Candy

Between the scenes having dark filters, so even the daylight scenes are hard to watch and the night time scenes, we watched the first and last episode. It sounded good, but not worth the eye strain and frustrations. Sadly, American television production has been sub-par for a few years now, so back to Britbox and Acorn for us. Definitely a disappointing project.

Get all the 80s toys and music and make a show from one true crime story. Everyone is doing it just remaking documentaries. All of this will be on HBO in a few months. We are seriously scraping the barrel here. Let's get some new stories going.

I thoroughly enjoyed the limited series. If you need long action sequences a la Marvel, you might get bored. But the story is compelling and even engrossing nonetheless. The late 70s and early 80s setting was masterful. Clothes, cars, decor, fads (eg jogging). My high rating of an 8, however, is largely due to the acting and cinematography. There are several iconic scenes that I watched more than once. The two male leads were great. Co-star Lynskey (Betty Gore) was even better. Then there was Biel. Wow. What a performance. I never considered her to be a bad actor before, I just never considered her. At all. No more. Can't wait to see what she does next. Lastly kudos to the producers for making this a 5 part series. A movie wouldn't do it justice. But more episodes and definitely more seasons would've been overkill. Just right.

First episode: wow very well made. Biel is good, I like her here more than in 'Sinner' I must say, Melanie Lynskey had my heart since "Heavenly Creatures' and Pablo Schreiber surprised & convinced me in 'Lorelei'. Super cast so far. I'd binge if they were all out. (The 90s movie "Killing in a small town' is also recommendable btw!) 7 stars for now - could turn into 8 after Friday. What I find confusing is a second mini series with Olsen as Candy coming out this year. Aren't there any good scripts anymore?

I was pleasantly surprised with this limited run series. The story was told purposely slow, which actually pulled you in. The acting by all accounts was excellent and the direction was very good. Jessica Bill seems to have found her niche in playing "off-balanced" characters. She did a great job in the Sinner and even better in Candy. The rest of the cast were also a little off but the director was very good at not turning this into a comedy. The ending was a bit of a shocker. As the opening credits state, this show is based on actual events. Usually I research the story while watching shows like this. Fortunately I did not make that same mistake this time and I believe I enjoyed the show a lot more as a result. It's a quick binge watch. Enjoy.

The acting is solid. Jessica Biel has turned out to be the real deal taking on more daring characters since her days on 7th Heaven and Chuck and Larry. As for the show, the story is interesting and engrossing, but what lacked for me was the execution. I felt the show was a little slow in some parts and the show could have used some of these slower scenes to give some more perspective and clarity to the viewer. For instance, I couldn't tell if I liked Betty or not because I didn't know where she was coming from with the need to foster and calling her husband all day. I also couldn't tell if Alan Gore genuinely cared for his wife or not. I also could not tell tell if Candy was a victim or a villain. Perhaps that was what the show intended because only Candy knows what really happened. I mean no disrespect to the actual victims, I'm solely speaking from an entertainment perspective. On the show, the only sympathetic character was Candy's husband. It was worth a watch but not the strongest portrayal of a true crime story.

As Episode 1 of "Candy" (2022 release; 5 episodes of about 55 min each) opens, we are reminded this is "based on true facts" and we are introduced to Candy, a housewife in suburban Dallas era 1980, and her family (husband Pat and 2 kids). Meanwhile, Candy's friend Betty is down as her husband Allan is about to go on a business trip and Betty is left alone to take care of their new baby. Then one day, while Candy is involved with her kids at church, she takes off to stop by Betty's house, Next we know, Candy leaves the house with blood all over her face... What happened? And why? At this point we are less than 15 min into Episode 1. Couple of comments: this mini-series is the brainchild of Robin Veith ("Mad Men"). Here she revisits what happened in Wylie, TX in 1980. It becomes clear very quickly what exactly happened, but we don't know how or why it happened, and that is in fact what this true crime mini-series is all about. The series benefits from strong performances all around, starting with Jessica Biel (as Candy, and also as executive producer), Melanie Lynskey (as Betty), Timothy Simons (as Candy's husband), and last but certainly not least, Pablo Schreiber (as Betty's husband). Check out Schreiber's performance as he becomes ever more frantic in trying to get in touch with Betty from his hotel. The series also reflects the era (1980) perfectly, equally in style, tone and structure (as in: Episode 1 is a slowburner, in the best possible way).. The opening episode of "Candy" premiered last night on Hulu, and the remaining 4 episodes will be rolled out on consecutive nights the remainder of this week. I know what I'll be watching this week! If you are in the mood for a good true crime story, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion. *UPDATE* I've now seen all 5 episodes and I really enjoyed this all along, and even more so if you were around in 1980 (when I was 20). Regardless, well worth checking out.

I think it was just the whole story overall - it just didn't work for me. It's just extremely drawn out - the show isn't bad - but I'm pretty sure we didn't need 5 hours for this! In fact, eventually I started fast forwarding through chunks of it cause it just wouldn't get to the point. It is a sad/crazy true story though!