A Deadly American Marriage
★★★
After a long weekend of softball, basketball and general parenting chaos, we needed something completely different—and A Deadly American Marriage happened to be sitting pretty in Netflix's Top 10. We hit play. I braced myself. And like every time I try to pretend I’m above the true crime genre… I got sucked right in.
Now, I wouldn’t say I’m a true crime devotee. In fact, I tend to eye the genre a little suspiciously. There's so much out there now, it all starts to feel like one big, dramatic voiceover blur. But this one? It’s polished, well-structured and knows how to keep you shifting sides just enough to stay invested.
The story centers around the murder of an Irishman at the hands of his father-in-law and second wife, and the heartbreaking fallout for the kids caught in the middle. The whodunit isn’t much of a mystery—what kept us watching was the “why” and whether the justifications held any water.
To its credit, the doc plays like a feature film (likely because it was almost too slim for a full mini-series). But it also left some frustrating gaps—bits of info tossed in at the end that felt like missed opportunities for a deeper dive. Still, it sparked conversation in our house. And maybe a tiny bit of worry about our teenager’s sudden interest in the genre...
Will it stick with me like The Staircase? Probably not. But for a night in, it scratched the itch. Netflix knows exactly how to package this stuff. And yes, even with my true crime skepticism fully activated… I was once again lured into the abyss.
