First off, I am a bit impressed and encouraged by television offerings lately. ...Well okay, two or three series come immediately to mind.
Love & Death is one of them.
At first, my husband and I weren't too interested in watching this perhaps because neither of us knew much about the case it is based on. After seeing it pop up as a choice a few times, however, we figured 'what the heck', and began watching. While parts of Episode 1 actually felt a bit "icky" (for lack of a better term), I am so glad we stuck with it, and by the next day, I couldn't wait to get home in order to to pick up where we had left off at episode three.
To begin, the soundtrack at least for the first half or more of the series, is a MASTERFUL collection of tunes from the 70's and 80's, and which work perfectly to add to the feeling that you are watching this dark series unfold firsthand. In fact, IMO, the only thing within Love & Death that rivals how excellent the music is for most of the first few episodes, is how exceptional Elizabeth Olsen is in her riveting portrayal of Candy Montgomery. That is not to say that rest of the cast's acting was not top-notch or that the rest of the series is not good, it is just difficult not to notice how much Elizabeth Olsen stands far and above here. This Elizabeth Olsen is tiers from the one you may have seen in anything else. To say her range is incredible, would be an understatement. Not too far behind in accolades, should be Lily Rabe who it was nice to see again, and who also wonderfully, convincingly, and definingly portrays the role of Betty Gore. Jesse Plemons as a love interest is the only casting choice I found a bit problematic.
In as far as the story, it unfolds ... engagingly. What's funny (strange), not funny (haha), is that while the episodes are an hour long, each felt much longer. This normally happens when something isn't paced well or isn't interesting enough to keep one's full attention, but neither was the case here. The series, which revolves around what occured before and after a certain true-life incident, is both compelling and flows well.
A recommended watch.
7.4 / 10, but a 7 just seemed too low.
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Encouraged by reviews here which mentioned the Hulu version, we thought: "GREAT! Something BETTER than Love & Death?!? Let's see it!" Well ... don't fall for the hype. It was very nonlinear, and quite dull, both in color and story progression.
