Mystery Makes Madness

I personally have an incredibly difficult time finding video content that I genuinely want to watch, let alone binge watch. Netflix’s recommendations always seem a bit off, Hulu never seems to have enough variety, and any woman can only take so much Disney+. When I tell you that the recommendation I am about to give was the result of a halfhearted scroll through Amazon Prime Video on a lonely Thursday night, only made possible because of a free trial that I was already planning on canceling, I’m sure you can gather the kind of expectations and tone I had toward any kind of content on that particular streaming platform. However, the very low expectations I had were quickly shattered as I began the series and then tore through all 10 episodes within a 2-day timeframe, completely invested in the story laid out before me.

If you have ever felt utterly entranced by the plot twists and the vengeful female lead in 'Gone Girl', or even if you enjoy a mystery set in a Southern atmosphere such as 'Outerbanks', I highly recommend the Amazon Prime original series, 'Tell Me Your Secrets'. Speaking of the Neflix original series, 'Outerbanks', Charles Esten, who plays Ward Cameron, and Chase Stokes, who plays the main character John B. Rutledge, fill supporting roles in this fast-paced thriller. Elliot Fletcher, who you may know from the Fosters, and Marque Richardson, from Dear White people, are a couple of other familiar faces you may see in 'Tell Me Your Secrets'. The most notable face you may recognize however is Lilly Rabe, an American Horry Story regular, starring as the lead character, Emma.

Before I begin any new series or movie, I usually look up the rotten tomatoes rating. I do this with the intention of either continuing with the title if the rating is above 50% or shelving the title if its below 50%. This particular series scored below 50% at 48% so I almost didn’t start it. I decided to give it a solid chance though considering it was so close to my self-imposed standard, and after one episode, was completely gripped by the plot line, filming style, and ambiance.

The series is centered around the main character Emma in present day New Orleans and flashes back to highlight her former romantic relationship with a convicted serial killer, Kit Parker. The overarching questions throughout the series are whether or not Emma was complicit in his murders and where a missing girl by the name Theresa Barlow might be. Emma suffered memory loss from a traumatic event and spent time in prison before being released and taken to New Orleans to be held in witness protection. Simultaneously, while Emma is forging a new life down south, the show cuts to the mother of Theresa Barlow, Mary, and her search for her daughter up north. Mary truly believes that Emma knows what happened to her daughter and will stop at nothing to find Emma and enact a sense of justice, all while making some unsettling discoveries along the way. While Mary is searching for Emma, Emma finds herself entangled in a dark secret centered around a group home, uncertain of who she can trust, and with increasing newfound trauma, begins experiencing pieces of her memory returning in relation to the disappearance of Theresa Barlow.

There are twists in this series for both the main plot and the subplots that crop up along the way. The entire time you can't help but question which characters actually fall into the category of antagonist or protagonist and how far is too far for a characters redemption. I found myself rooting for characters one second and the despising them the next. This series truly provided an unfathomable escape into a setting where all of the problems were more serious than your own. In this way, even with it consisting vastly of sensitive subject matter and material, it was sort of a pleasant escape because it took the average dilemma of loss and betrayal and built upon it, creating layers to the story and unexpected dimensions to the characters. It created a story where you found yourself sympathizing with people you normally wouldn’t and rooting against people you normally would.

In 'Gone Girl', the female lead is undoubtably seen as a strong yet manipulative woman. In that movie, you kind of wind up liking her since the root of all of her actions are linked back to her husband betraying her and him just generally be an unlikeable man. In 'Tell Me Your Secrets' I see all 3 female characters, Emma, Mary, and Theresa as strong women. Unlike in 'Gone Girl' though, some are manipulative and deceitful, while some are not. Whether you root for and sympathize with each of them is completely up to you. They all have motivations and reasonings behind their actions, and you have to decide what constitutes those actions and what doesn’t. I find them all similar to the lead in 'Gone Girl', yet certain characters possess more of her poor qualities, and certain characters possess the more likable ones. I find Emma, the suspected accomplice of murderer Kit Parker, to be the most likable out of the 3 by the end of the series. So, if that tells you anything, it is that a lot happened between episode 1 and episode 10 to get me to that viewpoint.

I truly enjoy films that flash back between time periods and between locations which this show got perfect. The flashbacks are poignant and well-spaced out throughout the series, expertly keeping certain secrets secret until the right moment to reveal the truth. It does an excellent job at keeping you guessing and on the edge of your seat to uncover more information. With the setting being primarily New Orleans, Louisiana, the aesthetic has a vastly dark and gothic tone to it. There are notable switches in the coloring when going from present to past and from Emma’s environment to Mary’s environment, providing a good variation as to not overuse a dark tone for the entire story. If the show had only used a dark tone to tell a dark story, I cannot be sure my attention would have continued to be held for all 10 episodes. Incorporating some contrast makes the story lighter and more digestible for viewers as well as creates an obvious distinction between events.

'Tell Me Your Secrets' is a series that I was skeptical about at first. I am now hoping for a season 2 in order to continue the story and allow justice for characters who deserve it. Without giving too much away, I have put my positive perception of the series into words for you to assess and decide for yourself on whether this Amazon Original is something of interest to you. Before watching it, I would have never gathered similarities from the movie 'Gone Girl' or from the series 'Outerbanks', but have been pleasantly surprised by them. By providing these connections for you, I hope you are able to find a new show that you may not had considered otherwise, and perhaps, would even recommend to your own circle of friends.