Viewers are hooked on Netflix’s new racy thriller series with mind-blowing twists.
The platform has struck gold again with its newest addition to the murder mystery genre, a seductive thriller that has viewers hooked just days after its premiere.
The streaming giant’s latest offering has quickly climbed the platform’s Top 10 charts, marking another successful entry in Netflix’s growing collection of addictive drama series.
The series has received generally positive reviews from critics, and debuted with an encouraging score of 70% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, which has since improved to 80% as more reviews came in.
Fans are seemingly divided on the show, with one writing: “Talk about a plot twist! I love when I think I have a show figured out and it throws me for a loop.”
Another called it a ‘wild time,’ calling its ‘crazy drama and twists’ just what they ‘needed.’
While a third simply penned: “Mind-blowing. Twists. Texas. 10/10”
But others have noted that the ‘bonkers’ plot is far too ‘vulgar.’
Some viewers went as far as to suggest it should be taken down from the streaming site.
One said: “Vulgar viewing. I couldn’t make it past the first 20 minutes of the first episode.”
As another said: “In those 20 minutes a woman uses paper towels as a maxi pad, and makes eye contact with a young man while he is m**turbating in front of his girlfriend. Gross.”
“‘Entertaining enough but felt mostly like a bad soap opera that leaned heavily into unnecessary, perverted s**ual content,” a third added.
The series follows the story of Sophie O’Neil, played by Brittany Snow, a woman who makes the dramatic transition from Cambridge, Massachusetts to the fictional town of Maple Brook in deep East Texas.
What begins as a simple relocation story quickly transforms into something far more sinister.
Sophie falls into the seductive orbit of an affluent socialite, where a circle of housewives harbors dangerous secrets that ultimately lead to her becoming a prime suspect in the death of a teenage girl.
Sophie trades New England for East Texas and falls into a wealthy socialite’s magnetic orbit — where a clique of housewives hide deadly secrets.
Malin Åkerman portrays Margo Banks, the charismatic leader of an elite socialite group known as the Hunting Wives.
The series is an adaptation of May Cobb’s book series of the same name, with Gotham’s Rebecca Cutter serving as creator.
But despite calls for the show to be removed from the platform, showrunner Rebecca Cutter has defended the concept.
Speaking with the New York Post, she expressed: “It’s so fun, and juicy and s**y. Everyone is behaving so badly.
“I wanted to do an exploration of women behaving badly, unapologetic s**ual conquest running rampant, and just something fun.
“I think there’s a fantasy of freedom or power that maybe we don’t feel so much as middle-aged women.”
The exec added: “‘I just think TV has evolved.
“It’s rare. I also think it’s real. I have single friends [who are] women of a certain age… young men always are interested in them… that is a very real thing.
“And so, I think that that’s cool to show.”
In an interview with Variety, she also gave insight into plans for a potential season two.
“I think we’d do a little bit of a time jump — not a year, but a time,” Cutter explained, outlining her vision for continuing the story.
Cutter has identified the core elements that would drive a second season: “By the end of shooting, I realized that the two engines of the show are the whodunit and the Margo/Sophie relationship, and tracking how those spines intersect with each other.”
When asked about introducing new storylines, Cutter indicated openness to fresh mysteries while keeping the current cast intact.
“I think it would be smart to introduce a new murder mystery. But it’s early stages. “I don’t know whodunit yet or who got done!”
The show’s official description captures its seductive premise: “The Hunting Wives follows a woman as she and her family move from Boston to Texas.
“There, she grows close to a socialite – maybe too close – and becomes consumed by obsession, seduction, and murder.”
The series represents another success story in Netflix’s strategy of adapting popular novels for television.
Watch the trailer for The Hunting Wives below…
