Serial killers are all the rage right now on Paramount+ with the release of Happy Face, then, this April, the arrival in France of the Sky-produced series, Sweetpea. A show very loosely inspired by the CJ Skuse novel where Ella Purnell (Yellowjackets, Fallout, the voice of Jinx in Arcane) will give in to impulses that have crossed all of us at one time or another.
Because, let's admit it, it's very likely that the majority of us have already imagined, at a moment of great fatigue, impatience or suppressed anger, killing someone. If you find this assumption extreme, let's just say at least wish for the person to disappear. That colleague who walks all over you at the slightest opportunity, that police officer who doesn't take you seriously, that neighbor who damages your car every time he parks next to it...
In short, there are days like that, when the cup is full and we dream of taking action. Fortunately, this same majority of us still has a moral conscience that separates dream from reality, and which prevents us from being the main subject of a Ryan Murphy series. Sweetpea is the fictional embodiment of thispopping lockand much more.
The series begins with the voiceover of Rhiannon's (Purnell) thoughts, listing the people she could kill. The rude cashier, her boss who literally takes her for a coat rack, the ex who ignores her... and, worst of all, Julia, the one who constantly bullied her in middle school and whom fate seems to have rewarded with a perfect life.
Rhiannon's daily life is the opposite of Julia's. No one respects her or even acknowledges her presence. She's a ghost, an object, and only her father and her dog pay attention to her. So, when the latter two disappear at the same time, the young woman cracks and decides to punish those she considers to be harassers.
A serial killer series like no other
What immediately sets Sweetpea apart from the staggering number of shows capitalizing on our penchant for True Crime or serial killers is the emphasis placed on its main character. Rhiannon doesn't have the reptilian coldness that characterizes her counterparts, often male, like the Menendezes, Dahmer, Dexter Morgan, etc. On the contrary, she is a young woman who wears her heart on her sleeve. She yearns for kindness, but humanity has decided to use her as a doormat.
For the first 45 minutes, we follow her daily life, to the point where the story manages to convince us that her future first radical action – which comes quite late – is a logical AND desirable conclusion. We empathize with Rhiannon and murder ultimately becomes the hoped-for solution.
We are captivated by this woman who will find her way while sweating at the thought of having done something wrong. Even in her cruelty, she remains ordinary, to the point of using her job – receptionist at a local newspaper – to investigate her victims and find a good reason for having committed her crime. With her clumsiness and almost childish schemes, Rhiannon is typically the kind of protagonist who has no chance of escaping the police, but we keep hoping she will.
The main victim: subtlety
Like a heroine realizing her potential by singing Katy Perry's "Roar", Sweetpea has no desire to play the tense thriller card with complicated plot devices. On the contrary, the British series possesses precisely that little touch of English humor that distils its second degree around its characters. We appreciate these moments of lightness and absurdity. The series doesn't try to sell us True Crime, and if we were told in the conclusion that all the events were in Rhiannon's head, we would hardly be surprised.
Nevertheless, we don't hide the fact that Sweetpea could have been better measured and that it lets loose more head-on with the black comedy horses. With episodes of around 40 to 45 minutes, we wouldn't have been against a slightly shorter runtime to avoid some hesitant sequences. Especially since the series also prevents itself from fully satisfying the urges of its killer, so much so that we sometimes want to see her shift into second gear in the vent. Not enough to really spoil the fun, however.
An unexpected twist
Because the show has kept an ace up its sleeve by suddenly transforming into a feminist series with a twist that gives it a welcome second wind. As soon as we thought that Sweetpea was going to pull the strings, despite a duration of only 6 episodes, it puts a coin in the machine to the point where the end finally arrives far too quickly.
Sweetpea is like a recreational break that has fun and amuses within a genre where we think we've seen a bit of everything. Which doesn't prevent this lack of ambient seriousness from offering a story, well embodied by a gallery of characters who are sometimes less linear than one might suppose. Like Rhiannon, there are clumsinesses along the way, but we can't help it, we like her and we wish her success. Sweetpea is available on Paramount+.
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