Lady in the Lake Season 1 Review – Like watching paint dry

Episode Guide

Episode 1 -| Review Score – 2.5/5
Episode 2 -| Review Score – 2/5
Episode 3 -| Review Score – 2/5
Episode 4 -| Review Score – 2.5/5
Episode 5 -| Review Score – 2.5/5
Episode 6 -| Review Score – 2/5
Episode 7 -| Review Score – 2.5/5

Lady in the Lake epitomizes most of the original TV content on Apple TV+. Big stars are joined by a promising director, with excellent visuals and a compelling musical score. However, all of this amounts to nothing in favour of lackluster, ponderous writing that squanders this promise into disappointing mediocrity. And in the case of Lady in the Lake, it’s also incredibly boring too.

Based on the noir thriller novel sporting the same name, Lady in the Lake is both an investigative drama and an exploration into the race wars of 1960’s America. The story jumps back and forth between two protagonists, Cleo Johnson and Maddie Schwartz.

Cleo is an overworked woman struggling to make a name for herself while working under the thumb of crime boss Shell Gordon. She works as a bartender but also works on Shell’s books too. She tries to do right by her kid, Teddy, while her partner Slappy isn’t exactly the role-model she wants her child to have. As she struggles to make ends meet, this runs parallel to Maddie Schwartz’s storyline.

We’ll come right out and say it now – Maddie is a horrible person. She’s a self-centered, egotistical, opportunist who will do anything to get to the top. She doesn’t care who she hurts and when someone does call her out for her behaviour, she plays the victim. Maddie and her husband are rather estranged, and while Maddie works as an unsatisfied housewife, she wants to become a top journalist. She also has a dark past that threatens to spill over in the worst way possible.

She piggybacks off the death of a young girl to catapult her own career, and when she learns that a woman has been killed down by the lake – the same lake connected to her past – Maddie goes fishing. However, all of this is turned upside down when it turns out that this woman is none other than Cleo Johnson.

The set-up is certainly intriguing but Lady in the Lake has this really annoying way of trying to paint Maddie as a victim. It’s actually really annoying to watch because she should be held accountable for her actions… but she’s not. In fact, by the time the final credits roll she’s learned literally nothing. I’m being careful not to spoil anything here but given the slow plotting this one adopts, it does Lady in the Lake’s characterisation absolutely no favours. But lets talk about that slow pace.

God damn, is Lady in the Lake slow. I mean really slow. There are episodes here that could have easily been cut out completely. In fact, I’d argue the whole thing could have just been a 2 hour movie. The penultimate chapter, episode 6, is literally one big fever dream. There are hallucinations and different trippy sequences mixed in with singing and dancing numbers.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with that if it also serves an ulterior purpose. As an example, Watchmen veered off track with an entire artistic episode or two, but it at least added context to the past or the worldbuilding. With the exception of one plot point involving Slappy and a confusing reveal at the end, this episode does absolutely nothing and is a great example of style over substance.

But then similarly, there are plot threads here that could have been cut out completely and it doesn’t help that almost every scene with Maddie is a drag to watch. In one scene she barges into an office, demanding a job with all the energy of “do you know who my parents are?” And naturally, she gets it. There’s a serious “girl-boss” energy with Maddie and that, coupled with zero accountability, makes it really hard to rally behind her plight. And that’s such a shame because Natalie Portman is a decent actress and she does a good job bringing this unlikable character to life.

By comparison, Moses Ingram is excellent as Cleo. In fact, she’s easily the bright spark in the whole show. All of her scenes of struggle are so relatable and it makes sense to merge this in with the hot topic of race right now. It’s not preachy, with a show-don’t-tell style, nor does it overwhelm the entire run-time and get in the way of this murder mystery plot. For these scenes at least, Alma Har’el nails it.

But of course any positives in this show are drowned out by the overwhelming noise of Lady in the Lake just not being very entertaining. There are large swathes of this show that drag on unnecessarily, turning into a long, ponderous and dull noir thriller. And naturally, it lacks the key ingredient of a thriller – thrills.

If you’re after an artistic drama and just want to revel in the visuals, Lady in the Lake does have some stand-out moments. When it comes to a compelling narrative to back that up though, Lady in the Lake falters. It’s hard to recommend this thriller which is a shame, but in all honesty, you’ll probably have more fun watching paint dry.

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