Love & Death

"A perfectly paced series, so so good! Bonus points for the ‘70s soundtrack. And as we’re all saying, superior to Hulu’s Candy."

"Finally finished watching Love & Death (L&D), and while this version was interesting in several respects, I preferred the other version of this story (“Candy” on HULU) over this version — Mostly because: ▪️I liked the darker, creepier “feel” & the twisty, disturbing background music of HULU’s version, and I preferred the portrayals of Candy Montgomery & Betty Gore by the two actresses who played them (and also the actors who played their husbands, especially Pablo Shreiber, but I did like Jesse Plemons here; Patrick Fugit, not so much in this role, he fell flat for me). ▪️But I especially liked Jessica Biel’s Candy because she seemed more “campy” with her big glasses & short, curly hair-do, and I liked her “hammy” southern twang (Texas accent)… and her hammy “Bible Beater” perfectionist personality, plus she seemed more like a devious, little vixen than Elizabeth Olson’s Candy Montgomery 🤷‍♀️▪️And Jessica Biel’s Candy was constantly trying to establish her alibi reminding folks every chance she could get (😜🤣) that she lost all track of time while shopping at Target & didn’t leave in time to pick up her kids from Sunday school because the battery in her wrist watch had supposedly stopped (I liked that detail… it made her seem more culpable or guilty, her trying to exculpate herself). ▪️AND I also thought Melanie Linskey played a more “pitiful, sad housewife” than her counterpart (Lily Rabe) in L&D. ▪️Don’t get me wrong, I like Olsen & Rabe and they played their roles well, but I preferred the more exaggerated roles of these characters in CANDY. ▪️I also enjoyed getting to see the two real-life husbands of Biel & Linskey (Justin Timberlake & Jason Ritter) play bit parts in CANDY. ▪️I also preferred the look of the 1970s set design in CANDY. ▪️And I liked that CANDY was only 5 episodes, whereas L&D was 7 episodes. ▪️Okay, that’s my 2¢ 😉 Feel free to share your opinions if you got one!? 😁"

"Wow! Such a great show which details the case perfectly. Better than the first show of Candy in Hulu. Both good but this one is amazing! I get to really see the people and what they experienced during that time. #candy #drama #suburbs #romance "

"This show gives a good glimpse into family life in #70s. Great story combined with wonderful #courtroom banter. Above all it’s all true 🙌 #truestory "

"This was a David e Kelley adaptation with good 70’s music throughout. All the cast do a very good job with their parts. I saw the candy version on Hulu. I think I would give this one a slight nod."

"New HBO mini docudrama about the Candy Montgomery case tells its perspective on this crazy story about love adultery and murder. I must admit after just watching Hulu’s “Candy” literally a little less then a year ago it’s very hard not to compare the two. They are telling the same story but choose to paint it a little different. I think it’s a possibility it might be better then Candy the Hulu version. But it’s only 3 episodes out with 7 in total so I can’t really pick it apart just yet. Hulu’s version was only 5 episodes so it does have room to paint the story a little deeper. Elizabeth Olsen portrays Candy just as good as Jessica Biel did. Some might even say HBO boast a slightly better cast. I guess I will have to check back weekly as they release."

"I thought this was quiet good. I really enjoyed Elizabeth Olsen and her performance. I also really liked the tone of the show. Quite enjoyable I may say. "

"This is going to be a long review. Please check out the comments for the rest of my review. Most people have liked Love & Death more than Candy, as did I. But that doesn't mean one is better than the other, just different. The things that people said they liked about Candy are the exact reasons I liked it less. It was definitely more campy and portrayed both Candy and Betty in mostly unfavorable lights. Betty was whiny and irritating and had basically no backbone. Candy was more stuck up and seemed duplicitous and uncaring/unfeeling in a different way than she actually was, based on the book and articles about the crime. Some people liked that more. Perhaps it felt more soap opera-y. I felt that liberties were taken in adding things that DIDN'T happen and making the actual victim and perpetrator both caricatures of who they really were. I didn't appreciate that because you leave feeling like it was less about telling the actual story and more about creating a ficticious account that would be more appealing to viewers. As I said in my other two reviews, I first watched the CBS made-for-tv movie made in 1990, with Barbara Hershey, and I loved it. After watching the Hulu and MAX shows, I decided to rewatch the 1990 movie. There were a few differences that mostly seemed to do with how much you can fit into 90 minutes versus five 50-ish minute episodes and seven 50-minutes to an hour episodes. The biggest difference was that Betty wasn't even on screen until the last 10 minutes or so of the movie and mostly just concentrated on Candy. The show Candy gave a lot less time to the hypnotism part, and I felt that took away from the overall story. After rewatching A Killing in a Small Town, I still came away loving Barbara's version of Candy but I realized how much more I got from Love & Death being able to give all the necessary time to the other people's lives. "

"Edited: I recently finished. I liked this series far better over "Candy" on Hulu." I also preferred how this followed the sequential order of events, whereas "Candy" did not. The music too is a plus in this. I sure would like to see the 1990 movie based on this same true story (has Barbara Hershey, Brian Dennehy, and Hal Holbrook in it). I also hear the book is pretty good. [Reminded me a tad bit of the true story as shown in the 2014 movie, "Lizzie Borden Took an Ax."]"

"First of all, my girl is killing it! Elizabeth Olsen acting is so amazing. I literally only started watching cuz of her, I had no idea what’s this about. And so far I loving this show but my thing is that I don’t like it when the media humanize the killer. I don’t want to feel bad for her. She’s a liar, a cheater, a killer and a monster. "