Mystery thriller All Her Fault dives straight into its parent’s-worst-nightmare scenario. In the very first scene, working mother Marissa (Sarah Snook) arrives at an unfamiliar address to collect her almost five-year-old son from a playdate. But not only is young Milo absent, the homeowner has no idea who Marissa is. Cue frantic calls, guilt, escalating concern and the start of an intense, emotionally-charged missing persons case. It’s an arresting opening to a timeline that jumps backwards, forwards and retraces its steps over the course of eight pulpily entertaining episodes.
As the title suggests, Marissa blames herself – she was more than happy to let her kid go off with a parent-friend she didn’t know all too well just to buy herself a few more hours to focus on work, after all.
All Her Fault, created by Megan Gallagher (Lazarus) and based on the best-selling novel by Andrea Mara, quickly introduces a close-knit group of key figures in Marissa’s orbit, all of whom could potentially be involved in the disappearance. The show also readily probes the relationships of wealthy couples living in Architectural Digest-worthy homes (transposing the novel’s Dublin setting to Chicago). Episodes tend to put one character in the spotlight, illuminating backstories as our sympathies see-saw.
Taking influence from HBO’s Big Little Lies, the end of the first episode features a flashforward to Day 27 which teases plenty more trouble to come. It might not be quite as sharp and tight as the superb first season of that HBO show, but All Her Fault does an ace job of taking contemporary concerns about ‘default parents’ and the impossibility of having it all, and twisting it into a nail-biting whodunnit.
The material is constantly elevated by the presence of the always excellent Snook, in her first TV role since her career-making turn as Shiv Roy in Succession. Marissa’s angst is raw and believable in her capable hands. There are echoes of 2014’s Gone Girl as Marissa and husband Peter (Jake Lacy) – both extremely wealthy financial types – are afraid of looking too rich and selfish to generate the support they need from the public to find their boy.
But if they look suspicious – her company is undergoing an audit, he has a strange, guardian-like relationship to his two grown-up siblings – so do many others. Jenny (Dakota Fanning) is the mother who Melissa believed her son was meeting for a playdate and Jenny’s nanny, Carrie (Sophia Lillis), quickly becomes a person of interest. Peter’s siblings – a former-addict sister (Abby Elliott) and a brother who is disabled (Daniel Monks) – as well Marissa’s best pal and business partner (Jay Ellis) also come under scrutiny.
For such an intense, spindly drama, it’s a shame that All Her Fault is a little too brisk in its reveals and reversals. Red herrings are quickly cleared up, and the efficient plotting – driven by determined good guy Detective Alcaras (Michael Peña), whose unwavering competence ensures we’re always on the right track – feels very neat. It leaves viewers little opportunity to do their own sleuthing. Thankfully, All Her Fault does manage to keep some things a surprise as more is revealed about its slimy cast of characters while strong performances from Snook, Fanning and Lillis add a touch of class to a guilty pleasure.
‘All Her Fault’ is out November 7 on Sky and NOW TV