| Worth seeing: | for John Slattery's sleazy charmer rather than the dreamy young professor who steal's his wife's attention, just when he needs her support |
| Featuring: | Rachel Weisz, Ellen Robertson, Jessica Henwick, John Slattery, Kayli Carter, Leo Woodall, Matt Walsh, Matthew Trueman, Miriam Silverman |
| Key crew: | Francesca Gregorini, Josephine Bornebusch, Robert Pulcini, Shari Springer Berman, Chris Pavoni, Colette Burson, Jeanie Bergen, Julia May Jonas, Matthew Capodicasa, Susan Soon He Stanton |
| Channel: | Netflix |
| Length: | 28 minutes |
| Episodes: | 8 |
| Broadcast date: | 5th March 2026 |
| Country: | US |
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Our unnamed protagonist – let’s call her M (Rachel Weisz) – is an English professor, in an open marriage with fellow professor John (John Slattery).
He’s facing a tribunal after several ex-students accused him of sleeping with them – consensually, yes, but it still doesn’t look good for the university.
Outside the classroom, she’s struggling with writer’s block – she can only live off her reputation from her first novel for so long.
When a fresh-faced new professor, Vladimir (Leo Woodall), arrives in the department with his fellow teacher wife Cynthia (Jessica Henwick), M can’t keep her eyes – or her mind – off him. She feels rejuvenated – but why would such a perfect man – with such a perfect wife – even look at her?
She starts day-dreaming about the things she might do with him and strikes up what to outsiders seems like a good working relationship with her new colleague.
But as she becomes more obsessed with Vladimir, she starts to lose a grip of her own professional career and things she’s done in the past come back to haunt her in a way that could have even greater consequences than John’s extra-marital dalliances with his students.
WHAT’S IT LIKE?
For a film about highly intellectual people, the main characters tend to do and say a lot of stupid things.
As is often the case, the most interesting characters – the ones with depth and empathy – are in supporting roles, with M and John’s lawyer daughter Sid (Ellen Robertson) being one of the few people on screen with whom you’d actually want to spend any time.
Watching her anguish deepen episode by episode isn’t as upsetting as they seem to think it should be – not least because M is never as likeable as she needs to be. Talking to the camera detracts from the drama, rather than drawing us in – and her daydreams are never subtle enough to catch the audience unawares. And while the eponymous Vladimir is the target – even victim – of her unspoken desires, he comes across as rather wet and for most of the time, he’s either mind-boggling naive or just enjoying the attention – quite possibly both.
There are too many times where characters do things that simply don’t feel coherent – or they set up a big moment but let it fizzle out, rather than explode with a bang. Throughout the story, the wronged parties always seem a little non-plussed and forgiving, deflating any potential drama.
Even the big academic scandal that runs through series is presented as adults making consensual adult decisions and perhaps regretting it after the event – and when the heat turns from John to M, she behaves illogically and erratically – even in the terms of the narrative that’s built around her and her insecurities.
John Slattery’s sleazy but charming tour-de-force is one of the biggest draws of the series and you can see how some of his students might have been drawn to him – and it’s a notably rare instance of rather than pushing the post-MeToo power imbalance narrative that the faculty is running with, the producers of this show seem to be more about adults taking personal responsibility for their actions.
It does seem a bit odd, though, that his hearing happens to coincide with a brief period when his lawyer daughter is out of work, so that she can represent him – like he couldn’t find another lawyer?
What is sold as a series about obsession ends up being more about a struggling author trying to get over her writers’ block, which while not uninteresting, doesn’t have the same emotional draw and perhaps belongs in a different show altogether.
It’s entertaining enough, but never as engaging or believable as it should be.