New Netflix thriller His & Hers is, in many ways, perfect January television. When frost descends and the evenings feel interminable, you want something pulpy, twisty and instantly moreish and binegable, something that goes down easily with the heating on full. This six-parter largely delivers on that promise, at least on the surface, serving up a glossy, high-concept whodunit that’s designed to pull you through episode after episode.
The hook is a good one. A young woman is found brutally stabbed on the hood of a car in the middle of a Georgia forest. The case falls to Jack Harper (John Bernthal), the embodiment of the small-town cop: he knows everyone, bends rules instinctively, and conducts his investigations as much through personal relationships as police procedure. That closeness soon becomes a problem, not least because Jack had sex with the victim shortly before her death at the location of her murder.
Complicating matters further is the return to her hometown of Anna Andrews (Tessa Thompson), an Atlanta-based TV news reporter who also happens to be Jack’s ex-wife. Anna fled town after the death of their baby, and their reunion is understandably icy. From the opening moments – where Anna is shown watching Jack and the victim together from the shadows – it’s clear she’s not just a journalist circling a story, but a potential suspect herself.
Initially, His & Hers seems poised to become something deliciously venomous: a dual investigation in which former partners and lovers suspect each other, a kind of War of the Roses filtered through a whodunit. But the series never fully commits to that idea. Instead, it circles its premise without really detonating it. Which, to me, was a shame.
Instead, it settles into far more generic territory, with flashbacks showing Anna and the victims forming a teenage friendship group.
This is one of those shows that feels like it should explode into greatness, and you’re not really sure why. The ingredients are all there – a strong cast, a bestselling novel, a lurid central mystery – but somehow it never quite takes off. The characters don’t fully connect, the plot edges just far enough into the ludicrous to strain credibility, and the Georgian setting never acquires a strong sense of place.
That said, the flashbacks charting Jack and Anna’s relationship – and its slow collapse after the trauma of losing their baby – are genuinely moving, adding emotional weight and texture. And a central theme of motherhood and protection is the fuel to this fire. His & Hers may not fulfil all its potential, but it remains compulsive, wintry viewing: flawed, frustrating, and still oddly hard to stop watching.
Paul Hirons
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
His & Hers is broadcast in the UK on Netflix