His & Hers season 1 review: Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal bring the heat in dangerous Netflix thriller

His & Hers is out now for you and me and, from the start, it’s a cut above the usual Harlan Coben drivel that Netflix likes to peddle every January.

Based on Alice Feeney’s deliciously dark, twisty novel, this similarly dark, twisty show throws Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal together in a heated game of cat and mouse. Heated because of the swampy setting and also because the pair share dangerously good chemistry.

The first episode begins with the brutal murder of an anonymous woman. It’s an unfortunate trope that kicks off far too many thrillers of this kind, but the ensuing plot is better than you might expect from the setup.

A year after she abandoned her life in the wake of personal trauma, former news anchor Anna Andrews (Tessa Thompson) returns to her home town of Dahlonega to investigate the case and revitalise her career. Anna’s ageing mother Alice (Crystal Fox) is delighted to see her return, but ex-hubby Jack Harper (Jon Bernthal)? Not so much.

The first episode teases out the true nature of their relationship and what drove them apart, dropping hints without spelling everything out all at once. That should be the norm, but sadly I find this refreshing at a time when Netflix originals go out of their way to explain everything for people half-watching while on their phone.

Nice visuals also come in the form of Bernthal’s muscular torso which unnecessarily appears more than once

Those who are paying attention, however, will quickly pick up on the fact that Jack’s connection to the victim, Rachel Hopkins (Jamie Tisdale), is a concerning one. And Jack knows it too, using his sway as a detective to cover his tracks and throw everyone else off the scent. Anna isn’t buying it though, and fellow detective Priya Patel (Sunita Mani) also begins to suspect something might be amiss. But are they on the right track?

As the humidity thickens and bodies pile up, His & Hers grows more and more claustrophobic for the characters and audience alike. There’s a constant pressure that’s compounded by the clock ticking throughout, as well as fraught racial politics that bubble up as the six episodes progress.   

Director William Oldroyd (Lady Macbeth, Eileen) shoots small town Atlanta with an eye for its seedy underbelly, further elevating the look of this show in ways that habitual Netflix thriller watchers might not be used to. Nice visuals also come in the form of Bernthal’s muscular torso which unnecessarily appears more than once. That’s not all that intrigues though. 

A murder mystery is only as good as its list of suspects and it turns out Dahlonega is full of larger-than-life characters you’ll want to spend more time with. From Mani’s detective and a sassy doctor to Jack’s tricky sister Zoe (Marin Ireland) and Rachel’s husband Clyde (Chris Bauer), His & Hers parades endless oddballs who occasionally animate this dark town with touches of levity.

His & Hers isn’t exactly operating at HBO levels of prestige, no matter how much the cast might impress

Yet there’s always a sense of not knowing who you should trust, and that includes the show itself, which deliberately misleads at every turn. Even the two protagonists come under suspicion as we learn more of their true connection to each other and the victims. 

Thompson is as effortless as always, bringing her steely will and a knowing smirk to Anna. The same goes for Bernthal who imbues Jack with that nervy, high-strung anger he does so well. It’s worth noting that his detective here is less toxic and rage-filled than some of his other signature roles, even if Jack does wield his masculinity as a tool, or even a weapon, when it suits.

Shout out to the casting department who seemingly travelled back in time to find Kristen Maxwell, the actress who plays a pitch-perfect younger Thompson. 

Still, His & Hers isn’t exactly operating at HBO levels of prestige, no matter how much the cast might impress, and there’s a sense that Thompson and Bernthal, especially, are a little too good for the material. There’s nothing here you haven’t seen before, including periodic flashbacks that hint at darker secrets still lurking, yet to come to light. 

As you’d expect, the flashbacks become more and more relevant to what’s going on in the present day, feeding into each twist until some real doozies hit in the last two episodes. And that’s what we’re here for, right? Why else would you be watching this if not for the twists (and torsos)?

Things get pretty wild, I won’t lie to you, but even at its most absurd, the show pulls you back in thanks to the cast who just about make it all seem believable. The writing does push those limits, however, and there are a couple of twists near the end that might prove divisive. 

Just remember that “there are at least two sides to every story,” as Anna puts it early on. And pay close attention to these voiceovers, as clunky as they might seem at first, because “someone is always lying” – and it might not be the person you think.

Should you watch His & Hers?

Combine a prestige cast with beach-read twists and you’ve got yourself a decent enough thriller to warm you up this January. You could do a lot worse on Netflix, *cough Harlan Coben cough*, so cosy on up with Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal if you’re looking for something a little dangerous to watch.