These Scathing Reactions Prove That Not Everybody Loved Pieces Of Her
Netflix's original thriller "Pieces of Her" was released on March 4 and became an instant sensation. By March 6, it had moved to the top of Netflix's coveted Top 10 ranking (via Comicbook.com). For the week of March 7-13, it captured 1.415 billion viewing minutes, putting it in the lead for original series on the streaming chart (just behind "The Last Kingdom," according to The Hollywood Reporter). A month later, it had dropped to No. 9 on Netflix's list (via What's On Netflix), but was still hanging in there.
Some have raved about the plot's twists and turns, such as The Guardian, which called the eight-part series "thoroughly entertaining," and the Los Angeles Times, naming it "a tidy and effective thriller." Many fans have also enjoyed it. "I'm hooked!" wrote @ScotlandYardCSI on Twitter, while @sagitterrorist noted, "it better be a season 2." User @BrandonCarterSA's informal review called it worth watching. "Out of everything I watched this holiday, I enjoyed this *Pieces of Her*, slow start but packs a punch, cliffhangers, twist and turns of mystery," they wrote.
But the eminently binge-able series, based on a novel by best-selling author Karin Slaughter, isn't exactly getting universal kudos. On Rotten Tomatoes, for example, "Pieces of Her" has just a 50% Tomatometer score and its audience score is even worse, at just 34%. Among its detractors are RogerEbert.com's Brian Tallerico, who opined that it's "a thriller that only works for someone who has never seen a thriller before." It's also getting scathing reactions from viewers as well.
Some fans found the story less than engaging and didn't like the daughter
There aren't many good comments on the series in some of the Reddit threads that examine the show. "I think there's a good story to be told with this set up. But the execution of this seemed pretty poor," wrote u/ElGiganto in an overall discussion thread. "Did Netflix lose a bet to Lifetime? How the heck else did this thing land on Netflix?" quipped u/datathingy, who agreed it wasn't a bad story but the pacing and execution were off — and mirrored other complaints that the flashbacks were too frequent. In another comment, the same user remarked, "For the love of all that is good in the world, I hope there is not a second season."
The performance of Toni Collette as mother Laura Oliver has gotten a lot of praise, but watchers were much less impressed by the performance of Bella Heathcote as Andy, her daughter, whose character they found to be less than compelling. On Twitter, @sofiefrog bemoaned Andy's penchant for making bad decisions, and @naijachika_ was not the only one calling her out." On Reddit, u/MovieBuffy88 observed "She's such a stereotype of a 30yo who doesn't know what she wants and doesn't know how to make decisions. Because, you know, millennials are just so useless." Meanwhile, commenters like u/Ocelet859 criticized Heathcote's "emotional range," and others felt that putting a supposed amateur next to Collette only made the disparity in quality between the two that much starker.
Other comments explain why the show did so well even when people didn't like it
The discussions show that many fans liked the beginning, but found it much harder going as the show progressed. "It starts very strongly but veers of (sic) into confused nonsense," wrote u/throwawaycatallus. "Started off intriguing but then was just garbage," noted u/klaudera, who criticized the writing. And u/millyman called the first episode "a masterpiece," but added that the next ones were generic and basically not good. "I want to reclaim my time and don't know how to get it back. Can we charge Netflix for wasted hours?" asked u/spatty250.
Apparently, many people finished watching "Pieces of Her" as "background" material — not caring about the unlikeable characters or what happened next, but wanting to finish it and get the gist of the story. This might explain the series' high ratings, despite such negative responses to it in general. "I'm like five episodes in and I am really not into it. I'll probably finish it just to see what happens but I don't like the acting," noted u/broccolibob in a post from two months ago.
Those who did make it through weren't necessarily happy that they'd invested all that energy. u/AussieGirl27 said, "This sucked so much I want to sue someone for wasting my time," adding that the series may have been better suited for a midweek, early morning time slot. Ouch.