This is a spoiler-free review of all eight episodes of Pieces of Her Season 1, which premieres on Friday, March 4 on Netflix.
With Pieces of Her, Netflix adds yet another thriller to its roster with a by-the-numbers adaptation of the 2019 Karin Slaughter novel of the same name. And while the central story -- surrounding Laura Oliver's (Toni Collette) mysterious past, and her daughter Andy's (Bella Heathcote) subsequent quest to uncover the truth about the parent she thought she knew -- is nothing revelatory for the genre, both leading ladies deliver memorable performances that elevate the series above its mediocre premise.
At a digestible eight episodes, Pieces of Her is an easy binge while also telling a complete story by the time the credits roll on the finale. The main problem is that there are plenty of better versions of this same kind of story already out there. All of the story-driven inertia is front-loaded in the first episode, which initially sparks Andy's doubts about her mother's true identity.
Nevertheless, series director Minkie Spiro (Better Call Saul, Downton Abbey) is a deft hand behind the camera, as she captures some truly WTF moments in the premiere. Without going into spoilers, a few visceral scenes in the first episode shook this reviewer to his core. But Pieces of Her never quite hits that initial crescendo again, and slowly loses steam with each passing episode.
The mother-daughter duo of Collette and Heathcote is the connective tissue that holds showrunner Charlotte Stoudt's (Homeland, House of Cards) adaptation together. Due to the nature of the story, Andy and her mother don't share a lot of on-screen time together, but you get a taste of their chemistry in that crucial first episode. Stoudt and Spiro do an excellent job of setting up Laura and Andy's dynamic during a lunch scene where we receive valuable context into their mother-daughter dynamic.
Andy is (or feels like she is) the underachieving daughter who never lived up to Mom's expectations after leaving her exciting life in NYC to come back home to rural Georgia, while Laura is the classic over-bearing mother who wants nothing more than her daughter to succeed, even if it annoys the hell out of Andy. It's in these small but impactful moments where Collette and Heathcote imbue their characters with a palpable sense of familiarity, which makes their relationship all the more believable. I just wish we saw more of it.
Outside of our two co-leads, Pieces of Her has a solid lineup of veteran actors to fill its roster. Former Power leading man Omari Hardwick portrays Gordon Oliver, Laura's ex-husband and stepfather to Andy, but like many of the supporting cast members, he's underused and forgettable by season's end. There's also Yellowstone's Gil Birmingham, a family friend who may know more than he's letting on (wink, wink).
Oh, and did we forget to mention the dual timelines? Pieces of Her uses this storytelling technique to offer insight into who Laura was before she had Andy. Jessica Barden's (End of the F***ing World) portrayal of the younger Laura is fine, but the story surrounding her character at that age isn't as captivating as Collette's grownup Laura. At times, it feels like these two storylines are competing against each other in a race to get to the finish line. And every time the series flashes back to Laura's past, I just wanted to know what was happening with Andy and Laura in the present day.
Pieces of Her, while designed to be a one-off limited series, could have used more time, or even another season to better develop its characters and world-building. For the "mysterious character hiding away in a small town" trope, there's never a moment when I felt connected to any location in particular. Shows like HBO's Mare of Easttown and Amazon's Reacher do a better job of making you feel like the town is a character of its own. While the series does do a bit of state-to-state travel throughout, it never felt like there was a strong sense of identity in any location, apart from the emotional connection between Laura and Andy.
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