Sarah Snook is on a roll. She won the Tony for Best Actress with her Broadway debut “The Picture of Dorian Gray” in June, in which she portrayed 26 characters. And now the beloved “Succession” star and Emmy winner returns to television with another award-worthy performance in the buzzy binge “All Her Fault” on Peacock.
Mirroring the pace of Andrea Mara’s 2021 bestseller, executive producer/writer Megan Gallagher’s Chicago-set adaptation from the UK-based Carnival Films team behind “Downton Abbey” and “The Day of the Jackal” also gets off to a fast start. Barely a minute in, Marissa Irvine grapples with a mother’s worst nightmare. She goes to pick up her 5-year-old son Milo from his first playdate, only to be told she’s at the wrong house. And when she calls the number to the text, it is no longer in service. After successfully contacting another mom, she learns Milo’s playmate Jacob is there with her and other kids, not with his nanny Carrie Finch. So Marissa’s son is missing, and no one knows where he could be.
But “All Her Fault” doesn’t just rely on Milo’s kidnapping to fuel its drama. Instead, there are so many layers. As a working mother consistently carrying mommy guilt, Marissa still partly blames herself even when Carrie emerges as a prime suspect. Fallout from the press conference about Milo’s disappearance labeling her a poor mother and suggesting she and husband Peter staged their son’s kidnapping only heightens her guilt. Relief comes from an unlikely bonding with Dakota Fanning’s Jenny, who has also been roped into this nightmare as the purported source of the text message and accusations she failed to properly vet her son Jacob’s nanny.
Making it worse, despite having nannies for their young children, Marissa and Jenny, who respectively work in finance and publishing, receive little parenting help from their husbands. This perspective on contemporary marriage and parenting makes “All Her Fault” more relatable to the average female viewer than “Big Little Lies” and other series that also swim in affluent waters.
“All Her Fault” shines most as an adrenaline-filled psychological thriller full of jaw-dropping twists and turns. Its multiple storylines also add gambling, extortion, corruption and murder to the mix. The longer Milo is missing, Marissa discovers she has no idea who her husband is and what horrors he may be capable of. And ditto for the vision she held of her friend Colin (Jay Ellis, “Insecure”) whose old vices threaten to destroy the company she’s entrusted him to help her build.
The casting is so good here. Duke McCloud is super adorable as Milo. His smile literally lights up the screen, making it impossible not to fall in love with him and become instantly invested in his safe return. Jake Lacy (“The White Lotus,” “I’m Dying Up Here”) totally sells Peter as the rich, attractive, entitled white male. It’s easy to see why Marissa fell for him and how he could fool her. Being needed is big for Peter so he’s used his money to bind his disabled brother Brian (Daniel Monks) and recovering addict sister Lia (Abby Elliott, “The Bear”) to him financially and emotionally and badgering them for that.
Michael Peña (“Narcos: Mexico”) is a humanizing law enforcement presence. Being an active husband and father of a special needs child is one of the main reasons Detective Alcaras is so good at his job. His empathy and emotional intelligence allow him to piece together the clues that bring them closer to finding Milo.
It’s no big reveal that Carrie’s relationship with Milo is far deeper than initially presented. As the series plays out, she evolves from an inexplicable monster possibly using an innocent child for money to a reminder of what becomes of society’s cruelty to those less fortunate, as well as the detrimental impact of parents who corrupt their children instead of protecting them. By the series’ end, Sophia Lillis’ (“It,” “It: Chapter Two”) ability to capture Carrie’s desperation, vulnerability and brokenness elicit sympathy, not wrath or anger.
“All Her Fault” keeps viewers on alert. Directors Minkie Spiro (“Toxic Town,” “Pieces of Her”), who is also an executive producer, and Kate Dennis (“The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Run”) handle each of their halves well. Spiro sets the tone in the first four episodes with Dennis closing out the remaining four with a dizzying ride whose ending or endings, rather, most viewers will never see coming.
“All Her Fault” premieres Thursday, Nov. 6, on Peacock.
