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- Netflix
- Dec 31, 2021
- Netflix
- Dec 31, 2021
Summary Secrets from the past threatens the lives of Megan (Cush Jumbo), a working mother of three; photographer Ray (Richard Armitage); Detective Broome (James Nesbitt); and Megan's friend Lorraine (Sarah Parish) in this adaptation of Harlan Coben's novel of the same name.
- Netflix
- Dec 31, 2021
- Netflix
- Dec 31, 2021
Summary Secrets from the past threatens the lives of Megan (Cush Jumbo), a working mother of three; photographer Ray (Richard Armitage); Detective Broome (James Nesbitt); and Megan's friend Lorraine (Sarah Parish) in this adaptation of Harlan Coben's novel of the same name.
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Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
51
14% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
71% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
14% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
51
14% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
71% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
14% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Stay Close benefits from fine performances and a story that gives just enough clues in the first episode to keep viewers intrigued and — more importantly — not frustrated with purposely obtuse writing.
It is, I must admit, quite entertaining. If you can swallow the clichés and the cheesy, conspicuous score, you might actually end up caring what happens to Megan. And whether Izzard perks up enough to get any lines.
Stay Close promises more of almost exactly the same – including Richard Armitage, who is now seedy photographer Ray and, by the end of the opening episode, about to become firmly tied into the main plot.
“Stay Close” builds its puzzle slowly, through subliminal editing of past violence and through the silences in what the characters don’t say to each other — empty spaces that invite us to imagine what happened to these people all those years ago.
Nesbitt can’t decide whether to take this seriously or not. ... If you’re after a mindless bingeathon – and there’s no shame in that, after the year we’ve just had – then watch away. Just don’t expect it to make any sense.
The characters feel more like plot devices than people who could really exist, with Stay Close seeing them go through the motions to gradually reveal the secret behind a paint-by-numbers mystery story. The whole thing ends with an obligatory twist, which to be fair I didn’t see coming, but it’s hardly worth the eight hours of tedium it takes to get there.
There is some sense of satisfaction to be derived from the last two episodes as it clunkily solves its many mysteries, even if it’s of a self-congratulatory nature for making it that far into the series. But it takes a laborious path to get there, and by the time the gift is fully unwrapped, in a lengthy, exposition-heavy confession, the surprise is, if not anticlimactic, then just plain silly.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 9 User Ratings
5.2
44% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
22% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
33% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 9 User Ratings
5.2
44% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
22% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
33% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
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