Kill for Love (2020)

Average Thriller

TW: Animal abuse is insinuated within the first three minutes of episode 4; however, we are assured at the end with a message from the creators that no animals were harmed during filming. While it pertains to characterization of one person, if you find this distressing (like I do), I think you can go to the four-minute mark of episode 4 and not miss anything important story-wise.

I felt like this was a pretty typical domestic thriller/crime drama. No twists and turns here, which may be explained by the fact that this was based on a true story. The writers have merely adapted that real-life event to the small screen without any added razzle dazzle, and that’s what it felt like watching this. Although I didn't know the answer to the ultimate question until the final episode, nor did I suspect the surrounding circumstances, once everything was revealed, I wasn't surprised at all.

This is a short drama: four episodes around 25 minutes each. Time constraints will of course prevent us from diving too deeply into the characters' backstories. That said, we got enough details about the major players to get a sense of who they were, and if viewed as a movie cut into parts, the characterization felt complete enough. I do wish we saw more of the detective's story. There was a very intense build-up that led me to expect some big revelation in the end, but it just resolved rather quickly and quietly. On the one hand, I felt like the writers were trying to fit too much into this short piece, and that resulted in a breadth-over-depth application. But on the other, I applaud the writers for using every last second to propel the story forward in one way or another in spite of their time limitations.

Overall, although I'm not blown away by this drama, I did find it interesting and enjoyed spending a couple of hours with these characters and their story. I'd recommend this drama if you want something short but intense with strong actors and quality production value.

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