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A husband raises his hand in anger.
A group of women in designer neutrals and Jennifer Meyer jewelry console each other on a cream-colored couch.
Blood splatters across the wall of a gigantic mansion (or along a posh neighborhood street).
A police officer rolls their eyes at the insularity of the elite.
Both an outsider with a mysterious past and the working class overall are held at arms length.
When considering the current state of dramatic television for and about women, one cannot escape the motherthriller.
1.The story kicks off with a murder or disappearance.
2.The women are rich but also unhappy, and their husbands and kids suck.
(At least, this is what I learned fromBig Little LiesandThe Undoing.)
(TheExpatsepisodeCentral,a rare exception, defies this trope by focusing on the protagonists domestic help.)
But the series skimps on the character development necessary for us to understand the extent of Joys frustrations.
What does she complain about to her friends?
How does she fill her days as a retiree?
3.The characters are white nearly exclusively so.
InBig Little Lies, Merrin Dungey questions a friend group composed primarily of white women.
Tiffany Boone and Manny Jacinto play assistants to Kidmans Russian Svengali wellness expert inNine Perfect Strangers.
The first two series also, to varying degrees, probe the impact of racism on elite spaces.
But none of this is inApples Never Fall.
4.You or someone you know read the book, probably at the suggestion of a celebrity.
(And hes reteaming with Kidman for a series version ofMargos Got Money Troublesby Rufi Thorpe.)
5.The timeline heavily relies on flashbacks.
As each series progresses, we spend time with various characters to see the impact of all this damage.
6.Theres a very high chance Nicole Kidman is in it.
Kidman is the most common face of the motherthriller, but Witherspoon is up there, too.
For the most part, if these women produce a series, theyre going to headline in it.
8.Theres hidden trauma a lot of it!
Can you believe all they needed to do to feel better was open up about it?
(Or, sometimes, kill someone.)
(This is Kidmans specialty.)
But that final one is rare.
10.A cliffhanger allows for a misguided and unnecessary second season.
We do not, but theyre coming anyway.
Everything is IP now, yadda yadda yadda.
You know, it is.
For that feeling in a womans story, comedy is where to look.
