Liaison fatale

The biggest mistake the series has made, is calling it the same name as the movie wand having the same character names. The storyline is not the same, and therefore it's not actually a remake. If you can watch the series, without having the movie in mind, it is much more enjoyable. It's not the best or the most thrilling series, you will ever watch but it is good and it is watchable.

I watched the first three episodes and thought what a load of rubbish - I won't be watching this again and yet every week I've come back and watched the next episode. So that says something.

I think this would've done much better, have they not positioned it as a remake of the 80s movie.

As the plot summary so eloquently puts it:

It is "a deep-dive reimagining of the classic's thriller, exploring timeless themes of marriage and infidelity through the lens of modern attitudes toward strong women, personality disorders and coercive control".

Keyword here is 're-imagination'. The TV series certainly has a different vibe/demeanor to it.

There's a huge twist in the last episode. Motivations, what drives people to do what they do, conflicts, misunderstandings, baggages, perceptions, perspectives, people's influences on one another, how a person gets molded into who they are, human psychology, it's all at play there.

There's probably a season 2 coming. I would certainly look forward to it.

They certainly had big boots to fill here because "Fatal Attraction," with Michael Douglas, upon being released in 1987, became at the time one of the pivotal movies that inspired the erotic thrillers' phenomenon that went on for the next two decades or so, offering us amazing neo-noirs such as "Basic Instinct" & "Original Sin," and here we are 36 years later having a TV series based on it. This tells us a lot about the kind of impact the OG 80s film has had on Hollywood and the industry in general. Obviously having the expansion treatment to fit the requirements of a totally different format, it must have been very difficult for the writers to reimagine what was a shorter story and flesh it out in a way that is capable of hitting the desired spot for core fans, while simultaneously living up to the public's expectation, which by the way has been set extremely high by this amazing trailer. Jump into this if you want, but don't expect anything out of the ordinary, because not only are the storylines and characters way too complex to follow and understand, but the series also takes ages to hit its strides, and is quite honestly not as memorable, nor will it be as timeless as the original work it is based on.

Don't expect any surprises. It's pretty easy figure out in the first exposure. I did enjoy the 3rd episode retold from Alex point of view. My biggest complaint is Lizzie Caplan. She is just so horribly miscast. They did her no favors in styling her character either. There was no smolder to make me believe he would find her so irresistible that he would abandoned what is portrayed as a perfectly happy home. I don't mind Josh Jackson He's a great actor and he's believable considering the semi bad writing of this newly twisted story. I'm on the fence about finishing it. I probably will but I hope something changes quick.

The movie was one of a kind, and the show seems to be taking the premise and exploring Alex's side more deeply, while possibly adhering to the original ending the movie had, but never stuck to. It's certainly worthwhile in 2023 to finally explore Alex's story, but this show doesn't capture what made the movie so special.

The acting is good, the writing is so so, but it's simply missing the magic of the movie. Maybe it's a lack of chemistry among the leads, or that the present day unravelling of the mystery/Dan's daughter's storyline feeling clunky. I'll probably stick with it to see how things play out, but I'm not disturbed and captivated the way I am during the movie (and I've seen it many times).