Checking in with a review of Tell Me Your Secrets, which my wife and binge-watched on Amazon Prime Video, and very much enjoyed (contrary to many myopic critics, what else is new). It's a story of a young serial killer Kit and his girlfriend Karen -- he's in prison and she's just released with a new name, Emma -- and the mother (Mary) of one of his/their victims (Theresa, but body not yet found), and a serial rapist (John) released from prison and hired by Mary to find her daughter, because she firmly believes she's still alive, and will do anything, literally anything, to find her.
That in itself is a great setup for suspense, surprise, and action, but Tell Me Your Secrets plays at the top of the game for this genre, with all kinds of secrets, expected and unexpected, revealed and worked into the narrative, especially in the concluding episodes.
[Spoilers follow]
The ending is both satisfying and chilling, if that make sense. Turns out Mary was right and Theresa is indeed still alive -- but she was actually the prime mover with Kit in the terrible killings, and Karen/Emma an emotionally traumatized victim. John's story arc is notable too, evolving on the screen from urbane former rapist to brutal killer, so physically powerful that he survives a brutal, much-deserved attack in the end. And Mary, after learning the truth about her daughter, still wants to save her and reputation. This only makes sense, given that Mary earlier murdered an elderly woman in an attempt to find Emma and therein Mary's daughter.
A few things don't quite make sense. Why did Mary hire John in the first place? Why would a former rapist know how to find someone (Emma) who was in witness protection? John in fact does just that, and that vindicates Mary's hire, but doesn't at all explain how and why John had the kind of smarts to do that.
But that's ok. Tell Me Your Secrets is gripping, cerebral, emotional, and fast-moving -- fine acting by Lily Rabe as Emma, Amy Brenneman as Mary, and Hamish Linklater as John -- with an ending that sets up a sequel, which I'll be sure to watch and review if it's made.
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