Based on a True Story

After reading all the negative reviews here, I threw my own negative review away and started over. I'm going to call this a campy murder romp instead.

I was expecting more from Exec Prod Jason Bateman after Ozark. And while this COULD've been done more darkly like Ozark, I see now that they were playing the social media fame obsession AND murder story only for laughs and gags. Does it work? Kinda. Maybe. The jokes and dialogue could be smarter. The use of dream sequences gets a little overworked.

Cuoco and Messina play two desperate and bumbling fame-seekers who do some completely implausible things in an effort to chase notoriety but only get deeper into trouble. It's kind of a send-up of the whole social media true crime phenomenon, but it's not an obvious satire. It works if you go into it with the idea that you, the viewer, are smarter than all of the characters on the screen. They're going to prove you right in every scene.

Yes, it's obviously implausible that anyone would do any of the things that happen here. Or is it? Social media has shown that not everyone is as smart as us.

I like Cuoco and Messina but not their characters. I just want them to call the cops and end the shenanigans. And the Matt character is a bit over the top, but if you look at it like a send-up, it helps.

Don't be taken by surprise when S-1 just kind of ends without resolution. That's how it goes.

I wanted to uprate it to a 9 or 10, but the subject was so kind of horrible, I felt like because of everything that is so excellent about it, I had to compromise. It is a classic guilty pleasure for sure! I am not one who thinks murder and especially psychopathic serial killers should be, in any way, celebrated. This show is very well done. The cast is beyond fantastic. It made me laugh more than I like to admit. It is a thrill ride from the second episode until the final episode, which was a major cliffhanger, making us want more. But in today's violent society? I have to admit, be aware that to a certain extent, Based on a True Story has a very psychopathic edge to it.

I suppose there are different ways to look at this show. It is so edgy and humorous and off the wall, it is hard to take it seriously. I am not a prude or a judgy person, but in retrospect, I am a little embarrassed to recommend this to my friends. Obviously, I have very mixed feelings about this show because of the subject matter. That being said, I watched it to the end like eating potato chips. I will leave it as a guilty pleasure and feel guilty that I really, really want to see another season. Just be aware, this show is not for the faint of heart! And I want a second season because I am hoping there will be some sort of closure of the subject matter to those who have experienced severe losses of innocents murdered, and will see real justice win! It is a great thrill ride, includes a lot of humor, but with some very nasty people and issues involved! JMHO.

To be honest, I wasn't all that excited for this series, but I gave the show a chance and it was decent. Now that the second season is over, I still think this show is decent.

Positives for Based on a True Story (2023-): I think the setup of this series is pretty good and it was interesting for the most part. Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina as Ava and Nathan are pretty good in the show and they have some fun banter between themselves and other characters. There are some cool and unique kills with a decent amount of gore to them in the show. The whodunnit aspect of the series was fun and I was intrigue with where the mysteries were going. And finally, this is one of those series that I wouldn't mind seeing more seasons of it.

Negatives for Based on a True Story (2023-): There are a number of things that annoyed in the series. First off, you have Tom Bateman as Matt Pierce and while he is certainly doing a good job with his character the way he was intended to be, there are moments where he got on my nerves and I wanted to kick his ass. There are also a number of dream sequences in this series that I hated and they do it too many times. And finally, some of the answers to these mysteries didn't sit well with me.

Overall, I had a decent time with Based on a True Story (2023-) and while I didn't fully love it, I wouldn't hate seeing more seasons from this show.

Enjoyed it. Was better than I expected. However...

There was no finale. It just... ends. There are ten different plot threads all left wide open. I thought there were two episodes left to wrap up the season, instead it was over.

This wasn't a split season. It's not even renewed yet. Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with a show ending on a cliffhanger. I expect it. But every episode ends with one, and every previous episode had a better one than the "finale".

A season needs to finish with a sense of completion somewhere, not just roll straight into the next one. Severance did this as well. After the last episode I thought, "man, the season finale is going to be fierce!"

Instead, it's just... show over. Hope you still remember the characters and storylines a year and a half from now, because there won't be any resolution until then. That is, assuming the show survives the writers strike.

Overall, enjoyed the show. I'm not much of a binger, but my wife and I finished it in a couple of days. If my entire review is complaining it ended too soon, I suppose I'd recommend it.

Here's the thing... It's a fun and funny show. The leads all carry their parts well, especially Kaley Cuoco. (It's a different character than the one she did in Flight Attendant, but the energy is very much the same, which is a good thing.)

My issue with the series is that there was no resolution. They set everything up for a season 2, but all of the storylines of this first season are unresolved. There are so many shows that know how to do this much better. In this day-and-age of remarkable TV writing (and again, this show had some great writing), it's inexcusable to me to not land the ending. It doesn't need to be a 10/10, but at least give us a 7/10, a B-, a 73% tomato, or whatever you want to call it. Even "The Boys", this same creator's other big series, wraps up the storylines each season while also setting up new ones for the next season, so they should have some vague idea as to HOW to do this. It's just annoying to watch the entire season, get invested in the show and it's characters, and then have absolutely no significant ending to anything. Makes it feel like I wasted my time.

Not sure if I'd give a 2nd season a try, based on how cheated I feel.