Susan de Colman has an airy, almost unreal quality, relying on her husband Chris (Thewlis) and saying at one point, “He’s practical, because I’m not.”
So far so good, but as writer Ed Sinclair and director Will Sharpe explained (“The Electric Life of Louis Wain”), “Landscapers” indulges in too many whimsical soarings, including elaborate reconstructions of their testimony catching the audience both in their not entirely convincing explanations as well as in their heads.
Turns out the most effective element of the miniseries comes at the end of each episode, airing news clips that reinforce just how much this bizarre love story sticks to reality, including the fact that Chris and Susan (who, let’s note, continued to profess their innocence) did all they could to convince people that her parents were still alive while spending their money on Hollywood memorabilia.
“Unless one of you tells us, we’ll never know exactly what happened,” the cops advise, stressing the puzzling nature of the crime.
“Landscapers†will air Dec. 6 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO, which, like CNN, is a unit of WarnerMedia.
