Candy

Two episodes in and Jessica's performance is reason enough for me to watch the rest of this show.

Not every show has to be the next breaking bad. The 80s atmosphere is done well and acting is great all around. Over-all very entertaining considering the story. Not a waste of time at all, if it is to your taste.

How sad that a lonely woman wound up with a friend like Candy.

How fun that actress Melanie Lynskey and her husband Jason Ritter was in the same project with her!

This is a true story about life and how different people react to situations. We will never ever know what really happened in that house.

Having 5 episodes over 5 days was kind of fun (might be a bad choice of words). Kept us wanting more, but not having to wait too long.

Once again, some reviewers are commenting on some of the actors physical appearances. Not acceptable. The good news is, karma will bit them in their ugly mugs soon enough.

I thoroughly enjoyed the limited series. If you need long action sequences a la Marvel, you might get bored. But the story is compelling and even engrossing nonetheless. The late 70s and early 80s setting was masterful. Clothes, cars, decor, fads (eg jogging). My high rating of an 8, however, is largely due to the acting and cinematography. There are several iconic scenes that I watched more than once. The two male leads were great. Co-star Lynskey (Betty Gore) was even better. Then there was Biel. Wow. What a performance. I never considered her to be a bad actor before, I just never considered her. At all. No more. Can't wait to see what she does next. Lastly kudos to the producers for making this a 5 part series. A movie wouldn't do it justice. But more episodes and definitely more seasons would've been overkill. Just right.

There is an epidemic of streaming crime docudramas, they are inexpensive to make - a prewritten relatable narrative, a preexisting cadre of voyeurs and prebaked external tension. Often these preordained advantages breed laziness and produce sloppy television.

This, though, is a strong setup, introducing the key characters and quietly building Hitchcockian suspense towards the revelation of this heinous murder. The cast is strong and Jessica Biel is fabulous, leading the line as the eponymous character. Candy is superficially a suburban supermom, but also a passive-aggressive charred-martyr who courts adulation.

After one outing, Candy is entertaining and enjoyable, raising anticipation for the second instalment. The consecutive-day episode-delivery compromise is good, minimising the wait without the daunting one-day dump.

I was pleasantly surprised with this limited run series. The story was told purposely slow, which actually pulled you in. The acting by all accounts was excellent and the direction was very good.

Jessica Bill seems to have found her niche in playing "off-balanced" characters. She did a great job in the Sinner and even better in Candy. The rest of the cast were also a little off but the director was very good at not turning this into a comedy. The ending was a bit of a shocker.

As the opening credits state, this show is based on actual events. Usually I research the story while watching shows like this. Fortunately I did not make that same mistake this time and I believe I enjoyed the show a lot more as a result.

It's a quick binge watch. Enjoy.