All Her Fault Review: A Masterclass in Suspense
Succession star Sarah Snook delivers what critics are calling her most powerful performance yet in All Her Fault, Sky Atlantic's gripping new thriller adaptation that will have parents everywhere checking their HRT patches. This extraordinarily tight eight-part drama based on Andrea Mara's bestselling 2021 novel explores every parent's worst nightmare with breathtaking precision and emotional depth.
The Premise That Will Grip You
The story plunges viewers straight into the heart of the crisis as wealthy wealth manager Marissa Irvine (Sarah Snook) arrives to collect her five-year-old son Milo from a playdate at another mother's house. The problem? The woman who answers the door has never heard of Jenny, the hosting mother, nor Jenny's nanny Carrie, who was supposed to be supervising the children. Most terrifying of all - Milo has vanished, his online tracker found smashed in the school car park.
What follows is an eight-episode masterclass in suspense that brilliantly balances multiple narrative threads without ever becoming preachy or preposterous. The series interrogates middle-class US affluence in the style of White Lotus while delivering a propulsive missing child narrative and examining the complex penalties women pay for motherhood.
A Stellar Cast of Suspects
As the investigation unfolds, a rich array of characters-cum-suspects emerges, each with peeling layers of personality and backstory. Marissa's husband Peter is played by Jake Lacy, whose work in A Friend of the Family and The White Lotus makes him perfectly cast as an all-American man potentially hiding dark secrets.
The drama asks compelling questions about human nature: Is there any such thing as a truly altruistic deed? How bad would you have to be to kidnap your own son? The supporting cast delivers equally powerful performances, including Dakota Fanning as Jenny, the other mother involved, and Sophia Lillis as the mysterious nanny Carrie.
The Bond Between Mothers
One of the series' most fascinating elements is the unexpected bond that forms between Marissa and Jenny, despite the circumstances. Both women understand the unique rage and guilt that defines working motherhood when husbands haven't fully embraced child-rearing as a joint endeavour. Their connection strengthens under pressure in ways that shock their husbands and the police, but will feel entirely relatable to many viewers.
The creators have invested extraordinary detail in every character, from the quintessential frenemy Sarah Larsen to the Irvine family's own nanny Ana, making this potentially formulaic drama stand out from the herd of prestigious television.
All Her Fault represents television at its most compelling - you come for the terrifying premise but stay for the absolute pleasure of watching narrative cogs turn and interlock with seamless precision. Every carefully planted seed comes to fruition in this must-watch drama that's already generating significant buzz.
The series aired on Sky Atlantic and is available to stream on Now for those who want to experience this extraordinary thriller for themselves.
