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Viewers who have grown exhausted by TV’s endless supply of interchangeable, mediocre domestic thrillers might be tempted to skip Little Disasters. Premiering Dec. 11 on Paramount+, the miniseries doesn’t just echo Big Little Lies and Little Fires Everywhere in its title; it’s also based on a novel by Sarah Vaughan, who wrote Anatomy of a Scandal, the book Lies creator David E. Kelley adapted into a forgettable Netflix drama. Similarly to Lies, Fires, Apples Never Fall (another bestseller turned streaming hit from Lies author Liane Moriarty), The Undoing (also Kelley), and most recently All Her Fault, it mines the horrors of heterosexual marriage and particularly motherhood. Titled “The Perfect Mother,” the premiere opens with an eerily idealized family tableau, foreboding voiceover narration, and a soundtrack of ethereal female humming. Haven’t we seen—and been mildly entertained but slightly underwhelmed by—all this before?
Yet against all odds, Little Disasters is a pretty good show. Yes, most of its plot and themes could have been coughed up by an AI trained on the past decade’s worth of domestic thriller television. And its biggest twist seems highly unlikely. But for the most part, the six-part series’ economical storytelling, richly developed characters, and relatively understated performances prove that smart execution can refresh even the stalest subgenre.
Like All Her Fault, the show almost immediately immerses us in a parental nightmare. The episode’s eponymous “perfect mother,” Jess (Diane Kruger), an American homemaker in London, rushes her wailing baby to the hospital—where, in an awkward coincidence, little Betsy is examined by Jess’ estranged friend, Liz (prolific British actor Jo Joyner), a pediatrician. While Jess seems to believe her daughter has “some sort of virus,” Liz discovers a skull fracture that suggests “significant physical force,” admits the 10-month-old to the ICU, and, as holes in Jess’ story…
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