M. Wood
Irma (Alison Tolman) has a porch and polygon bay window in a creamy yellow detached villa on the outskirts of Los Angeles, and a low white fence encloses the lawn garden in the forecourt. There is only one tree in the garden. At the turn of spring and summer, the big flower flying swallow grass and blue hydrangea are the protagonists of the flower pond, and the orange, yellow, pink and red moon seasons are a good time of the year.
Irma's home
Irma's neighbor, Mrs. Jost (Randy Reed), is right that it's a boring garden. There are only fresh flowers in the garden, no height, no structure, no lines, no impressionist light and shadow, and no natural pleasure brought by the contrast of leaf shapes and leaf colors.
The overhead camera takes in the garden. Irma's garden was a pond of flowers with several white pebble trims that emerged from the large lawn, almost all of which bloomed below her line of sight. A hundred flowers bloomed, but unfortunately, Irma lacked "elegant taste".
Deadly Woman's Irma character poster
Take, for example, the hybrid tea fragrant moon season that she carries with her to the members of the local noble ladies' gardening club, the new favorite of the moon season that defeated all the ancient moon seasons in one fell swoop at the beginning of the last century, with thick straight branches and high-hearted feet, with fat leaves, stiff plants, and easy to infect diseases (requiring a lot of potions). They are the mainstay of the cut flower market, foreign bodies in gardens, the product of breeders' quick success and overconfidence in pesticides and manpower.
In a word, Irma's garden resembles a municipal park flower bed, only for the lower level of aesthetic needs.
Housewife Irma
Irma, the vet's wife, the fat housewife, works in this garden she is proud of, dreaming of the gardening club made up of local noblewomen, not knowing what others really think of her. It's also possible that she already knew, but refused to admit it. It wasn't until her husband had slipped his lips that she learned of Mrs. Jost's true view of the garden—mediocrity.
The second season of "Why Women Kill" takes place in Los Angeles in 1949. No longer switching between three eras like the first season, the heroine is still three: the ordinary housewife Irma, her daughter Di (B.K. Cannon) who is a waiter, and the rich housewife Rita (Lana Paria), covering the middle class, wages, and upper class of American society at that time.
The screenwriter pays attention to diversity, and the posters show obese men and women, Latino women, African American men, all color and color. No matter how well the costumes and props are restored, the poster betrays the real shooting era. American soap operas of any era of the last century, including the beginning of this century, are unlikely to have this diverse group of people as the protagonists. White people with silly smiles are standard soap opera posters.
Still, the screenwriter has no ambition to get these "minority" and "marginalized" to turn the pages of forgotten books. The color and body shape of the characters do not vary much, even if they change, and diversity is only a means of attracting good feelings (or bad feelings).
Stills from the second season of Femme Fatale
For the old audience of "Desperate Housewives", this season's horse-catching plot has long been common, but it is not exciting enough. The crimes that appeared in the first half of the season, the suburban serial killers who appeared to be harmless, and the new mistakes made to cover up their mistakes, stealing, polyamorous love, and attempted murders, all paved the way for the awakening of women's self-esteem and self-love later.
But none of this is new, and this set of "sins of suburban life" has long been played through. The rhythmic resonance of the calm and detached narration and the dramatic character behavior only evokes a comfortable sense of intimacy, and it is difficult to bring about a breakthrough.
In terms of character shaping, Rita is absolutely like the "desperate housewife" Gabu, and it is said that one of the screenwriters, Gabu's actor Eva Langria, is Rita's shaper. However, due to the fact that the two characters are too similar, Rita lacks the essence of Gabe, which is smart, game-minded, and selfish, and hides the good side, resulting in the character being thin due to the sword-rattling of the town.
Rita
Irma's daughter, Dee, is portrayed as a blonde fat girl in the thin city of Los Angeles, smart and funny, self-respecting and self-loving, only willing to be humble in love, deeply rooted in the belief that obese women do not deserve handsome boyfriends.
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Dee is real, real enough to be like a reliable friend of yours, and your joys and sorrows are all known to you (including the dark side). Do you understand her and would like to stay with her, but what if you make a play with her as the protagonist? After watching for a while, I want to change the stage.
The protagonist of the three heroines, Irma, is still a little richer than the other two. Viewers know she'll be blackened from an inconspicuous housewife, but can't guess how far it will be.
The main characteristic of Irma is not mediocrity, but loneliness. When he was young, he married Bertie (Nick Frost) because he was a "good guy", and he was always worried about the high school fans he had briefly been dating. She and her daughter Di encourage and support each other, but they are not a girlfriend-type mother-daughter relationship.
Beyond that, I don't see anyone else in Irma's social circle. She had no friends, and the tasteful Mrs. Jost next door never invited her into the house or visited her. The wives of the gardening club made fun of her. She had no other dream in her life than to enter that club.
Ladies of the Gardening Club
Given the choice, many Americans are eager to go back in time when the story takes place. Just after World War II, The status of the U.S. superpower was established, and prosperity brought self-confidence. Cheap gasoline prices and the popularity of cars have made the optimistic middle class willing to move to the suburbs and live in wide neighborhoods like Irma's house.
However, something is wrong.
Lonely Irma, living on an empty street.
Lonely, Di, who works in a restaurant and lives with her parents, apparently failed to pursue higher education, and her figure makes it difficult for her to maintain her parents' middle-class status through marriage.
Lonely Rita, although surrounded by beautiful friends, still from time to time someone will jump out to remind her: you are just a "gold digger" from the US-Mexico border, married to a rich old man to get rid of poverty. Rita is again a teetering woman in her own class, with the daughter of a wealthy husband threatening to strip her of her inheritance, and she is even more walking on thin ice.
Irma, who is preparing to report her serial killer husband, also turned back for fear of not being able to join the gardening club (a symbol of class jump), and is determined to remove all obstacles that might prevent her from entering the Garden of Paradise.
Irma's husband
Loneliness, fear and desire burn the three heroines. In the last season, women killed their husbands for various reasons, at least they had a clear goal of rebellion. In this season, even they don't know who they need to rebel against. It's someone else, or it's yourself.
The plot is weak, the role is not strong enough, and there is no liu yuling-like charismatic actor from the previous season to add notes to the characters, and this season's "Deadly Woman" still has something to watch. Beneath the surface of a beautiful and silky female soap opera is filled with the deepest fear of Americans — class sinking and loneliness ending up.
Little by little, fear penetrates the house, penetrates into the skin, and prompts people to make a move that cannot be turned back. If you continue to shoot like this, you may be able to really touch the hearts of the audience, and you will not forget it after watching it.
Senior Editor of this issue Xing Tan