Based on a True Story Review

After two episodes of Based on a True Story, I was ready to throw in the towel and admit defeat. A scattered beginning, unlikeable and thinly drawn characters, and a premise that I wasn’t thrilled about marred the show’s opening episodes. But, as it’s my professional rule to give every show I review at least three episodes to prove themselves, I trudged onward to episode three. And, while I still wasn’t wholly sold on the series (and would remain that way by the time I finished the eighth and final episode of the series’ first season), I began to become more invested in the crazy premise at the heart of the series and appreciate some of the truly crazy characters populating this strange world.

Ava and Nathan Bartlett (Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina, respectively) are a couple struggling to survive in the always increasingly expensive world of Los Angeles. Ava is a local realtor who can’t seem to score new listings – while also lusting after a hot client – and Nathan is a washed-up former tennis star who now works as a tennis pro at a local country club, only the club is docking his hours and giving the tennis pro job to a younger player. And the couple has a baby on the way. So, when their guest bath’s toilet needs to be replaced, the expensive plumber, Matt (Tom Bateman, giving an interesting performance), agrees to tennis lessons from Nathan in lieu of payment. When Matt and Nathan happen to be in the bar with a young woman the night she gets murdered by the West Side Ripper – a serial killer who is killing young women in Los Angeles – the story kicks off.

Now, I don’t want to get too deep into the ins and outs of the plot, but in attempt to save their home and shore up their finances, Ava and Nathan decide to create a podcast where they will interview the West Side Ripper – whose identity they manage to deduce thanks to Ava’s excellent investigative skills. This decision, to work with a serial killer instead of taking steps to turn him in – becomes more than a simple moral quandary when the pair realize they are in just as much danger as the many unsuspecting women of Los Angeles. Withholding this information from the police is already a crime, but when they realize they can’t control the killer (they make him promise no more killing, but I think we can all deduce that keeping that promise will make the series a tad dull), the story gets ratcheted up to eleven pretty quickly.

What works about the series is when it allows the show to drift into a hybrid between Netflix’s You (which follows a charismatic, but psychopathic, serial killer who doesn’t see his stalking and killing as wrong – much like the killer here) and Cuoco’s HBO series The Flight Attendant, which saw an ordinary woman get mixed in with some pretty extraordinary situations. When Ava and Nathan are allowed to grapple with their deal with the devil, the series presents us with an interesting moral conundrum. We likely wouldn’t make the same choice, but we can see why they did. When the series gets a bit too far out there – there are a number of “dream sequences” that never hit the way the series wants them to, and after the first it becomes rather obvious to spot when the show is employing them prior to their reveal – it loses its charm.

The series also tries to have its cake and eat it too when it comes to lampooning the true crime podcast world. Perhaps this would work better if there wasn’t already a strong series – that would be Hulu’s Only Murderers in the Building – deconstructing the world of true crime with stronger writing and more fun characters, but this part of the story falls flat. It takes far too long for the show to have the massive listener base for the trio’s podcast – also titled Based on a True Story – turn on them. I mean, if a podcast existed that purported to have an active serial killer telling his story to the masses, I can’t imagine fans would tune in blindly for several weeks before realizing how odious the subject was and staging a boycott. But, in this world, people don’t seem to mind a killer chatting about his recent victims for financial gain whilst two people know his identity and tell no one.

But if you can get past the moral quandary that the series tries to gloss over a bit too quickly – we need to know more about Ava and Nathan to really understand why they are so quick to accept that their only option is to try to profit from this relationship, as needing money isn’t the most compelling reason and the series seems nervous about exploring what might really be at the heart of things here – and some of the more heightened moments within the storytelling, there’s a fun story to watch unfold. I certainly had moments where I was engrossed in the tale being told, but those moments often gave way to the harder to accept bits of the story that pulled me out of the immersive action. If you’re looking to scratch that You or Flight Attendant itch, this one is definitely worth a look – assuming you have, already, watched both of those superior shows.

Based on a True Story premieres on Peacock on June 8. All eight episodes of the show’s first season were provided for review.