‘Why Women Kill’ showcases the funny side of women’s dark impulses

Gender-based violence is finally getting the attention it deserves and the movement is gaining global momentum with hashtags such as #MenAreTrash creating a heated social media rift.

One side of the spectrum says the statement is unfair and paints all men as predators, while the other side maintains it’s accurate, and that those men taking issue with the hashtag should keep their egos in check.

A female friend of mine who happened to be raised only by her dad and his brothers, and was the only female in the house, says the statement should be #SomeMenAreTrash.

I mean, I know that women also treat men badly and even kill them.

Alicia Coppola and Ginnifer Goodwin in ‘Why Women Kill’. Picture: CBS

From America’s Gwen Hendricks, who claimed she started hearing voices saying “kill your husband, kill your husband”, to South Africa’s Daisy de Melker, a trained nurse who poisoned two husbands with strychnine for their life insurance and then also her only son – women are not guiltless.

And yet, having myself been raised only by women, I still cannot decide where I fall in the spectrum. So, when I heard that the new CBS All Access series, Why Women Kill, was available for streaming, I started watching in the hope of finding answers.

While the deliciously dark and comedic show sheds little light on the current hashtag debate, it is nevertheless highly entertaining.

Created by Marc Cherry, who is best known for his other hugely successful series Desperate Housewives and Devious Maids, the show features the acting talents of Lucy Liu, Ginnifer Goodwin and Kirby Howell-Baptiste as three wives living in the same house in different decades.

The series begins in 1963 with charming homemaker Beth-Ann (played by Goodwin), who discovers her husband is having an affair. It switches to 1984 and flamboyant and wealthy socialite Simone (Liu) who discovers her husband has been having affairs with men.

Lucy Liu and Jack Davenport in ‘Why Women Kill’. Picture: CBS

Finally, in 2019, we meet the high-powered, bisexual lawyer Taylor (Howell-Baptiste) who is in a perfect open marriage … until a lesbian lover shakes the fruit tree.

As the show’s creative team make use of delightfully brilliant transitions to switch between the decades and scenes, you feel the tension build and wonder if the next episode will lead to the murder of a spouse.

Although Why Women Kill is by no means a historically profound exercise in feminism, or the vicious nature of women pushed to the brink, the show is tightly scripted, acted and filmed with sets and costumes that transports viewers between the hues, music, fashion and flavours of the ‘60s, ‘90s and ‘20s.

This very entertaining series, which premiered on August 15, is well worth a watch. I find it’s a much-needed distraction from the hashtag tension.

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