--- title: "Love & Death" year: 2023 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/love-and-death" fi1m_score: 56 critics_score: 49 critics_reviews: 13 published: "2026-09-17T13:32:49.527213+00:00" updated: "2026-09-17T13:32:59.898864+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Love & Death (2023) Created by David E. Kelley · MPA TV-MA · Crime, Drama **Fi1m score: 56** · Critics 49 from 13 reviews *In a sentence:* Two Texas churchgoers negotiate an affair like a lease agreement; the rest takes longer than the marriage did > Elizabeth Olsen is the reason to watch and very nearly the only one. David E. Kelley spreads a Texas church affair and what followed it across seven episodes when four would do, and the woman who died gets the least of them. ## Synopsis Wylie, Texas, 1978. Candy Montgomery (Elizabeth Olsen) is a Methodist housewife with two children, a kind and dull husband, Pat (Patrick Fugit), and a diary full of church committees. During a game of church volleyball she collides with Allan Gore (Jesse Plemons), a quiet man married to the anxious, unhappy Betty (Lily Rabe), and decides that she wants him. She tells him so in a car park. Over lunch she sets out the terms: a motel room, once a week, no falling in love. Her friend Sherry Cleckler (Krysten Ritter) is the only person she confides in. The affair begins, with rules, and everyone watching knows it does not end there. ## Review David E. Kelley has taken the Candy Montgomery case, a Texas killing from 1980 that had already been made into a series the year before, and given it seven episodes. His idea is a reasonable one: not a monster but a bored, capable woman who ran an affair the way she ran the church rota, and what her competence did to her and to everyone near her. Elizabeth Olsen is superb. The show around her is well made, too long, and unsure what it thinks about the woman who died. Olsen plays Candy with a tight perm, a bright church smile and a voice pitched to carry across a hall. She is a woman who gets things done, and Kelley’s best scenes let her do them: proposing an affair to a man she barely knows, then, over lunch, laying out the terms as if she were booking a venue. We laughed at that lunch, at the speed with which Allan agrees to the rules, and then felt uneasy about laughing, because Olsen never lets you forget the loneliness under the management. It is a performance built on control, and the series is at its best when it watches that control being tested. Jesse Plemons plays Allan Gore as a man who says yes because saying no would mean a conversation, and it is careful, unflattering work. Lily Rabe is good as Betty, heavy-lidded and put upon, worn down by a baby and a husband who is somewhere else. The trouble is that the series gives Betty scenes without giving her a point of view; she exists as the problem in Allan’s marriage rather than as a person with a marriage of her own. Patrick Fugit makes Pat Montgomery decent, dull and kind. Krysten Ritter, as Sherry, is the only one allowed to be funny on purpose. Tim Ives and John Conroy shoot it in flat, bright Texas daylight, all cream walls and wood panelling. Suzuki Ingerslev’s production design gets the church hall, the avocado kitchens and the motel room right without pointing at them. Audrey Fisher’s costumes do a good deal of the characterisation the script does not: Candy in fitted blouses and careful colour, Betty in large glasses and shapeless housecoats. Jeff Russo’s score stays low and mostly stays out, which is the right call for a story this small. The length is the problem. This is a story with one act of set-up, one event and one trial, and Kelley has spread it over seven hours. Three editors, Ben Lester, Amy E. Duddleston and Dorian Harris, are credited, and the middle episodes still circle: another motel, another church meeting, another scene of Candy deciding she is fine. Lesli Linka Glatter and Clark Johnson direct with patience and keep the performances quiet, which suits the material and does nothing for the pace. What happens in the Gore house partway through we will not describe. By the fifth episode we were bored, and then we were irritated at being bored by a story this strange. When Tom Pelphrey turns up as the lawyer Don Crowder the series wakes up, because Kelley is on home ground in a courtroom. Kelley’s [*Big Little Lies*](https://film.one/tv/big-little-lies) was about wives in nice houses and what they knew about each other, and it had half a dozen of them to cut between. Here he has one woman and a great deal of tasteful sympathy for her, and the sympathy tips the whole thing. The victim gets the least of the seven episodes. Most critics arrived at roughly our view, half impressed and half wearied, and several asked why the story needed telling again so soon. We would not go that far; a performance this good is a reason, for four hours rather than seven. Watch it for Olsen, and watch it over two or three evenings rather than seven weeks. The 15 certificate covers one sequence that earns it. If you know the case, nothing here will change your mind about it, and if you do not, the series will not tell you why it mattered. *Fi1m score 56, published 17 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews lean negative, with six of thirteen critics unpersuaded and only two in favour, but almost every one of them sets Elizabeth Olsen apart from the series around her. Her Candy Montgomery is called restrained, nuanced and mesmerising, and several critics say she carries more of the story’s emotional weight than David E. Kelley’s scripts do. Praise for the period detail and Lesli Linka Glatter’s direction is common. The reservations cluster on familiarity. Most critics ask why the case needed retelling so soon after a similar series, and find the answer is that it did not: the plotting is called formulaic, the pace slow and the runtime stretched. A smaller group objects that the victim is left thin while Candy is treated sympathetically. The spread is wide. Collider is the one strong dissent, calling it a standout that avoids sensationalism, while The Times, IndieWire and The Hollywood Reporter sit at the bottom, seeing a tired rehash with little insight. ### Reviews we read (13) - **Empire**, Sophie Butcher (70/100, inferred): The critic praises Elizabeth Olsen's excellent central performance as the complex Candy Montgomery, but notes the series is a little slow and sacrifices pace. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/tv/reviews/love-and-death/) - **The AV Club**, Manuel Betancourt (C+): Elizabeth Olsen delivers a transcendent performance as Candy, but the series is a reheated, toothless take that struggles to justify its existence beyond generic true-crime constraints. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/love-and-death-review-tv-hbo-max-elizabeth-olsen-1850330268) - **The Independent** (55/100, inferred): Elizabeth Olsen excels in delving into the brittle psyche of Candy Montgomery in this David E. Kelley drama. While it captures repressed domestic violence effectively, the plotting feels formulaic and stretched over its runtime. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/love-and-death-review-elizabeth-olsen-b2406457.html) - **Evening Standard**, Vicky Jessop (50/100, inferred): Elizabeth Olsen shines as the frustrated housewife turned killer, bringing nuance to the central role amid suburban hell. The series questions the need for another retelling of this true crime but delivers strong performances and visceral moments. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/tvfilm/love-and-death-itvx-review-elizabeth-olsen-candy-b1104088.html) - **Variety**, Alison Herman (50/100, inferred): The critic finds it a well-made true-crime series with strong performances and production values, but notes it's familiar due to a similar recent series and part of an exhausting trend. [Read](https://variety.com/2023/tv/tv-reviews/love-and-death-review-elizabeth-olsen-hbo-max-miniseries-1235592788/) - **The Guardian** (40/100, inferred): Elizabeth Olsen delivers a mesmerising performance as Candy Montgomery, but the series is otherwise a clunky bore that fails to make the true-crime story compelling. The show struggles with pacing and originality despite strong casting and writing pedigree. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/sep/07/love-death-review-elizabeth-olsen-is-mesmerising-as-an-axe-murderer) - **IndieWire**, Ben Travers (30/100, inferred): The critic finds the limited series a rote true-crime drama that feels like David E. Kelley on autopilot despite Lesli Linka Glatter's direction. It fails to rise above familiar territory in its telling of the axe-murder case. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/shows/love-and-death-review-hbo-max-series-elizabeth-olsen-1234829861/) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Angie Han (30/100, inferred): The critic says despite fine performances and empathetic tone, it struggles to shed fresh light on the case and has too little insight. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/love-and-death-review-elizabeth-olsen-david-e-kelley-1235392991/) - **The Times**, Hugo Rifkind (30/100, inferred): The series feels like a tired rehash of the true-crime genre, revisiting a familiar story with little new insight despite solid period detail and performances. It questions the point of retelling the tale through a wry but ultimately unenthusiastic lens. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/love-amp-death-is-a-last-swing-of-the-axe-when-it-comes-to-true-crime-5dkj3lkcb) - **Collider**, Carly Lane (A-): The critic praises Elizabeth Olsen's outstanding performance as the complex Candy Montgomery, noting how she captures the emotional layers in David E. Kelley's scripts and Lesli Linka Glatter's direction. The series is seen as a standout true-crime drama that avoids sensationalism but falters slightly in its portrayal of the victim. [Read](https://collider.com/love-and-death-hbo-review/) - **Digital Spy**, Laura Jane Turner (65/100, inferred): The glossy, addictive drama excels as compelling TV with strong performances and period detail, but its narrow focus on Candy leaves the victim's perspective underdeveloped and raises ethical concerns about true-crime storytelling. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a43765592/betty-gore-love-and-death-elizabeth-olsen-review/) - **/Film**, Chris Evangelista (40/100, inferred): The critic finds the miniseries overlong and impenetrable, with Olsen's performance sharp but lacking depth compared to the prior "Candy" adaptation; it fails to offer new insights or clear perspective on the events, feeling like a regression. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/1262321/love-and-death-review-elizabeth-olsen-impenetrable-miniseries/) - **Paste**, Lacy Baugher Milas (6.2): Olsen delivers a mesmerizing performance full of restraint and emotional complexity, but the rest of the soapy true-crime drama lacks focus and fails to give depth to the victim or justify its sympathetic take on Candy. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/hbo-max/love-and-death-review) ## Details - **Created by:** David E. Kelley - **Creator:** David E. Kelley - **Director:** Lesli Linka Glatter, Clark Johnson - **Writer:** David E. Kelley - **Cinematography:** Tim Ives, John Conroy - **Editor:** Ben Lester, Dorian Harris, Amy E. Duddleston - **Music:** Jeff Russo - **Production design:** Suzuki Ingerslev - **Costume design:** Audrey Fisher - **Producer:** Sunday Stevens - **Cast:** Elizabeth Olsen as Candy Montgomery; Jesse Plemons as Allan Gore; Lily Rabe as Betty Gore; Patrick Fugit as Pat Montgomery; Krysten Ritter as Sherry Cleckler; Tom Pelphrey as Don Crowder; Amelie Dallimore as Jenny Montgomery; Liam Pileggi as Ian Montgomery - **Certificate (MPA):** TV-MA - **Release (the US):** 27 April 2023 - **Genres:** Crime, Drama - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlbNJJwc4jA ## Where to watch in the US - Netflix: streaming - HBO Max: streaming, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd - Hulu: add-on, hd *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: AR, AT, AU, AZ, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IS, IT, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, SK, TH, TR, UA, US, VN. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Candy* (2022): The same case in five episodes, meaner and quicker, with Jessica Biel in the perm - *Big Little Lies* (2017), Fi1m 78: Kelley’s other well-dressed wives, with more of them and far more to hide — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/big-little-lies.md) - *Landscapers* (2021), Fi1m 78: A British true-crime couple told as a film they imagine they are in — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/landscapers.md) - *The Honeymoon Killers* (1970): Cheap, grey, pitiless American true crime with none of this show’s sympathy - *Fargo* (1996), Fi1m 91: Small-town good manners with a body under them, done in ninety-eight minutes — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/fargo.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/love-and-death