Alias Grace Netflix Series Review

Alias Grace (2017)
Mini-series - 6 episodes (2017)

Watch Alias Grace on Netflix
Written by: Sarah Polley
Directed by: Mary Harron
Starring:  Sarah Gadon, Paul Gross, Edward Holcroft, Anna Paquin
Rated: TV-MA

Plot
Based on a true story and on the Margaret Atwood novel by the same name, a doctor researches the 1843 case where Grace Marks (Sarah Gadon) was convicted, with a stablehand, of murdering Nancy Montgomery (Anna Paquin) and Thomas Kinnear (Paul Gross). Nancy was Thomas's housekeeper and lover who became jealous of Grace and fired her before being murdered.

Verdict
This is a twisting mystery that got better with each episode, though the ending is a bit bewildering. It lends itself to multiple interpretations, but even that could have been set up better as ultimately we have to accept what the series shows us at face value. Grace tells us a story and we don't know if it's true or not. Is she manipulating the characters and us? We don't know if she is lying.
The performances are great. Grace is well acted by Sarah Gadon, and she's an engrossing character as we follow her tribulations. You feel bad for her, but then you wonder why can't she remember her crimes. The finale offers a big twist.
Watch it.

Review
Throughout the series we're just hearing what Grace tells the doctor. We don't know what she does remembers and what's true. The series doesn't play this up as much as I thought it would. There are plenty of memories Grace just doesn't remember due to her treatment in the asylum.

 

While she's accused of a murder she doesn't remember, the asylum was a punishment worth than prison.  It's torture, from isolation to shock therapy. A doctor comes in to finally get the truth, but she's cold and distant. You can't blame her with what she's been through.
The second episode goes back to when Grace first arrived to America. I wasn't sure why this provided so much back story. We didn't get to the household where the murders occur until episode three, but the reason for the history is made clear in the final episode.

 

She becomes a servant to Thomas Kinnear who has a relationship with his head maid, Nancy. I appreciate the series conveys a lot without spoon feeding us. It's clear Nancy doesn't like Grace, and I assumed it was insecurity that Thomas may fancy his newer servant. As Grace recounts this story, that is favorable for her, the doctor interviewing her begins falling for her. Is he getting manipulated? Does he just like a pretty girl?

While this was well made and enjoyable, by episode three I was ready for something to happen. It just seemed like the back story could have been shortened. There's plenty of foreshadowing and tension as Nancy becomes a stone hearted unlikable character. It's easy to see she was going to get killed in a story like this, but the show does a good job of making us feel a little bit of sympathy for her.

Grace accepts what happened and she's endure more than her share of punishment for a crime the doctor believes she may not have committed. As Grace says, people want to blame somebody.

The last episode is a trip, and it gets creepy with a hypnosis. A character from the first couple of episodes shows up posing as a doctor and you think he's going to take Grace away. He hypnotizes Grace. The answer for why she couldn't remember the crimes was a big surprise, but the show did set it up. At the same time, you think the whole exercise could be a farce as part of an escape. The problem is the show confirms nothing. It doesn't even hint at other possibilities which means we have to take it at face value.
I've read people arguing it was all a ruse, but there's not a single scene that confirms that. We get the setup that it could be a ruse, but the relationship Grace starts after her release doesn't support the ruse. If the character posing as a doctor was part of the ruse, why didn't she run away with him?
On one hand you can argue Grace is innocent, but it's a wild story to believe even if the show did set it up in each episode. She even admits she may have lied to the doctor. While the end seems happy, Grace is in a relationship she never wanted, still trapped to a certain degree, by circumstances. If she did lie, why would she subject herself to that? Where ever she goes, she's that person. My take is that she took the only relationship offered, because even if her conviction was overturned people still would doubt her. She may have overturned her sentence, but she switched it out for another one.