New world review series#

The show ultimately collapses under the weight of a convoluted reveal and an utterly preposterous ending that seems designed to serve as a cliffhanger for a possible second season – for what reason, I couldn't possibly tell you. What's Making Us Happy: Recommendations From 'Pop Culture Happy Hour' What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend reading, listening and viewing Nor is there an overwrought sex scene in an antique elevator – what little heat that is had between Dan and Alex will hardly satiate those who have complained about Hollywood's relative onscreen abstinence.) This isn't an erotic thriller so much as a mildly spicy murder mystery. (This is barely a spoiler, but no bunny is boiled, though Caplan's Alex does far more sinister things in her quest for Dan's affections. This being a miniseries rather than a tight two-hour drama, there's more time to sit with these characters (and many more) and get multiple versions of the same experiences, and yet that also means much of the runtime lacks the immediacy and chaotic energy that pulsated throughout the original film. It's unfortunate that the show relies so heavily upon wringing drama and suspense out of Alex's demise – perhaps a byproduct of our current era's obsession with crime and murder narratives.

New world review series#

The eight-episodes series wonders what if things had gone differently? The other major plot thread in this web of deceit takes us back some 15 years earlier, as the script traces Dan's downfall from a respected criminal attorney to a convicted felon. But also he 'didn't kill that woman,' he will later insist, 'and I'm going to prove it.'Īh, yes – it's worth noting that Fatal Attraction is also a procedural of sorts, as Dan attempts to clear his name with the assistance of his mentor and friend Mike Gerard (Toby Huss, bringing welcomed comedic relief), a retired detective. The reimagining of the 1987 blockbuster takes a different approach, with Dan (Joshua Jackson) trying to clear his name.Īnd yet like so many others of its ilk, Fatal Attraction can't overcome the sense of reboot fatigue it inherently emits.ĭan's remorseful speech to that parole board is convincing enough, and he's back out in the world, ready to rejoin society and attempt to reconnect with his ex-wife Beth (Amanda Peet) and now college-aged daughter Ellen (Alyssa Jirrels), who was just a kid when all the chaos with Alex went down. Disney established an entirely new genre using this tactic, and plenty of other franchises have done it, too. So many 'what ifs' so little necessity for them to be answered in the form of an uninspired reheat.Ĭreatives attempting to modernize a fraught cultural touchstone often like to wield their primary source's outdatedness as a shield against critiques of unoriginality, to the point where it's become a full-on Hollywood cliché.

The final scene has police taking Dan's statement and an image of a family portrait of the Gallaghers with their young daughter.īut an eight-episode series 'reimagining' of the movie, created by Alexandra Cunningham and premiering Sunday on Paramount+, wonders: What if things had gone differently? What if we better understood what drove Alex to become unhealthily obsessed with Dan? What if we got Beth's side of the story? What if Dan really had to atone for his affair gone awry? Lizzy Caplan as Alex Forrest and Joshua Jackson as Dan Gallagher in Fatal Attraction.įatal Attraction, Adrian Lyne's 1987 blockbuster that spawned an untold number of pre-Internet memes and feminist theory academic papers, ostensibly concludes with the hetero nuclear family restored to its 'natural' state: The manic, very unwell homewrecker Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) has been shot dead out of self-defense by Beth (Anne Archer), the wronged wife of Alex's one-time fling Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas).