Love & Death

A formidable Elizabeth Olsen shines in this chilling and unsettling true story

Love and Death is a confounding and engrossing crime drama which is based on the true case of Betty Gore Murder in 1980. In addition to a fantastic ensemble cast, love and death dominates in its execution, writing and the unsettling tension it brings with its atmosphere. The show is a 7 hours long show split into 7 eps and it takes its own good time of around 3-4 episodes to get going. If you can sit through that, you are up for a wholesome satisying crime drama of top notch quality. The sound design, screenplay in the second half just strives through without us flinching.

Elizabeth Olsen gives a performance of a lifetime, she literally sinks into this character and dominates each frame she is put into. Her wide range of emotions are vividly scattered throughout the show and she kills it in each. The other genius of the show is Tom Pelphrey, this man is effortless and outstanding in the 2nd half of the show when the court proceedings take over. His presence of mind and his impeccable style of delivering his dialogues just makes you like him every single time. They way he says fat fuck will make you giggle. Other leads like Jesse Plemons and Patrick Fugit provide adequate support.

Overall, on hell of a fantastic crime drama led by an monumental and invincible performances by Elizabeth Olsen and Tom Phelphry. If you appreciate slow burning and unsettling cold murder dramas this is is must watch.

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Why is this so poorly rated ?! The acting is fantastic!

Ever watched a show where a murder happens and you know who did it and how, but you feel the entire time that there's something hidden beneath, some secrets. You try to uncover something that even ain't there. The plot is attentive and tight. I just expected a little more from the climax. The acting from everyone is just surreal. Saw something amusing from Elizabeth Olsen, her eyes her feelings expressed by the body movement, just WOW. The story follows a society that is very faithful to the church. There was a focus on two couples and then it revolves around their fantasies, problems, secrets and what not. First three episodes focus on families and the last four are courtroom dramas.

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A true crime drama elevated by its performances across the board, especially Elizabeth Olsen who completely sinks into the person she is playing and disappears into the role, something difficult to do for someone as recognizable as her. This did exactly what it needed to do in that it grabbed my interest from the beginning with its story and never let it go for the duration of the series. It was tense, harrowing, unsettling, and heartbreaking right up to the final episode. It's kind of hard to rate these types of shows because if this was a fictional story it wouldn't have done all that much to peak my interest, but in the context of being a true story I am immediately more curious than I otherwise would be, and the unsettling nature of these events hits that much harder. As far as true crime dramas go, this one earned its place.

8.0/10 -- Great

The superior version!

This being released so close to last year's *Candy* has no reason to be. Although, ***Love & Death*** manages to do a better job than it's predecessor! It's the exact same true crime story, basically but the approach is different and they choose to focus on different aspects we haven't seen, ex: the love story. Jessica Biel was great in *Candy* but Elizabeth Olsen's performance is just so much better. A memorable performance and a contender for the Emmy awards. Tom Pelphrey, Patrick Fugit and especially Jesse Plemons are all standouts as well. I'm the biggest Lily Rabe fan but Melanie Lynskey did the character better. The story is well told and the pacing isn't rushed, it breathes. The biggest thing it does better than *Candy* is the love story parts, way more in depth and it was actually interesting. Everything happening in court was peak court room material. The kill scene was done better in *Candy* though, it felt cheap in comparison.

Impossible not to compare it to Candy so I just will. I prefer Candy being more committed to period accuracy in a lot of ways, and I think I prefer the pre-murder stuff in it but the actual post-murder trial stuff in here is just so much better. The better cast and better writing jumps out. Really top notch TV lawyer stuff that ends up completely stealing the show.

Elizabeth Olsen and Jesse Plemons are terrific actors, but the show would've been better is Krysten Ritter and Elizabeth Marvel had something to do. They are both capable of the same level of acting as Olsen and Plemons, but this show just doesn't give them a single worthy scene.
The show in it self is just okay.

The misunderstanding this series puts you in front of is clear: can you plea a murderer, even if they killed someone they knew well and already betrayed with more than 40 ax blows? The question it instills in you comes after a series of boring episodes, held up only by the performance and, let's be honest, it never hurts, the beauty of Elizabeth Olsen. The show changes when the murder happens, when the protagonist's guilt arrives, and suddenly the lawyer's character (Tom Pelphrey, already excellent in Ozark) also stands out. In the end, I think it entertains well if you manage to get past the hurdle of the first episodes, and it's a good piece in the series of crime TV shows.

[HBO Max] Far better portrayed in the miniseries "Candy" (2022), there is an all too obvious attempt to try to establish some empathy with Candy Montgomery, portraying the victim as paranoid. David E. Kelley's tendency towards courts and lawyers does not help, dedicating three episodes to a trial in which the judge is presented as manipulative, especially an unnecessary last episode that seems to be taken from "Lincoln Lawyer" (2021). There's a good performance from Elizabeth Olsen, who manages to keep her balance amid a poor script that fails to deeply explore the motivations of the characters.

I could not bear after the 2nd episode, looks like this show was made for my granma, the worst male cast ever, the lover boy looks like a Utter from the simpsons, that is it, this live action simpsons.nothing happend here.