[SXSW ‘22] ‘The Girl from Plainville’ review: Episodic premiere of tragic true crime

A sensitive beginning.

March 14, 2022

The Girl from Plainville, a Hulu original series coming out at the end of this month, sets out to tell the tragic tale of Michelle Carter and Conrad Roy III. In 2017, Michelle Carter was convicted of manslaughter for the 2014 suicide of her boyfriend, Conrad Roy III. After meeting on a Florida vacation, the two had a relationship that was mostly via text over two years. Both of the teenagers were deeply troubled, facing serious mental health issues and both, despite well-meaning families and privilege, did not receive the help they truly needed in time.

With true crime, especially dramatic re-enactments of true crimes, viewers always need to ask themselves what the purpose of the show is, or why they’re watching it. Why was it made? Will it only bring more pain to the families? Are we watching because it’s a scandalous case, hard to believe? Is the viewer leering, gawking? Where’s the line between entertainment and profiting off someone else’s pain? I don’t have the answers to these questions, but they are questions worth asking when considering the merits of true crime.

My personal interest in this particular true crime is simple – it’s local to me. I used to live one town over from Plainville, Massachusetts, and I remember this case. When HBO’s two-part documentary I Love You, Now Die came out in 2019, I was intrigued by it. It’s my personal opinion that Michelle has often been treated unfairly by the media; she was made out to be an unfeeling villain. I think that it’s really just not that simple.

The Girl From Plainville, named for an Esquire article of the same name, attempts to go more in depth into what both Conrad and Michelle may have been thinking than previous recounting of the story. The show also focuses on Conrad’s parents, Lynn and Conrad Roy II (Chloe Sevigny and Norbert Leo Butz). Chloe Sevigny is excellent as the bereft and tired middle class mother, divorced and exhausted.

Elle Fanning plays Michelle, who at 17, is erratic and moody. The Girl from Plainville also shows her to be clearly attention-seeking. Her parents had no idea that she and Conrad were dating, a point driven home a few times in the premiere episode. Michelle had never met Conrad’s family, until his funeral.

She describes her relationship with Conrad as being one of “star-crossed lovers” to her admiring younger sister Hayden (Callie Brook McClincy). She watches Glee to recreate the monologue Rachel Berry gives when her boyfriend dies. It’s an eerie moment, and it becomes clear here that The Girl from Plainville will not be interested in portraying Michelle Carter as just a sympathetic character.

The Girl from Plainville also shows us the procedural side of the case. Kelly AuCoin plays detective Scott Gordon, who becomes focused on finding out what happened to Conrad and what role Michelle may have played. He pores over Michelle and Conrad’s text history and the videos Conrad posted, trying to figure out their relationship. He’s also got the worst Boston accent seen in the show thus far – and of course, some quips about the Red Sox were thrown in.

While this first episode of The Girl from Plainville may make Michelle Carter out to be an attention (and sympathy) seeking teen, there is much more to this case. Elle Fanning is capable of showing the nuance that Michelle Carter deserves, and I’m interested to see how her character develops throughout the series. From this sensitive and multi-faceted premiere, it’s my hope that this Hulu series will show how Conrad Roy’s death was a tragic failure on many levels.