2 out of 5

Created by: Rachel Ramras, Hugh Davidson, and Larry Dorf

Conceptual spoilers for the show follow, but nothing direct, and nothing that I think can’t be somewhat assumed from the mismatch between the show’s title, opening monologue, and tone.

At a high level, I get the gist for “The Woman in the House…” – taking every trope from any given Rear Window-adjacent murder mystery, smashing to together, and then trying to write it straight (like all of these tropes combined are an acceptable plot), and perhaps more importantly: act it straight. I might’ve dreamed of doing such a juke as a youth; the idea of a film that you think is one thing but is actually another is one of those grand, subversive pursuits. Though I did say film; doing it as an eight episode TV show – even at 30 minute episode lengths – is quite a gamble. Still, it could be effective and fun if pitched correctly, but “Woman in the House…” crumples up that note from the outset.

Kristen Bell plays Anna Whitaker, who sits near her front window, with a perpetually refilled-to-the-brim glass of red wine, and stares forlornly outward. Anna narrates to us in a British accent, and then switches to Bell’s American one, informing us that she – Anna – is prone to flights of fancy like this. Somewhere it registers that this is funny, and Bell’s half buoyant / half snarky line reads tell that tale, but the show’s production design, music, cinematography, and direction do not: they are neither overblown or underplayed enough to suggest farce, and are, instead… irresolutely normal.

Director Michael Lehmann has quite a history of misfired comedies, some of which are my absolute favorite off-color, make-or-break B-movies, like Airheads, or Hudson Hawk. He’s done the rounds in TV over the years, but with arguably a workman-like approach, and that applies here as well. And I think that can be part of the show’s meta joke, which is somewhat confirmed by a final episode in which all of the conclusions to all of the used story tropes are also used, all at once, but again – that is a big thing to gamble on (even while promoting the show as a binge watch), and even assuming it’s all purposeful, I’m not quite sure it works.

Anna sees what she believes is a murder, and cannot convince anyone around her that it occurred. The supposed victim is just out of town; and doesn’t Anna drink quite a bit? This setup requires us to be on Anna’s side, but with enough skepticism to keep us guessing; Bell, going back to the Veronica Mars years, is perfect at playing that kind of balance, but she’s still cued to play the dramatic bits very straight – or rather, the dramatic bits are intended to be actually dramatic. Anna is suffering from a tragedy that has essentially stalled her to her current state; here again the show’s tone confuses, as the tragedy itself occurred in the most ridiculous circumstances – surely a joke – but we spend enough time on the ramifications of that (and not enough on the ridiculousness) to suggest we should be taking it seriously. Similarly, those who surround Anna – her overprotective friend, Sloan (Mary Holland), a befuddled handyman (Cameron Britton), the suspicious detective (Christina Anthony) – would generally be caricatures in a setup like this, to better juxtapose our POV’s relative normalcy, but the same approach is taken of giving them tropey, one-dimensional characteristics, but then having them play the part like any other one-dimensional character in a weekly popcorn TV show.

Going back to Lehmann’s resume, you can see logic at work here that suggests this show might become a good B-viewing down the road. Then again, that’s a four hour investment, and one that lacks some of the WTF elements that made things like Heathers and Hawk such classics in their own right. There’s nothing really off about “The Woman…” except that it’s puzzling not off at all, essentially taking every single step exactly as you think it will.