Television series

Love & Death

Name: Love & Death
Genre: Drama, Crime
Released: 2023
Cast: Elizabeth Olsen, Jesse Plemons, Patrick Fugit, Lily Rabe, Krysten Ritter

A five-episode HBO limited series about Candy Montgomery, the Texas housewife who murdered her lover's wife with an axe in 1980. Elizabeth Olsen delivers a mesmerizing performance as a woman whose desperation to feel alive leads to catastrophic violence. It's less true crime spectacle than character study—intimate, uncomfortable, and fixated on the specific ache of suburban entrapment that can warp a person beyond recognition.

TVMaze rating

3.3

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Killing Eve2018

Like Candy, it's obsessed with the psychology of a woman who does the unthinkable. Villanelle's charisma and complexity mirror Candy's contradictions—charming, intelligent, utterly capable of horror. The show's dark wit and tense cat-and-mouse dynamic are hypnotic.

But The violence is occasionally gratuitous rather than purposeful, and the later seasons lose focus as they lean into thriller tropes instead of character excavation.

The Act2019

Gypsy Rose Blanchard's story, like Candy's, examines how desperation and delusion can metastasize into violence. Excellent performances from Joey King and Patricia Arquette reveal the slow-motion psychological collapse beneath a fractured facade.

But It relies heavily on shock value in its final act, and some viewers find the exploitation of real suffering off-putting rather than illuminating.

Ozark2017

Marty and Wendy Byrde's descent parallels Candy's arc—ordinary people pushed by circumstance and their own hunger into moral compromise. Laura Linney's performance captures that same mix of competence and unraveling desperation that makes Olsen's Candy so compelling.

But Five seasons is a significant commitment, and many feel the show outstays its welcome. The pacing drags in stretches, and some plot threads feel contrived.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Love & Death

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Freaky Friday2003

Both are unflinching examinations of how a woman's internal collapse becomes external devastation. They share a refusal to make the protagonist sympathetic or monstrous—only real.

A shocking French film about a woman's psychological unraveling and the violence it unleashes on her family. Like Candy, it refuses to sanitize female rage or offer easy judgment. Filmmaker Christophe Honoré presents cruelty with surgical precision and no sentimentality.

But It's deeply uncomfortable and offers no redemption or explanation. The violence toward children is depicted, not described. If you need a film to ultimately comfort you or make sense, this will feel punishing rather than cathartic.

Carol2015

A forbidden romance set in the 1950s told with precise emotional restraint. Like Candy, it's about desire between women in an era when society demands suffocation. The cinematography and Todd Haynes' direction create unbearable tension from longing alone.

But The pace is glacial—this is a film that trusts silence. If you want plot momentum or overt drama, this will feel static and frustrating.

Memories of Murder2003

A masterwork about investigation and obsession set in 1980s Korea. Like Love & Death, it's preoccupied with how power, gender, and institutional failure collide. The filmmaking is audacious and the moral ambiguity lingers long after it ends.

But It's in Korean with subtitles, and the ending deliberately refuses resolution. The ambiguity some find profound, others find maddening.

The Summer I Turned Pretty2022

A counterintuitive recommendation: it captures that specific texture of female desire and self-discovery in a confined, rule-bound world. Less dark than Candy, but the same obsession with how women navigate agency within narrow boundaries.

But It's fundamentally a romance, which means it resolves conflicts Candy refuses to. If you want psychological density, you'll find teen-drama melodrama instead.

Heavenly Creatures1994

Peter Jackson's film about two teenage girls whose obsessive friendship spirals into violence. It shares Candy's interest in how intimacy and delusion can weaponize ordinary people. The aesthetic is hypnotic and unsettling in equal measure.

But The stylization occasionally overwhelms the horror. Some find it too theatrical; others think that's exactly the point and tire of the debate.

Sharp Objects2018

Like Candy, it's a limited series about trauma, secrets, and the ways women internalize violence. Amy Adams is magnetic, and Jean-Marc Vallée's direction creates dread from beneath the surface. The small-town claustrophobia is suffocating.

But It's eight episodes instead of five, and the back half feels padded. Some of the twists seem designed for shock rather than inevitability, which undercuts the psychological realism.

Scenes from a Marriage2021

Bergman's examination of marriage, adapted by Hagai Levi for HBO with Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain. It shares Candy's interest in how relationships become prisons. The performances are raw and the writing devastatingly precise about longing and resentment.

But It's a five-episode slow burn about emotional dissolution. There's no plot to speak of—only conversation and the accumulation of tiny betrayals. That's the point, but it can feel static if you're not tuned in.

The King of Comedy1982

Both examine how ordinary people construct false versions of themselves to survive environments that demand conformity, and what happens when that construction cracks. Both are about performance and the violence underneath.

Scorsese's acid portrait of obsession and delusion in Reagan-era America. Robert De Niro's Rupert Pupkin embodies the same suburban ache and performative desperation as Candy, channeled into comedy rather than domesticity. It's funny and horrifying in equal measure.

But The comedy is cringe and alienating. Some find De Niro's character too repellent to watch for 109 minutes, and the satire can feel dated or too broad depending on your mood.

Wife Swap2004

Both are about women weaponizing intelligence and patience against the institutions designed to contain them. Both refuse to treat their protagonists as victims, even when sympathetic. Both explore how marriage can become a battleground.

A Korean drama about a woman in an arranged marriage who methodically poisons her husband. It shares Candy's fascination with female agency expressed through violence, but filtered through K-drama aesthetics. Park Hae-joon and Kang Dong-won are extraordinary.

But It's a slow-burn revenge fantasy rather than grounded reality. The stylization and melodrama are intentional, which means if you prefer realism, it will feel like heightened fantasy instead.