Anatomy of Lies

As Episode 1 of "Anatomy of Lies" (2024 release; 3 episodes ranging between 54 and 61 min) opens, It is "May,. 2022" and Hollywood is abuzz about the latest revelations regarding Elisabeth Finch, a writer for the uber-successful TV series "Grey's Anatomy". We then go back in time to "Cherry Hill, New Jersey, 1990", where Finch grew up. Even in high school, it was already clear that Finch had ambitions to shine. At this point we are less than 10 minutes into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: let me admit upfront that, while of course I've heard of "Grey's Anatomy", I've never watched a single episode. (After seeing this mini-series, I did some reading up on it, and was astonished to learn that "Grey's Anatomy" is still airing on ABC, now in its 21st (!) season.) Finch apparently is quite good at what she does (TV series writer, and later also co-executive producer). But for reasons that only she can truly know, none of that was sufficient to satisfy her seemingly insatiable ambition. I'm not going to spoil any details of course, you'll just have to see for yourself. As all of this was unfolding, I couldn't help but think that you can't make this stuff up, fact are indeed stranger than fiction. Playing out over just 3 episodes, this is very bingeable and watched this mini-series in a single setting.

"Anatomy of Lies" premiered on Peacock in late October and I just now caught up with it. This documentary mini-series is currently rated 100% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, which seems a bit generous to me. Then again, this amounts to such outrageous stuff that perhaps yea, you've never seen anything like it. If you are a fan of "Grey's Anatomy" or simply looking for an interesting TV mini-series (as I was), I'd readily suggest you check it out, and draw your own conclusion.

This feels like it might unintentionally act as a "come back" tour for a woman who never should be allowed to write for film or enter a legit publisher's office ever again.

Taking on the stories of multiple tragedies, manipulating and fooling honest people, using those around her as well as fans--such a person is lucky to ever be allowed back in polite society.

Let her self print at the local Kinko's for the dozen or so people who might care. Film on her iPhone.

---

Besides the obvious heinous behavior, she also undercuts trust in those around her and shows where she worked. (Can I ever look at Grey's the same way again? I'd say no.)

This series itself seems competently put together, hence it not getting a rage score of one, but it's concerning that people might begin to treat Finch as a "character" and make allowances. That it might give her a sliver of entry which should not be allowed.

It's a bit unfocused and makes no sense part of the time. For example, we are introduced to this random woman who writes for Grey's Anatomy. A popular hospital series for women and as they claim it was revolutionary as it depicted strong women! I don't know about that though as it's fairly modern. The 3 episodes then focus on girl power stories. Mainly focusing on suffering. All women here have their own suffering stories and everything is dragged out as the documentary has way too much time to tell even small stories. Which becomes comedic when the suffering is ancient or insignificant and we basically see a woman on screen whimper as she tells her overly sad story about seeing someone else win an award for a story she helped write. The acting out with crying and whimpering makes it look like this stuff happened yesterday. It's both quite engaging yet also quite fakish. Some women do act this way day to day as they have plenty of shoulders to cry on so they do just that. But a documentary needs to make them look a bit more collected and focused. Not make them look like overly sad messes where we only see their pathetic jealous side and nothing else.

The slow pace overall makes tiny stories into mountains and the storytellers here make everything out to be some huge significant event. Which would have worked way better if the editors had a bit less runtime and more focus as we don't understand the story here. She's a fully insignificant person. Why are we following her dating life, her small writing credits, her being seen on screen that 1 single time in the show, her winning some small award for writing. They allude to her story not being true yet never really explore this at all in the first 2 episodes. No investigation, no one claiming her claims are wrong. Just people alluding to something unheard for 2 hours. Again, this works when it's a murder or something that large that lingers stronger behind the scene. Some simple personal lies feel less important and don't quite dominate the story enough.

I actually think the editing is good here in a way. It's just that the story doesn't fit the editing. A bigger story with more mystery elements would have felt fast enough and deep enough to have this slow pacing. It's still an engaging watch as human stories are always fascinating no matter how small. I did enjoy this as seeing a woman lie about having cancer to get a job as a main writer for Grey's Anatomy is quite interesting. The crisp colors and the bigger stories in the Grey's Anatomy writing staff interviews makes it feel important enough and I guess there is a lack of drama in the world so these smaller cases are made into overly expensive documentaries. I would gladly watch anything these editors put together. And after a while they will get their hands on big stories and show their skills. There are a lot of clean photos of most stuff they talk about. It feels a bit like the great Searching (2018). Similar focus on small clues. Yet we never get to see all details.

A well made documentry that packs a lot of information into the 3 episodes. At the time of writing neither review (there are 2) seem to focus on the content of this series....which is bizarre to me.

The story unfolds like a good novel, but this isn't fiction. Amazingly none of the content feels exploititive of any of the victims of Finch, and as someone who has gone through a lot of trauma, I was impressed by the time Vanity Fair gave to Beyer (Finch's soon-to-be ex-wife) and her children.

I also liked that it felt relatively objective in it's approach, although I would be surprised if most viewers don't judge Finch harshly, I know I do. The apathy of Finch is apparant, I don't think she'll ever realise the full impact on her victims, especially Beyers children. I was glad the series left me with a sense of hope and pleased there were no 'psychology' talking heads....something that irks me tremendously.

A solid 9/10.

This documentary is more about the how and what happened than the why. Which is interesting.

I will agree with some that the pace of the documentary was slow, some parts and information got repetitive at time. Not a lot and not enought not to recommand watching it but it could have been shorter. Like maybe two episode or shorter one.

That beeing said the documentary really show you the progression of the behaviour and the impact it had on people near her. We mostly fallow Jenn and see how the manipulation installed itself and progess over time. Im prettty heartbreak for her ans her family and wish healing to all of them.