Why Women Kill

Why Women Kill
Genre	Comedy-drama Dark comedy
Created by	Marc Cherry
Starring	Lucy Liu Ginnifer Goodwin Kirby Howell-Baptiste Alexandra Daddario Sam Jaeger Sadie Calvano Jack Davenport Reid Scott
Composer	Mateo Messina
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	2 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Marc Cherry Michael Hanel Mindy Schultheis Brian Grazer Francie Calfo Marc Webb
Producers	Anna Culp Mark Grossan
Cinematography	Michael A. Price
Editors	Michael Berenbaum Andrew Doerfer
Running time	50 minutes
Production companies	Black Lamb Acme Productions Cherry Productions Imagine Television Studios CBS Television Studios
Original release
Network	CBS All Access
Release	August 15, 2019 (2019-08-15) – present (present)

Why Women Kill is an American dark comedy-drama web television series created by Marc Cherry for CBS All Access. Set in multiple time periods, the series depicts three married women who are all driven to kill by the infidelity of their husbands. It premiered on August 15, 2019.

Premise

Why Women Kill follows three women from different decades who are connected through having all lived in the same Pasadena mansion and experiencing infidelity in their marriages. Beth Ann Stanton remains content as a housewife in 1963 until she learns of her husband's unfaithfulness, socialite Simone Grove discovers her third husband's homosexuality and begins her own affair with a younger man in 1984, and although in an open marriage in 2019, attorney Taylor Harding finds her relationship tested when she and her husband become attracted to the same woman. Despite their societal roles changing over the decades, each woman's reaction to the infidelity leads to them taking the life of another.

Cast and characters

File:Why Women Kill, season 1 socialites.jpg

The women of the first season (l–r): Beth (Ginnifer Goodwin), Simone (Lucy Liu), and Taylor (Kirby Howell-Baptiste)

Main

• Lucy Liu as Simone Grove, a twice-divorced socialite married to Karl.
• Ginnifer Goodwin as Beth Ann Stanton, Rob's subservient wife.
• Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Taylor Harding, a bisexual, feminist attorney in an open marriage with Eli.
• Alexandra Daddario as Jade, the bisexual mistress of Taylor and Eli.
• Sam Jaeger as Rob Stanton, an aerospace engineer married to Beth Ann.
• Sadie Calvano as April, a waitress having an affair with Rob.
• Jack Davenport as Karl Grove, Simone's third husband who is using their relationship to conceal his homosexuality.
• Reid Scott as Eli Cohen, a screenwriter in an open marriage with Taylor.

Recurring

• Katie Finneran as Naomi Harte, a wealthy friend of Simone and Tommy's mother.
• Alicia Coppola as Sheila Mosconi, the feminist neighbor of the Stantons and Leo's wife.
• Leo Howard as Tommy Harte, Naomi's son who harbors romantic feelings for Simone.
• Kevin Daniels as Lamar, Eli's friend.
• Adam Ferrara as Leo Mosconi, Sheila's husband and a neighbor of the Stantons.
• Li Jun Li as Amy

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	"Murder Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry"	Marc Webb	Marc Cherry	August 15, 2019 (2019-08-15)
In 1963, Rob and Beth Ann Stanton move into their Pasadena mansion following the death of their daughter. After meeting Leo and Sheila Mosconi, Beth Ann overhears Sheila reveal that Leo witnessed Rob kissing a waitress. Beth Ann refuses to believe her husband's infidelity until she sees Rob kiss the waitress firsthand. At Sheila's advice, Beth Ann goes to the diner to confront the waitress, whom she learns is named April. However, Beth Ann loses her nerve and instead befriends April, although she keeps her identity secret from her husband's mistress. In 1984, Simone Grove learns of her husband's homosexuality when she finds pictures of Karl kissing a man. Simone demands that Karl leave, but Karl instead attempts suicide by overdosing on pills. After Karl is sent to the hospital, Tommy Harte admits to Simone that he saw the photos and makes a romantic pass at her. Simone declines his advances, but Tommy states that unlike the men she married, he is in love with her. In 2019, Taylor Harding brings her mistress Jade home to live with her and Eli, Taylor's husband, after Jade is threatened by a stalker. Eli initially opposes having a paramour of the couple stay in their mansion, but eventually agrees to allow Jade to remain when he finds himself becoming attracted to her.
2	"I'd Like to Kill Ya, But I Just Washed my Hair"	Marc Webb	Austin Guzman	August 22, 2019 (2019-08-22)
In 1963, Beth Ann talks with April about how husbands can sometimes get bored of their wives. In order to get Rob more interested in their marriage, Beth Ann gets a makeover, but Rob doesn't seem to care. She then tries to excite Rob by having dinner with him while naked, but Rob's boss shows up at their mansion and accidentally finds himself looking at Beth Ann's naked body. Sheila gives Beth Ann a sex manual to try and excite Rob, but when doing one of the postitions in the shower, Rob smashes out of the shower and has to go to the hospital. In 1984, Tommy pursues his lust for Simone, and after Simone denies sex for the second time, she relents and has sex with him after she finds a collection of sleeping pills, indicating that Karl faked his suicide attempt and only took one or two sleeping pills. She also finds out that her friend knows that Karl was cheating on her for at least a year, but not that he is a homosexual. In 2019, Eli hints at wanting a to have a threesome with Jade and Taylor after he gets in the hot tub with them while naked. After Taylor reprimands Eli, he suggests to Taylor to have a threesome with Jade. After Jade overhears the conversation and also wants to have a threesome, they have sex in the shower. After Eli orgasms first, he leaves Jade and Taylor to continue, but after they don't come down from the bedroom for long, he goes up to investigate. After finding them lying there with Taylor looking deeply into Jade's eyes, he gets furious after thinking Taylor is getting real romantic feelings for Jade.
3	"I Killed Everyone He Did, But Backwards and in High Heels"	Unknown	Unknown	August 29, 2019 (2019-08-29)

Production

Development

On September 24, 2018, it was announced that CBS All Access had given the production a straight-to-series order. The series was created by Marc Cherry who was also expected to executive produce alongside Brian Grazer, Francie Calfo, Michael Hanel, and Mindy Schultheis. Production companies involved with the series were slated to consist of Imagine Entertainment and CBS Television Studios. On December 10, 2018, it was reported that the series would receive $8.4 million dollars in tax credits from the state of California.

Cherry stated at the 2019 Television Critics Association that there will be “three deaths at the end of the series, and they will all be committed by women. But it’s not necessarily the three women on this stage. The victims are not necessarily the men on this stage, and interesting enough, not one person will be killed because of infidelity. Infidelity is just the starting point for these journeys of self‑discovery.”

Casting

In February 2019, it was announced that Ginnifer Goodwin and Lucy Liu had been cast in starring roles. On February 27, 2019, it was reported that Reid Scott had joined the cast. On March 4, 2019, it was announced that Sam Jaeger had joined the cast. On March 7, 2019, it was announced that Alexandra Daddario had joined the cast. On March 11, 2019, Kirby Howell-Baptiste had been cast. On March 19, 2019, Sadie Calvano joined cast as a series regular. On April 5, 2019, Katie Finneran has been cast in a recurring role. On April 17, 2019, Adam Ferrara joined the cast in a recurring capacity. On August 7, 2019, Li Jun Li was cast in a recurring role.

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 68% based on 19 reviews, with an average rating of 7.75/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Though Why Women Kill falls short of its ambitious premise, fans of Marc Cherry and his impressive cast will find much to like it its darkly soapy and stylish delights." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

While the aesthetic of the series received praise, critics found that Why Women Kill lacked in character development. Robyn Bahr of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "We're supposed to marvel at the changing roles of women over time, but it's hard to get there, intellectually, when none of the three leads feels like a semblance of a real person. Instead, Why Women Kill comes off as an ungainly fantasy of women's emotional lives, where the threat of infidelity could be the only fuel of marital unhappiness." Vulture reviewer Angelica Jade Bastién agreed with the focus on aesthetics more than plot, stating, "Why Women Kill is akin to an overly complicated craft cocktail, boasting an intriguing brightness, namely in the form of Goodwin’s performance, but lacking balance in its competing flavors. It’s full of baffling tonal and narrative decisions that undermine what does work about the show — a handful of the performances, the over-the-top, nearly camp production design, the costuming — and undercuts its dramatic potential with broad, nearly slapstick humor that distances us from the characters rather than illuminating who they are."

External links

• Why Women Kill at IMDb