Last Updated on January 9, 2026
Plot: Set in the sweltering heat of Atlanta, Anna lives in haunting reclusivity, fading away from her friends and career as a news anchor. But when she overhears about a murder in Dahlonega – the sleepy town where she grew up – Anna is snapped back to life, pouncing on the case and searching for answers. Detective Jack Harper is strangely suspicious of her involvement, chasing her into the crosshairs of his own investigation. There are two sides to every story: his and hers, which means someone is always lying.
Review: As the synopsis implies, His & Hers is about the very different sides to a story. When that story involves a brutal murder in a small town where the residents have long-standing histories with each other, the theories and accusations that fly can be damning for everyone involved. Based on the best-selling novel, His & Hers is a limited series that faithfully adapts Alice Feeney’s book while shifting the setting from a British village to the suburban outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia. With Jon Bernthal and Tessa Thompson in the lead, His & Hers is a sexy thriller that has more twists, red herrings, and misdirections in just six episodes than some series contain across multiple seasons. As crazy as this story is, His & Hers is a really entertaining watch.
It becomes apparent right from the outset that His & Hers will not follow the more traditional formula we have seen in other series. While thriller and mystery stories like Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, and The Woman in Cabin 10 have been structured around a major plot twist, His & Hers drops these constantly, with a handful coming within the first episode alone. The story follows Anna (Tessa Thompson), a news anchor who dropped off the radar after the death of her daughter, who happens to have direct knowledge regarding the murder of Rachel Hopkins (Jamie Tisdale). Detective Jack Harper (Jon Bernthal) is called in to investigate, along with his new partner, Priya (Sunita Mani), and they quickly clash with Anna. It is soon revealed that not only do Jack and Anna know each other intimately, but they also both have potential motives in the death of Rachel. Whether Jack or Anna committed the crime is teased through the series, but there is so much more going on in this show.
Like any whodunit, there is a cast of suspects ranging from Rachel’s cuckolded husband Clyde Duffie (Chris Bauer) to the severe headmistress at the local private school, Helen Wang (Poppy Liu), who also happened to be a member of a clique that Anna and Rachel were a part of as teenagers. There is Anna’s rival news anchor, Lexie (Rebecca Rittenhouse), and her husband, Richard (Pablo Schrieber), who is also Anna’s new cameraman as she returns to work as a reporter. If you recognize these actors, you also know they are all really attractive people, which is where His & Hers amps up the sexiness with all sorts of explicit happenings peppered through each chapter. His & Hers is not going to qualify as an erotic thriller, but there is certainly no lack of sexual energy pervading every inch. Add in additional characters like Jack’s unreliable sister, Zoe (Marin Ireland), and Anna’s mother, Alice (Crystal Fox), who is suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease, and you have countless angles and combinations of motive and opportunity that could have resulted in Rachel’s death, along with other bodies that begin to pile up.
By shifting the setting to Atlanta, His & Hers exudes a summer feeling perfect for warming up the January doldrums. The pervasive sound of cicadas and the glimmer of sweat during the outdoor scenes is palpable. It also helps that Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal have fantastic chemistry on screen. Each episode pulls the pair together before separating them as each investigates the central crime on their own, before inevitably running back into each other. In most stories like this, there are cops chasing criminals, but the blurred lines between guilty and innocent parties make it easier to distrust everyone and suspect everyone. Through that, both Anna and Jack are difficult to trust or believe in, as we see what they are guilty of. But, even knowing the truth as viewers, it is so easy to watch Thompson and Bernthal on screen. Tessa Thompson, who evoked a similar sultry nature in Hedda, slinks across the screen like a femme fatale. Bernthal, who affects a light Southern drawl, loses some of the gruffness in his signature roles as Frank Castle and Shane Walsh here but maintains an everyman approachability that feels violated by some of the actions Jack takes in the story. However, even when we know something is wrong, it is still fun to watch.
Created by William Oldroyd along with showrunner Dee Johnson, His & Hers stays very close to Alice Feeney’s novel in how the twists are revealed all the way through to the big shocker at the end. Oldroyd is best known for directing the films Lady Macbeth and the Anne Hathaway thriller Eileen, both of which were similarly intoxicating to watch as this series. Dee Johnson’s resume includes work on shows like ER, Melrose Place, and Southland, providing her with a solid foundation in both soapy melodrama and procedural series, both of which are key to making His & Hers work on multiple levels. William Oldroyd directed three episodes of the six-episode series, with the other chapters helmed by Anja Marquardt (The Girlfriend Experience). Oldroyd also wrote three episodes with Dee Johnson, while Tori Sampson and Bill Dubuque wrote the rest. The shorter length of the series never feels protracted or stunted, as it is just the right amount of time to stay faithful to Feeney’s novel. The development of the characters is perfectly paced to keep you guessing through all six episodes, but I am sure no one will see the ending coming.
A perfect series to watch in the depths of winter, His & Hers has all of the trappings of a guilty pleasure binge but delivered in a high-quality production. This is a very well-acted, written, and directed series, made stronger by the casting of Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal, who are perfectly suited opposite one another. Chemistry is a word thrown around often, but these two talented actors embody the word when they share the screen in His & Hers. Both Thompson and Bernthal are amazing to watch when they are apart, but when Anna and Jack share the screen, the show takes on another level. His & Hers may divide audiences by the time they reach the end of the finale, but even if you don’t buy the twist, I am sure you will be talking about it. His & Hers is exactly the type of quality we need more of, as it joins shows like The Beast in Me and movies like Wake Up, Dead Man as fun ways to talk about brutal killings.
His & Hers premieres on January 8th on Netflix.
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Source:
JoBlo.com
