Dangerous Liaisons

You’ve got a whole chessboard of polyamorous rivalries that play out at breathless pace. Yes, the subtle deeps of Hampton’s work are absent. But six episodes in there’s a sense that this moreish rondo could go on and on.

In short, it is an absolute delight, the rare period series that doesn’t have any grand ambitions of saying anything particularly meaningful about history, mankind, or morality. Instead, it simply encourages its audience to have fun watching a whole bunch of very attractive people concocting elaborate schemes for their own advancement and being generally terrible to one another.

For all that it is about love, sex and the deceits that come with it, this Dangerous Liaisons resists becoming encumbered by any deeper messages about the damage people are willing to do to each other to get ahead. It’s about watching Camille learn the manipulative ropes from a mistress of them and seeing how far she can get on her wits alone.

Ratchets up the sex while dragging out (and out and out) the story.

It’s a passable addition to Starz’s growing monarchy-themed programming. It doesn’t do enough to stand out, and feels mainly superfluous.

The show is fun to look at and, in a welcome update, features an inclusive cast of game and capable performers, with Englert proving to be a resourceful lead. But the tone grows a bit exhausting; the show lacks the control or unified sense of its world of, say, the new “Gossip Girl,” a contemporary series clearly in thrall to the “Liaisons” legacy.

Creator Harriet Warner spins the central characters of the book into a dull, plodding prequel that simultaneously apes the camp appeal of the 1988 film while also stretching it into a dour tale of destiny and conspiracy.