It can be shocking to find proof of your parent’s lives before you came around and cramped their style: a phenomenally daggy haircut, a hidden tattoo, unexpected episodes of wildness and debauchery…
In Pieces of Her, Andy (Bella Heathcote) is shocked to discover that her mum Lauren (the legendary Toni Collette) has a secret past as a murderous badass…while in the midst of a terrifying public shooting. The first season of Pieces of Her is currently streaming on Netflix worldwide, and you’ll want to follow along with all the thrilling revelations.
The crime-mystery is based on a novel of the same name by Karin Slaughter, with Sydney, Australia filling in for a US location much like Prime Video’s Nine Perfect Strangers and Netflix’s Melbourne-shot Clickbait. When a deadly mass shooting kicks off at a diner during Andy’s 30th birthday, her usually mild-mannered mum leaps into action, setting off a snowballing realisation of her troubled personal history.
“Every time I think I get closer to knowing her, she slips away”, Heathcote frowns, trying to collect together all the ‘pieces of her’ mum’s life to make a cohesive, terrifying portrait. If we know anything from Collette’s stunning career on screen, it’s that she could play literally anyone—and that’s what makes the series’ premise so addictive, much like Viggo Mortenson’s fascinating part in A History of Violence.
In a review of Pieces of Her by Steve Newall, he felt that the final episodes come a little “unstuck”, but that Collette is typically compelling through it all: “it’s a closed-off, calculating turn, dripping with disapproval and disappointment at everything around her, at times proving chilling—and occasionally straying towards comic with the levels of exasperation on display.”
It seems unlikely that there might be further seasons of Pieces of Her, since the series is closely based on that best-selling book, but there should be plenty more surprising thrillers on the way: the Netflix mystery show was chosen as one of March’s most exciting new TV releases, so why not check out the other recommendations?
