The Hunting Wives

Akerman’s performance makes the case that hypocrisy can be liberating. Like Snow’s wide-eyed Sophie, you’ll have trouble resisting her charms.

Even if you cringe a bit at its crassness (as I did), you kind of have to admire it (as I also do) for always doing the most. Wife-show junkies, meet your new addiction.

The Hunting Wives consistently prioritizes steamy scenes over sensible plotting or nuanced characters, juicy twists over deep emotions or big ideas. It might all be incredibly frustrating, if it were not also so wildly entertaining.

It's completely out-there and a lot of fun.

This is less Big Little Lies and more Desperate Housewives, so The Hunting Wives offers nothing but escapism. Like the compulsively readable source material, it’s easy to get lost in the show and just as easy to put it out of your mind once it’s done. Sometimes that’s all TV needs to be.

The Hunting Wives is a show you know is going to be ridiculous going in, and it doesn’t try to hide its sexy, at times campy personality under the sheen of a prestige drama. Such brazenness is pretty refreshing these days.

The characters are types, but the actors fill them out well, and the dynamic between Margo and Sophie really is … dynamic. Margo is intriguing because she’s hard to figure. .... But with only three episodes out of eight seen, it’s impossible to say where it’s all going — unless you’ve read the book, I suppose, but even then, you never know.

A tale of red state-blue state culture clash, a premise that remains its most interesting element even after a dead body disrupts the proceedings. From that point on, the plot takes the reins for an addictive binge that nonetheless loses something by pivoting away from a compelling hook.

An eminently watchable beach read-y affair that makes up for its lack of originality with bold, brash red-state attitude.

It’s unabashedly entertaining, a fast-paced televisual equivalent of a beach read that may well end up being just as ephemeral by the time the final credits roll. But the ride is sure going to be fun.