Tell Me Your Secrets – Full Season 1 Review

Episode Guide

Episode 1 – | Review Score – 2.5/5
Episode 2 – | Review Score – 2.5/5
Episode 3 – | Review Score – 3/5
Episode 4 – | Review Score – 2/5
Episode 5 – | Review Score – 2.5/5
Episode 6 – | Review Score – 3/5
Episode 7 – | Review Score – 3/5
Episode 8 – | Review Score – 2.5/5
Episode 9 – | Review Score – 2.5/5
Episode 10  – | Review Score – 1.5/5

Have you ever watched a show where character logic causes you to groan and roll your eyes? How about unbelievable plot twists? Well, question no more because Amazon Prime’s Tell Me Your Secrets is here to add all of this and more to an uneven, rickety 10 episode thriller. Light on compelling thrills and heavy on questionable dialogue and motivations, this is one show that’s very easy not to recommend.

The story here follows a trio of central characters, each with a mysterious past which is revealed in more detail across the season. The central protagonist (if you can call her that) whom we follow is Karen. Girlfriend to  serial killer Kit Parker, Karen is released into the witness protection program and takes on a new persona called Emma.

This amnesia-stricken woman can’t remember key moments from her past, although she does have an alleged history of abusing girls, which her officer Pete is quick to remind her of.

Emma’s history is mired in bloodshed and murder, two things which seem to be linked to Theresa, the young daughter of a concerned, grief-stricken woman called Mary. Hopeful that she’ll find her daughter again, Mary runs a foundation for abuse victims and is certainly not afraid to speak her mind. When a rehabilitated, repentant rapist called John Tyler shows up, she goes in hard on his past.

Determined to find her daughter no matter what, Mary eventually enlists the help of John Tyler, using his criminal mind to try and piece together the breadcrumb trail and find Emma. What follows are 10 episodes of contrived investigative work, lots of plot twists, shocking reveals and nonsensical twists that build to a climax that resolves absolutely nothing.

Thematically, Tell Me Your Secrets tries to ask thought proving questions about the nature of evil and what makes someone a bad person. Unfortunately in following this deliciously twisted thread, this Prime exclusive tumbles down to the ground and gets lost in an ensemble of characters that just aren’t that likable. There’s no one here you can really root for and although some empathy can be given toward Emma’s plight, we’re constantly reminded of her affiliation with the despicable Kit Parker.

I won’t go into spoilers here but suffice to say the show feels overlong and unsatisfying. To be fair, there is some resolution to what happened to Theresa while Emma’s fragmented memories do become clearer. Beyond that though, there’s little else here that’s worth recommending.

The show is littered with questionably written dialogue, clues that do absolutely nothing for the show along with a litany of flashbacks that dance all over the place and distract from the main mystery.

While some people have commented on the soundtrack and the acting, both of these are actually not that bad in comparison to the characters themselves. If just one of these people were easy to root for it may actually help but unfortunately Tell Me Your Secrets doesn’t have that luxury. The show builds up layer after layer of messily structured twists and secrets that keep you holding on for a good resolution that never comes. Instead, we’re baited a second season to try and clean up the mess.

Whether Amazon green-light and commission a follow-up remains to be seen but there’s undoubtedly been a pretty mixed reaction to this one so far. Given the sheer number of competent and well-written thrillers out there too, there’s no secret to be had here that’s good enough to keep you coming back for more.

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