Love & Death (2023)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The critic says despite fine performances and empathetic tone, it struggles to shed fresh light on the case and has too little insight.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.