#tbim

Snow’s role as current wife to our accused killer is small, but her presence on screen is undeniable. Snow captures, with skill, a complicated character caught between what she wants to believe and what she knows. Even when the script fails this character, leaving Snow with nothing to say, she somehow fills space with a look or a misty eye. Snow’s performance is nuanced, subtle, and powerful.

Were there issues with TBiM? Of course. We live in a moment obsessed with shots that only show a single character, so as to emphasize their emotions. The constant back-and-forth between single shots of two characters in conversation (especially on the phone) was exhausting and sometimes teetered close to pre-primetime network TV rather than a cinematic Netflix thriller. However, for each of these scenes, there was another that captured beautiful lighting design (like our FBI agent and family fixer at the playground) or a powerful revelation (what’s on that flash drive??)

Thematically, TBiM seems very interested in the source of evil in people, positing that the ability and desire to murder and manipulate is born in people. Many people close to our antagonist, Nile, seem to believe he was born a killer. Throughout the series we hear “I knew it from the moment he clawed himself out of his mother,” “there’s something in him,” and “he’s not like us.” This certainly deserves attention, as it serves as the series’ main meat of psychological thriller perspective, but I believe it may not be fully explored here.

Throughout TBiM, Aggie is confronted with the similarities between herself and Nile, whether by her ex-wife or Nile himself. Aggie resists these comparisons, but can’t help but see their accuracy. I believe TBiM set out to draw a nuanced picture of the “nature vs nurture” of evil. However, I think the series fell short of exploring this theme. Instead, we are confronted over and over again with the idea that Nile is only evil due to his nature and Aggie’s nature seems to fall to the background. By hour eight of the series, we have thrown off any nuance on the subject and instead are confronted with a closing scene that stops just short of explicitly confirming this idea to viewers. (No spoilers here)

Does TBiM have the obligation to explore this theme in a nuanced way, or the way I personally would want them to? Of course not. But, in our current social landscape of proliferating beauty influencers and far-right talking heads glorifying a “return” to morals, I’m not sure this messaging is harmless fun as much as confirmation of our baser inclinations around evil, crime, and “the other.”

Perhaps Nile Jarvis was born evil. Was Aggie? Why did their stories end in different ways? Are they the same or was that all just one of Nile’s manipulations? I think the groundwork was there for a nuanced discussion of this topic, but instead the story went for the easy-to-consume, easy-to-digest ending.