Warning! Spoilers for Hulu’s Candy below.
The story so far: It did not take long for the police to suspect that Candy Montgomery (Jessica Biel) was behind the killing of Betty Gore (Melanie Lynskey). They seem to have everything they need to put the overlooked housewife behind bars. Realizing the trouble she is in, Candy retains a lawyer. But can self-defense explain away 41 blows with an ax?
Candy has not had the smoothest run. After an interesting start, the next three episodes seemed to be struggling for ideas. There was a little bit of a character study involving the main character and the penultimate installment digs into the crime, but overall, it seemed to lack direction. The finale was a chance to tie it all together. The actual trial is the focus of “The Fight” with a bulk of it being Candy’s explanation. It does not work for a number of reasons, with the most glaring being the lack of tension.
Any suspense about what direction Candy’s defense is going was revealed at the end of episode four. This is not a big problem – how she is going to justify the extreme violence in the attack is much more interesting. Strangely, the self-defense argument is made out to be one of the big reveals. Making it less impactful is one of the catalysts for the attack is just introduced in this episode. Even then, it is only for a few seconds.
While there is a long scene involving Candy’s version of what happened, it does not have the impact it should. It is hard to tell what the show is going for. Is it portraying Candy’s story as the actual truth? Or is she lying about the whole thing? Since Betty has not been properly developed, what Candy says may be true, but the past two episodes have also shown her seemingly covering up what she did.
In the end, it just becomes a reason to show a gory killing. Whether the viewer believes or not becomes irrelevant to what they are actually seeing. This is underscored by the ending in which the decision is announced and the show just sort of ends. It seems like lives were merely inconvenienced instead of changed. One character even literally says, “That’s it?!?”
There is another big reveal in “The Fight” that actually does come out of nowhere, but it also seems like a wasted opportunity. It is another chance to play with truth and belief, but the show goes nowhere with it. This is especially disappointing since it seems to have the biggest effect on her life. The show also seemed unsure as to how to handle Allan Gore (Pablo Schreiber).
By the time the series ends, audiences will be left wondering what the point of it all was. The crime is interesting enough, but very little time is spent on it. Any characters that could have added life to the story are underdeveloped and even Candy only has a few moments where she stands out. There is enough to keep people watching until its surprising end, but not enough to make it memorable.
Candy airs on Hulu May 9 – May 13
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