Shallow series scrubs intrigue from tense tale
I was told there would be cake.
Or rather, I imagined the cake, thinking that I would find something delectable about "Dirty John," Bravo's eightepisode limited series based on the gripping true-crime podcast and narrative series by Los Angeles Times reporter Christopher Goffard.
In addition to drawing on Goffard's riveting reporting — about Debra Newell, a wealthy Orange County businesswoman who fell for a charming and dangerous grifter named John Meehan — the drama stars Connie Britton, the patron saint of one-hour dramas.
Alas, "Dirty John" — created by former "Desperate Housewives" writerproducer Alexandra Cunningham — leaves much to be desired, judging by the three episodes made available for this review.
The show will officially premiere Sunday, but Bravo has already made the first episode available on its website.
Britton ("Nashville," "Friday Night Lights") was an obvious choice to play Debra. When she meets John, she’s a divorcee, four times over, with four grown children and a thriving interior-design business. She continues to believe in love and endures a sequence of bad dates in an effort to find it.
Things feel different when she meets John, a handsome, if somewhat-scruffy, anesthesiologist.
Eric Bana plays Meehan with effective creepiness, and the show introduces us to the podcast's major players, some of whom are given name changes.
By the end of the second episode, we've met Debra’s daughters, Veronica and Terra (Juno Temple and Julia Garner, respectively); her mother, Arlane (Jean Smart); and her nephew Toby (Kevin Zegers).
Bana's sinister turn as John doesn't include any charm, which puts the show in shaky territory from the start. We need to be able to imagine Debra falling in love with him, even if we can see the red flags.
Debra's daughters were integral to Goffard's reporting, but on-screen, they are reduced to paper dolls. It's a real shame because the Newell daughters — shy, sweet Terra and feisty Jacquelyn, the clear inspiration for Veronica — present an opportunity for the show to redeem itself.
Veronica is immediately suspicious of John, telling her mother that he seems overly interested in the expensive furnishings in their apartment. Temple so dutifully zeroes in on Veronica's edge that the character comes off as bratty.
Garner, meanwhile, overexaggerates Debra's zombieobsessed daughter, Terra, but isn't given much to work with.
In other missed opportunities, family tension comes to a head in a Thanksgiving scene that ends far too quickly — so quickly that I thought I must have missed something.
"Dirty John" gets moderately interesting in Episode 3, which begins to explore John's past and previous marriage just as Debra is starting to see his controlling, secretive demeanor. But it’s far too little, too late.
Little commentary is found in "Dirty John," which seems unforgivable in a year punctuated by widespread condemnation of toxic men.
I expected much more, but the series only manages to spin a new con — promising dessert and delivering lukewarm leftovers.