Dirty John

I never knew Amanda Peet actually has the chops for such a role! She was just brilliant - her character's physical and mental decline was just so realistic, I wondered at one point whether they used facial prosthetics or whether the lighting was just horrendous! I think I already knew Christian Slater had it in him tbh... I kinda wish that this story had been a dramatic recreation in its own right, and not tied to the first story of John Meehan (which I also really enjoyed btw - love Briton and Temple). However I understand the theme of gaslighting and/ emotional abuse is popular at the moment, while society comes to grips with all the various ways we might further dissect the patriarchy and it's continuing legacy? Personally, I see Betty as an undiagnosed mental health case... like at one point in the series her friend says "she really needs help" and her lawyer says (and I'm def paraphrasing here) "but she might never change, maybe now she just needs to grow old." I basically saw that scene as how America deals with mental health and particularly that within the justice system. Why bother to even try to rehabilitate when you can just lock them up and forget about em...

Oh yeah and the costumes are great too.

Very good story. I am just learning about the Dirty John story, and I recently watched the new true story that was aired on oxygen network. The story of a womanizing psycho who gets away with swindling not only vulnerable women, but also scammed other people, such as senior citizens and other gullible people. He was never put in prison or jail long enough and it shows how messed up the justice system is. As for this series, I do like it, but some of the casting is questionable. I like Connie Britton as Debra, but I think they could have found a better looking actor to play John Meehan, than Eric Bana. He did ok in playing him, but he just didn't fit his profile. They also made the daughters to seem like more annoying brats than they really were. Those 2 on screen were almost unbearable to watch. The story had to be told though, and Im glad it was. I'm looking forward to finding out how they will manage to squeeze in a season 2.

Such a well filmed series loved it, Amanda was amazing in that role she nailed it, she deserves an Oscar.!!!!

First, anyone giving this miniseries a low rating and calling Connie Britton's character "dumb" or "stupid" has obviously never been in or been close to anyone in an emotionally/physically/psychologically abusive relationship. If they had, they would understand that, unfortunately, situations like this do happen, and much more frequently than would be expected. They also would understand how difficult it can be to extract yourself from abusive relationships, even if the abused realizes how bad the relationship/situation is. While I read the published story, I have not heard the podcast, which is supposed to be fantastic. The tv show is pretty faithful to the published story, although some of the characters (primarily her two daughters) are a little exaggerated for tv purposes. While I, like most viewers, feel frustrated with Connie Britton's character due to her repeated poor choices, I easily can see that she is a very sweet, giving, compassionate person who is naive and too trusting of others due to the way she was raised and her own honesty - she simply can't fathom that anyone could be so malicious and dishonest because it isn't in her character makeup. If you've been "around" in the real world at all, you'll quickly realize that most people highly suspicious of others tend to disbelieve so easily due to their own tendency towards dishonesty and deception, as well as low self esteem.

After saying all of that, we (my husband and I) find this show very entertaining and extremely well done. Both Eric Bana and Connie Britton are excellent in their portrayals of their characters, and I would figuratively "kill" to have Connie's character decorate our house - she has exceptional (decorating) taste!

Something very similar. I'm educated, was working as a teacher, coming out of a 20 year unhappy marriage, very vulnerable. I don't like to use that as an excuse...(the courts called me "victim"). These kinds of men are very skilled at seducing women. Ultimately, when I tried to extricate myself, after months of stalking (I had removed him from my $$), he broke into my house and tried to shoot me with a gun he had stolen. The only reason I'm still alive is the gun jammed. I appreciated this series, and the podcast. People should not blame the victim of such psychopaths. They exist for the soul purpose of seducing and using their targets/victims.