Netflix’s new series, “Obsession,” begins with well-known surgeon and protagonist of the show, William Farrow (Richard Armitage), who was first introduced with his successful operation of separating conjoined twins. His colleagues and family praised him outside of the operation room, and the hospital staff even planned an extravagant celebration to share his successes. William was a commemorated doctor who was admired and respected by his colleagues and patients.
Before the party, William’s son, Jay (Rish Shah), excitedly announced to his family that he had been seriously dating a girl for the past couple of months. As the family pries for the girl’s name, he blurts out “Anna Barton” (Charlotte Murphy). This revelation sets the stage for the forbidden love affair between William and Anna.
Panning out later onto the show, William holds eye contact with a girl amongst the crowd during his party. Their gaze throughout the party continues, and an electric energy pulsates between them. The girl comes towards William, and he realizes that she is Anna Barton.
As the plot thickens, William proceeds to have the “forbidden tango” and has a sexual affair with Anna despite the consequences. He has a lot to lose, knowing that he could break a strong relationship between his wife and his son. However, it was clear that William was willing to do anything for Anna. His obsession with Anna was evident, and it consumed him throughout the show.
It is hard to wrap around the idea of a father having an affair with his son’s girlfriend. William’s actions were reprehensible, and he betrayed the trust of his wife and son. His decision to pursue a relationship with Anna was not only morally wrong but also highlighted his selfishness and lack of empathy toward his family.
Moreover, the show lacked a solidified dialogue and mainly focused on the erotic nature between William and Anna. It was quite apparent that the director was a man, and some of the personal scenes were portrayed as unrealistic and exaggerated. The show also failed to explore the underlying problems in William’s marriage, which would have provided a more in-depth understanding of why he chose to have an affair.
Since the storyline revolved around the forbidden affair and often emphasized their intimate scenes, the show failed to build an emotional connection with the characters. The audience was not able to hold any tangible feelings towards any other characters. As the camera focused on William and Anna, it blurred out the rest of the supporting characters by giving them one to two sentences per episode. The lack of character development and poor writing made it challenging to connect with any of the characters on an emotional level.
While the show slowly burns towards a shocking twist towards the end, it is noted throughout the episodes and becomes almost obvious for the fate of the forbidden lovers. The storyline gave off the impression that it would progress into a bigger plot, but the story felt as if it was cut off too early. Throughout the show, it was noticeable that many recordings were filled with panning shots that held no new understanding or context of the plot. While some of these shots were used to build a sense of atmosphere and mood, the majority of them seemed to drag on unnecessarily. It felt as though the director was trying to pad out the show’s runtime by including these useless scenes, which ultimately ended up detracting from the overall viewing experience. Although there was some action and drama-filled material laid out throughout the show, the show’s quality was not enthralling enough to its audience and was bad enough to not finish half of the episodes.
The show lacked substance, character development and quality writing. Many scenes were hard to watch, and the lack of empathy toward the characters made it difficult to connect with the story.
Verdict: Even children’s shows could portray a better connection between characters compared to this. On a number scale ranking, I would give it a two out of ten.
