (Kartiah Vergara), Milo's nanny, who was out of town when the kidnapping occurred. There's fellow mom Jenny (Dakota Fanning), whose nanny Carrie (Sophia Lillis) may have been the last person to see Milo. There's Peter's younger siblings Lia (Abby Elliott) and Richie (Daniel Monks), who he has been financially supporting since they were kids. And finally, there's Detective Alcaras (Michael Peña), who is in charge of the investigation.
All the great acting talent in the cast is put to good use, with the characters frequently having intense confrontations with each other, simmering with inner conflict, and letting frustrations boil over as the case progresses. The twists and turns get pretty wild, but everyone keeps it classy and mostly avoids overacting. Mostly. If you've seen many offerings in this genre, and keeping in mind that it's very woman-oriented, you can work out the answer to the big mystery pretty easily. However, "All Her Fault" also takes the opportunity to say a few things about the state of modern parenting in the process. The title "All Her Fault" not-so-subtly underlines one of the show's major themes, which is that women tend to still be the ones disproportionately held responsible for anything involving their children. Episodes are devoted to Marissa and Jenny's troubles maintaining a work-life balance, running afoul of social expectations, and juggling personal relationships. However, there are also episodes about fatherhood - Detective Alcaras turns out to have a special needs son - and other familial relationships.
I really enjoyed "All Her Fault," because it's taking all of these familiar tropes and ideas and really digging into them thematically. We all know that parenthood is hard, no matter how much money or help you have, but "All Her Fault" takes the time to flesh out concrete examples instead of just paying lip service. There are relatable instances of being cornered by PTA moms looking for volunteers, infuriating miscommunications, and the endless guilt that comes with not being able to do everything. I also appreciate that while there's a clear villain, nearly all the major characters are very fallible, and end up doing some pretty awful things. The moral flexibility keeps the show from feeling too clean and neat, with some attractive loose ends and unanswered questions designed to stoke discussion. What would you do in this situation, if this was your kid? How much is justified in the name of protecting them?
The performances are great - everyone knows exactly how melodramatic to let things get without going overboard. I especially liked seeing some of the familiar actors placed in roles that let them stretch some different acting muscles. I think this is the best performance I've seen from Michael Peña, who commits nicely to a straight dramatic role. It's still jarring to see Dakota Fanning in her thirties playing a mom, but her screen presence is great. I also found Jake Lacy completely believable as a committed dad, and Sarah Snook is as dependable as always, seeing Marissa through all the stages of the kidnapping crisis.
I think mostly I'm just happy to see this kind of material being treated so well. I grew up watching a lot of goofy television movies about broken families and true crime sensationalism, and there is an art to doing these stories justice. "All Her Fault" doesn't quite strike me as a prestige series, but you could easily mistake it for one given the care and attention it clearly received. With the cast involved, I initially assumed that this was going to be a black comedy, or that the tone was going to be more arch. It was nice to discover that it wasn't.
Well, except for episode five, but I'll let you discover why.
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