Spoilers ahead if you have not seen Season 1 (which also means Hannah has not read!!

Peacock’s new original tv show follows Nathan and Ava Bartlett, a former tennis star turned country club coach and a struggling realtor with a passion for true crime series. Ups and downs in their careers, necessary house repairs, and a baby on the way have made the Bartletts’ life and marriage more difficult. However, Ava and Nathan find themselves in a unique position when they discover that their plumber is the infamous serial killer, the Westside Ripper. Instead of turning him in, they suggest an opportunity to collaborate on a podcast from the killer’s point of view and detailing his most gruesome murders in order to profit off of the current obsession with true crime. What could go wrong, right?

As someone who is a glutton for shows like You, How to Get Away with Murder, and Pretty Little Liars, I recognize that I am the target audience for any new thriller/comedy series. And I’ll admit, Based on a True Story was extremely watchable and easy to follow. I think that the series did a good job drawing in viewers at the beginning and making us question what was to come. However, as I went along in the series, I found myself thinking that they played things “safe.”

Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina star as Ava and Nathan Bartlett. Throughout the show we learn that this couple is likely in a failing marriage and looking for some kind of “revival” for it. Both Ava and Nathan consider and daydream about possible affairs throughout the show, although never acting on the desires. We find out early on that Nathan was once a tennis star who even won a match against Federer, but can’t seem to move on from his “glory days” and has even been demoted to coaching children at the local country club. Ava recognizes her husband’s struggle, but doesn’t address it directly until nearly the end of the season,at which point I was starting to lose interest. As a realtor, Ava seems to struggle to land listings and clients. She works with the same potential buyer during season 1, but seems far more interested in an affair with him than selling him a home. Honestly, I don’t know if Ava’s career ventures made sense to me in this show, other than to introduce the man she would love to sleep with. Outside of this side character introduction, her career adds nothing to the show and while Ava mentions wanting to be a successful realtor, it doesn’t come off as being the case. 

 While I have really enjoyed Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina in other roles, they didn’t seem like the best fit to me in this show. I’m not sure if I just found Messina a little too mopey throughout, or just couldn’t pick up on the chemistry between Cuoco and Messina, but this duo just wasn’t right in my opinion. Although overall I didn’t think they were a good fit, Cuoco and Messina thrive in the quirky moments of the show. A standout scene for Messina was the episode where his obsession with the couple’s former pet (that they gave to friends) is revealed. Messina’s focus on securing the dog’s love, protecting it, and returning it to his home amidst the chaos of a glitzy party thrown by weird, rich people was really off the wall and funny. We even got a dream sequence from the dog’s point of view, which gave me a good laugh. Cuoco’s facial expressions and outbursts add a lot of levity to the show and I really appreciated how she made the character of Ava seem deeper. Ava is allowed to question her life and marriage, have problematic friends that she loves, and have the desire for a side hustle to bring in some cash.

The West Side Ripper is portrayed by Tom Bateman. This casting is a classic “let’s make the murderer hot” technique. And on television, it works well. Bateman is charming and has excellent chemistry with other characters. I think he does well when he’s trying to hide his identity as the West Side Ripper. It’s chilling to see a murderer amongst the rest of the cast, who have no idea. But when he’s interacting with podcast partners Ava and Nathan who know his identity, we are meant to think he’s a loose cannon that we can’t trust and honestly, this depiction falls a little flat. By the end, viewers are left with an oddly creative (?), psychopathic, podcaster/murderer who ends up killing people who discover his true identity and could turn him in. The character had a lot of potential but ended up just not working for me and falling into familiar tropes.

Depicted in the show is a True Crime convention where fans go and discuss their favorite murders/murderers and see their favorite true crime podcasts perform live. A popular podcast (Sisters in Crime) is portrayed on the show which I can only assume is meant to be a satirical version of the My Favorite Murder podcast. In this portrayal and the convention we see podcasters claiming to have genuine remorse for the victims of crimes while profiting and becoming celebrities through exploitation, people selling murderer merchandise to send their kids to college, and survivors selling books detailing traumatic experiences. It’s a sad reality, but I think that Based on a True Story did a great job pointing out the obvious: this is a really strange and tragic interest/hobby to have. 

So overall, Based on a True Story kept me interested, had some quirky moments, and hit on the “Why are we obsessed with this?” of it all, but I think the show would have benefitted from adding a little more action beyond some dream sequences meant to freak viewers out and staying away from the “formula” upon which other shows in this genre thrive. Going forward, I’d like to see more of the West Side Ripper’s dark side, watch Ava and Nathan tackle their relationship and parenthood head on, and allow the series a little more room to make fun of society and itself. Adding in the right amount of satire and suspense could make this a much different show.