What Is the Story About?
A Netflix adaptation of the 2016 Novel that goes by the same name from Harlan Coben, Fool Me Once follows the murder of Maya Stern’s husband Joe. Maya gets a nanny camera as a gift from Eva, her friend and one day she sees her husband Joe, presumed dead visiting his daughter in the nanny cam footage. Parallely, Abby and Daniel, her niece and nephew, set out to find the truth about their mother’s murder (Maya’s sister who was shot) and the possible connections between both the cases. Fool Me Once follows Maya dealing with her personal traumas and professional traumas (being ex-military) and a twist and turn of events that follow the supposed death of her husband and her belief of his existence.
Performances?
Pretty much like the other Netflix adaptations of Harlan Coben’s works where the protagonist is someone burried underneath truckloads of grief and trauma, Fool Me Once has Maya playing it out to the gallery with all her might. Michelle Keegan is particularly excellent and drives the show alongside a strong supporting cast. Her confidence, her personal & battlefield trauma and breakdown episodes, all on point. Her descent to paranoia, even more solid.
Analysis
Fool Me Once is one of the many many intriguing thrillers from author Harlan Coben, that finds home in Netflix in the form of an adaptation. Akin to most of his works, here’s a protagonist with her unfixed grief and numerous trauma variants caught in the mix of two connected murders – her husband’s and her sister’s.
Fool Me Once starts with Maya’s husband Joe’s funeral. She is seen remembering of her days with him and the home she had with him until one fine day he gets shot by some masked teenage killers. The show introduces her formidable mother-in-law who is intimidating enough and seems to be passing judgements and opinions on behalf of her dead son. There’s detective Sami Kierce who she puts in-charge of her son’s murder case while insisting to see Joe as a person and not ‘case’.
Maya, an ex-military lost her sister few months ago to a shoot-out as well. Besides personal trauma that never gave her time to heal, she also battles battlefield trauma that led her to withdraw from work. Amidst of all this, she recieves a nanny camera from a close-friend to watch over her daughter. And this is where the series actually takes off. Maya sees her dead husband Joe in one of those Nanny footages and sets out to find the truth.
Quite predictably, nobody believes Maya. The Nanny avoids meeting her, the memory card in the camera goes missing, while her brother-in-law forbids her from meeting his kids as she supposedly has ‘death following her’. Her niece and nephew, however joins her to investigate the death of their mother (&Maya’s sister) and its probable connection with Joe’s case.
Maya ascends to paranoia with no-one believing what she saw in the nanny camera and then there’s detective Kierce who has the issue of random memory blackouts unable to crack Joe’s case. Maya’s perception of her happy family with Joe begins to crack as the mystery unravels itself.
Speaking of which, Fool Me Once has similarities with literally every thriller penned by Corben. Nevertheless, the intrigue builds episode per episode despite the suspension of logic at times. The show also has a packed cast with characters that are nothing like what they are perceived as.
The entire mystery mix in Fool Me Once is too much to take with an overload of information and characters. Much like most of the thrillers today, there are sub-plots and characters that exist for the sake of it and doesn’t really make any sense with the plot as it ends. Over the duration of 8 episodes the series manages to peel off the mystery layers keeping the viewer at the edge of the seat, but the gotcha finale episode quite didn’t land well. In fact, the series gives it away unintentionally in one of the earlier episodes itself.
To cut short, Fool Me Once is an engaging thriller that doesn’t make or break grounds but does the job of thrilling and intriguing with its labyrith of lies and truths. If you dig thrillers, this could very well be a fine weekend watch, though nothing unseen.
Other Artists?
Joanna Lumley plays the formidable Mother-in-law who thinks her son was too good for a brash Maya – Judith Burkett with all unlikeliness effectively. She even devours some of the scenes she’s in like how. The child-detectives (or likely so) aka Maya’s niece and nephew are also spunky and fun for most parts. Another effective performance comes from the once alcoholic and now unhealthy detective played by Adeel Akhtar.
Music and Other Departments?
David Buckley and Luke Richards’ work on the music front for Fool Me Once is decent enough to keep the Intrigue going. It’s not all that, but it effectively drives the whodunnit with ease. Another stand-out aspect of Fool Me Once is the editing, as the show maintains an engaging pace and doesn’t slip in much.
Highlights?
– Performances
– Intrigue, twists & turns
– Character development
– Pace
Drawbacks?
– Finale reveal
– Suspension of logic
– Overload of information per episode
– Un-necessary sub-plots
Did I Enjoy It?
Yes.
Will You Recommend It?
Yes.
Fool Me Once Series Review by Binged Bureau
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