Scarpetta

Adapted from the series of novels by Patricia Cornwell, Scarpetta stars Nicole Kidman as the titular Chief Medical Officer Kay Scarpetta, who returns to her old position in Virginia after a prolonged absence. The discovery of a woman’s bound and mutilated body on railway tracks is eerily reminiscent of her first-ever case in the 90s, which causes her to question if the wrong person was arrested. While the premise of an interconnected murder mystery fronted by Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis sounds promising, the result is far less enticing. Scarpetta is a soup of undercooked plotlines and ideas that doesn’t manage to come together.

This series’s biggest draw is the talent it has on board. Alongside Kidman and Curtis (who plays Kay’s eccentric sister, Dot), the series also boasts showrunner Liz Sarnoff (Lost), director David Gordon Green, and a scene-stealing turn from Rosy McEwen (Black Mirror) as Kay’s younger self. Kidman and Curtis are fantastic together, with their lively chemistry being a main source of the show’s comedic elements. However, the leads’ electric sibling rivalry isn’t enough to salvage the muddled script.

The episodes spend their time jumping back-and-forth between the two time-periods, following each investigation alongside Kay’s turbulent family life. In the past, she teams up with detective Pete Marino (Jacob Lumet Cannavale) and FBI agent Benton Wesley (Hunter Parrish) to solve a series of gruesome murders while she’s left looking after her 11-year-old niece, Lucy (Savannah Lumar). Years later, Kay and Marino (Bobby Cannavale) are back on the case while a now-grown-up Lucy (Ariana DeBose) is coping with the loss of her wife (Janet Montgomery) by talking to an AI version of her. If it sounds like a lot, it’s because it is. The show struggles to make sense of its numerous ideas as it haphazardly switches between melodramatic family drama, murder mystery, and tech thriller. The investigation side doesn’t fare much better either. While both cases offer intriguing foundations, they each drag on without much in the way of suspense or surprises.

Between its dual timelines and oversaturation of subplots, Scarpetta often feels like it’s made of multiple scripts that have been stitched together. Even with a cast that does a commendable job with the material they were given, this series falls flat in almost every regard.