SHOW:
Anatomy of a Scandal
WHERE TO WATCH:
OUR RATING:
2/5 Stars
WHAT IT'S ABOUT:
Sophie Whitehouse, the wife of British Tory MP James Whitehouse, learns that her husband has been having an affair with an aide.
WHAT WE THOUGHT:
Audiences have always been obsessed with the concept of the 'good wife,' a woman who stands by her husband despite the scandals that he's involved in. From Hillary Clinton to Alicia Florrick in seven seasons of The Good Wife, there has always been something so compelling behind these women's decisions over indiscretions that would often mean a dealbreaker for many others. Anatomy of a Scandal attempts to play in this space without knowing exactly what it wants to say.
The series follows British Tory MP James Whitehouse (Rupert Friend) as he is caught up in an affair scandal with one of his employees Olivia Lytton (Naomi Scott). His wife, Sophie (Sienna Miller), has to deal with the knowledge of the affair and the press scrutiny. Just as the couple is getting it under control, Olivia accuses James of rape, and they are thrown into an intense court battle
Co-created by David E Kelley and Melissa James Gibson (House of Cards, The Americans) and based on the novel by Sarah Vaughan, it seems to take inspiration from the lives of many privileged politicians in the United Kingdom. Kelley, in particular, is known for creating and writing many law dramas such as The Practice, Boston Legal and Ally McBeal, and the last couple of years has been marrying law dramas with explorations of the wealthy upper class in miniseries such as Big Little Lies and The Undoing. And this seems to be the same sort of energy that Anatomy of a Scandal is aiming for – trying to chastise the upper class while still telling a story that is mostly based in the courtroom.
Kelley and his team seem to understand the public's fascination with the rich. Using flashbacks, the show goes back to James and Sophie's time at Oxford and James' time in the Libertine Club, a fraternity with the current prime minister and his best friend, Tom Southern (Geoffrey Streatfeild). They depict how much James has gotten away with through his time because of his good looks, charm and money.
In the same way, the show follows the role of the good wife. It is almost like women who are married to powerful men have a different set of rules and what is and is not okay for them to do or say. But the show doesn't explore anything new about this or even intend to dig deeper. It feels very surface level with James and the government's spin doctor just reminding Sophie that she needs to accompany James to court and not say anything too controversial.
The series seems to struggle a lot with its tone. It goes from being about a couple dealing with a messy situation in the public eye to a scandal that happened twenty years ago to having a conversation about what constitutes consent and rape. All of these are very important, but the series does not seem to be able to find a balance to explore any of these themes well enough, which leaves us with an awkward tone. An example of a show that was able to balance conversations about consent and whimsical storylines is I May Destroy You, but Anatomy of a Scandal does not seem to have the same sort of nuance.
However, the show does boast excellent performances by its core cast members, especially Sienna Miller. She does not have a lot to work with, but she does an amazing job of depicting Sophie as she navigates the terrain of understanding that everything that she believed to be true is not so. We watch as she silently struggles to deal with the betrayal, as she looks back on their time at Oxford, searching for clues. I do wish that we had an opportunity to learn more about Sophie's upbringing and why she was so steadfast in her devotion to James. Other than a throwaway remark by James' mother, we don't get to delve into Sophie's past other than her time at Oxford.
The series was directed by S.J. Clarkson, who is known for directing everything from Whitechapel to Ugly Betty to Succession. But something in the directing style just did not seem to work for the show. The camera is often tilted, or revolving, which I can understand is meant to show the chaos of the situation, but it often had me feeling nauseous and dizzy and tired of the gimmicks.
The series also used interesting devices such as having the younger version of the character appear to the older version as an apparition. At the beginning of the first episode, there was a scene that had James falling back in shock like the wind was knocked out of him, which looked like it belonged in a Doctor Strange movie. And if a character is thinking of or imagining a scene, they would often show it happening right in front of the character. This worked well when characters were remembering scenes as it shows how different people remember different moments.
Anatomy of a Scandal has all the ingredients to make a compelling political thriller, but it does not seem to know what it is or what it wants the audience to know.
WATCH THE TRAILER HERE: