3
It's a thriller, people. The claustrophobic kind...
The Lie We Lived In aired as a series comprised of eight episodes running about 20 minutes apiece. Its total running time levels out around 2.5 hours. In other words, about the same length as many feature films. And given the story it unspools, it likely would have worked well as a motion picture. (I watched the 8 episodes in one sitting, which amplified my sense of consuming a film.) Many fans arrived expecting a BL, and if I were to grade it solely on that basis, I might come in a few points lower. But I think what makes The Lie a compelling watch is the way it adopts the attributes of a suspense thriller above all else. The tension between these characters is less the romantic variety--though that works as well--but more the fact that everyone is lying to everyone else about just about everything. And if any of these lies get exposed, murder would plausibly follow.
The two main characters are a contract killer and a cop. The killer arrives at a secluded house to perform his job. Literally in the middle of the act, he gets a call from his employer: keep the victim alive until a missing phone is located. Just as he tidies up from the initial fracas, the victim's childhood chum shows up expecting to stay for a week. He mistakes the killer for the victim's sibling (who conveniently left home a dozen years earlier), and the two take up an uneasy co-habitation. The killer must maintain the subterfuge of pretending to be someone else, a masquerade made more perilous once he ascertains that the visiting chum is actually a detective. He peppers the "brother" with endless questions once it's clear his friend isn't home as expected. And once he determines that the man living in his friend's house is not, in fact, the brother, the tension ratchets up. Killer's employers expect him to eliminate all evidence (meaning, kill the cop), but he still needs to find the phone. Meanwhile, he also keeps insisting to the cop that the friend is not a saint. With nearly the whole series set in a single location, the co-habitation between cop and killer feels claustrophobic. For me, that single set amplified the story's innate tensions. These men lived in such close quarters, each with secrets kept from the other, that the expectation of being found out dominates the mood.
As with most mystery stories, the loose ends never quite tie up neatly, but this isn't the type of mystery built around intricate plotting. The suspense provides most of the entertainment here. Whose misdirection will be exposed first? The writers did a commendable job writing each episode toward a cliffhanger ending. (That is one way we know it was written as a series rather than as a film.) The romantic tension that sparks between the two is, in true BL style, a bit too quick and easy but their mutual attraction is necessary to the plot. Each man will make choices that run counter to his professional instincts because of that attraction, so the BL element is also rather central. The reviews for this series have meandered all over the map, but I think the thing provides a solid diversion. Would I have thought so if I had had to wait week-to-week for a new 20 minute installment? Perhaps not. All the more reason to blast through in one single marathon sitting. Less time for the shortcomings of the mystery to take root in your brain.
The two main characters are a contract killer and a cop. The killer arrives at a secluded house to perform his job. Literally in the middle of the act, he gets a call from his employer: keep the victim alive until a missing phone is located. Just as he tidies up from the initial fracas, the victim's childhood chum shows up expecting to stay for a week. He mistakes the killer for the victim's sibling (who conveniently left home a dozen years earlier), and the two take up an uneasy co-habitation. The killer must maintain the subterfuge of pretending to be someone else, a masquerade made more perilous once he ascertains that the visiting chum is actually a detective. He peppers the "brother" with endless questions once it's clear his friend isn't home as expected. And once he determines that the man living in his friend's house is not, in fact, the brother, the tension ratchets up. Killer's employers expect him to eliminate all evidence (meaning, kill the cop), but he still needs to find the phone. Meanwhile, he also keeps insisting to the cop that the friend is not a saint. With nearly the whole series set in a single location, the co-habitation between cop and killer feels claustrophobic. For me, that single set amplified the story's innate tensions. These men lived in such close quarters, each with secrets kept from the other, that the expectation of being found out dominates the mood.
As with most mystery stories, the loose ends never quite tie up neatly, but this isn't the type of mystery built around intricate plotting. The suspense provides most of the entertainment here. Whose misdirection will be exposed first? The writers did a commendable job writing each episode toward a cliffhanger ending. (That is one way we know it was written as a series rather than as a film.) The romantic tension that sparks between the two is, in true BL style, a bit too quick and easy but their mutual attraction is necessary to the plot. Each man will make choices that run counter to his professional instincts because of that attraction, so the BL element is also rather central. The reviews for this series have meandered all over the map, but I think the thing provides a solid diversion. Would I have thought so if I had had to wait week-to-week for a new 20 minute installment? Perhaps not. All the more reason to blast through in one single marathon sitting. Less time for the shortcomings of the mystery to take root in your brain.
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