All Her Fault Mini-series Review

All Her Fault (2025)

Mini-series - 8 episodes
Rent All Her Fault on Amazon Video (paid link) // Buy the book (paid link) 
Created by: Megan Gallagher
Starring: Sarah Snook, Dakota Fanning, Michael Peña, Jake Lacy, Sophia Lillis, Jay Ellis, Daniel Monks, Abby Elliot
Rated: TV-MA
Watch the trailer

Plot
Marissa and Peter Irvine enter every parent's worst nightmare when their young son, Milo, is kidnapped after a play date with a boy at his new school.

Verdict
This show is riveting from the first to final scene. Every episode ends on a cliffhanger, forcing you to watch the next, not that you'd want to stop. A child is missing. Each episode adds more clues and questions, casting doubt on characters. Finding the child isn't the end, that's just the beginning of explaining why this happened. This show has more twists, turns, and loops than a roller coaster. On top of that is the subtext of how mothers are the default parent and fathers are allowed to do nothing or are praised for doing the bare minimum.
Watch It.

Review
In the very first scene Marissa (Sarah Snook) arrives to pick up her son Milo from a play date, and he's not there. It's not even the right house. She tries calling the parent, and the number is disconnected. She calls another parent to no avail. Marissa is starting to panic as she can't find her kid. Jenny's (Dakota Fanning) nanny Carrie (Sophia Lillis) impersonated Jenny to set up the play date and took Milo.

E1: Sarah Snook plays Marissa Irving

Jenny feels guilty that her nanny took Milo, but the nanny duped everyone. Jenny and Marissa first met at a school event, finding common ground over their husband's weaponized incompetence. The husbands claim how "amazing" their wives are to coerce them into doing all the parenting. Towards the end of the episode Marissa's husband Peter (Jake Lacy) blames Marissa for not checking the phone number first, then apologizes and calls her "amazing," a nod to the earlier scene where Marissa states how Peter does nothing other than playtime and praises her as amazing for doing all the parenting. It's a great first episode.

This parallel's Marissa and Jenny's experiences handling all the work of parenting. When Marissa cared for newborn Milo, she asked for help from Peter who got to sleep through the night. His response is to tell him what she needs. It's a way to look like you want to help without helping. With Jenny and her husband, he expects her to do everything. The husbands put all the labor on the mom, and then blame them if they miss something. Fathers have a much lower standard. Jenny's husband grills her in front of Detective Alcaras (Michael Peña ) on Carrie's fraudulent references despite she called them directly. The detective asks him if he noticed anything and the husband admits he didn't call any references. That's not "his thing." Parents are blaming Jenny for hiring the nanny when it isn't her fault.

E1: Sarah Snook, Dakota Fanning play Marissa Irving, Jenny Kaminski

There's misdirection with Peter that seems incriminating but later revealed not to be. It also turns out Marissa's nanny Ana knew Carrie despite claiming she didn't. Later Peter gets a call and obtains a large amount of money. 

This is such a good show; a gripping drama about how devastating the media can be and how much blame mother's share for everything.

Alcaras finds a lead and wants to release the photo of the suspect to the public. Marissa is concerned that will make the kidnappers desperate. He tells her they don't have any other leads. I like that this shows Alcaras's home life. He's a very involved father due to his son's needs. I don't like that he's faced with a moral decision. I understand this doesn't want to make him a white knight, but the show has enough drama already. His situation does further underscore the difficulties of being a parent.

E6: Jay Ellis, Daniel Monks, Abby Elliot play Colin Dobbs, Brian Irvine, Lia Irvine

Marissa grows suspicious of her siblings in law Lia (Abby Elliot) and Brian (Daniel Monks), as well as her best friend Brian (Jay Ellis). They tell her a story that proves false when she checks into it. There are scenes that show they might have been negligent and potentially responsible, but with this show I guessed it was misdirection.

Peter keeps looking worse. Brian accuses him of being controlling, and Peter pivots to how much he cares about his siblings and had to take care of them because their parents didn't. It seems Peter likes control over his siblings, which is why he pays their expenses. It's easy not to like Peter as he's so self righteous. Episode five provides a big reveal about Peter's past and family dynamic. His excuse is that he, "didn't lie, [he] just never corrected" it. He has the gall to call his lies which produced tremendous guilt for others a gift. Even Marissa can't stand being around Peter.

Episode six is a shock that generates so many questions about Marissa, Peter, and the kidnapping. Meanwhile Jenny juggles her job and parenting with her husband who is always eager to get out of it. He "likes to do his own thing" which is code for not parenting. He belittles her job, and she then catches him in a big lie. He states he lied to force her to be home so she'd have more time with their son. The other side of that is that it means he gets to spend less time parenting. Throughout the show she's been trying to progress at her job, and he's all but sabotaging her. He's so full of crap.

E8: Jake Lacy plays Peter Irving

While I frequently detest flashback episodes, episode seven is an exception. Flashbacks are usually superfluous, but this one sets up the finale perfectly. Pieces begin to fall into place. Questions throughout this season are answered, though we still question why Carrie took Milo. This leads to a confrontation that confirms all our doubts about Peter were founded. What will Marissa do? She can't just remain silent.

In the final episode Alcaras knows he's missing something in the case, though it seems like it's going to be closed. Peter wants things to return to normal, but Marissa isn't so casual. She definitely doesn't trust Peter anymore. She can't live with him knowing what he's done, but she can't divorce him knowing what he can do. She's also afraid of going to the police. Alcaras finds his missing clue almost by accident, though the show did set it up early.

This show is such a fun ride. The pacing keeps you engrossed as it's never long between a surprise or reveal. While it's easy to shock, this is well written as it sets up grounded circumstances that build characters throughout the episodes. A missing child is such a surreal fear for any parent. Due to that, this draws you in from the start. After that it never relents.