When it comes to the all-time best TV pilots, “Alias” would be part of the conversation for its exhilarating twist-packed introduction. A scrappy fight sequence featuring Jennifer Garner with bright red hair as Sydney Bristow pulls you into J.J Abrams’s spy story before cutting to a brunette Sydney during a college exam. There’s no on-screen graphic to signal the order of events, but the crimson hair dying is yet to come. In the 20-plus years since this episode, an in medias res opening has become an expected narrative tool and lost its fresh appeal. So when Apple TV+”s “The Last Thing He Told Me” begins in the middle of a frantic scene showing Garner in full Sydney mode before cutting back to a “Four Days Earlier” title card, it’s impossible not to think of the show that propelled her to stardom. Unfortunately, this new thriller is not nearly as captivating.
Based on the novel by Laura Dave (who also serves as co-creator and writer of the series), “The Last Thing He Told Me” isn’t about covert agents leading a double life. However, Garner’s Hannah does discover that her husband, Owen (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), hasn’t been entirely upfront about many things. Their blissful life on the picturesque waterfront in Sausalito, California, gets interrupted when Owen goes missing, leaving no indication of where he has gone or if he is coming back. A hastily scrawled note telling Hannah “PROTECT HER” is the only thing Owen leaves his wife, the “her” being his 16-year-old daughter Bailey (Angourie Rice). Earlier scenes reveal a tense dynamic between the pair as the teenager barely conceals her disdain toward her stepmother. Both Hannah and Bailey are equally in the dark, but Bailey’s memories from more than a decade ago are crucial to unlocking the many secrets Owen kept from them.
This setup sounds enthralling and fits the types of stories executive producer Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine have made their signature. However, as with the recent Apple TV+ thriller “Surface,” the end product isn’t as good as the sum of its parts. Whereas the Gugu Mbatha-Raw series used an amnesia plot to hold the audience at a distance regarding the flow of information, Owen’s past is a roadblock stopping viewers from knowing what’s going on entirely. Tension, when it rarely happens, comes from teases and revelations. Nevertheless, the purposeful withholding from a character like Grady (Augusto Aguilera), a Federal Air Marshall, comes across as contrived stalling. It also doesn’t help that Owen’s big secret isn’t interesting or innovative.
Despite the frustrating pacing of how this story unfolds, this show isn’t a total washout. Garner and Rice elevate the material at every turn as the teenager goes from combative to opening up to her new stepmom. Hannah is patient with Bailey, and her own experiences growing up without a mother give insight into the choices she makes along the way. Bailey walks the antagonistic adolescent line that makes it hard to sympathize with at times—mainly when she makes impulsive moves—but Rice’s performance keeps audience on her side. “The Last Thing He Told Me” is most compelling during scenes between Hannah and Bailey, focusing on their shared attributes beyond the Owen connection. Other than the central performances, another thing this thriller has going for it is that episodes rarely run over 40 minutes, so at least it isn’t adding material for the sake of it.
Garner is capable of switching between vulnerable and tough, which is one of the reasons why “Alias” was such a brilliant vehicle for her talents. In recent years, she’s carved out a space with strong supporting roles in movies like “Juno” (which deserved an Oscar nomination) and more recently as a charming love interest in the “Party Down” revival. Television is a hotbed of terrific roles for actresses of Garner’s age and talent from “Big Little Lies” to “Mare of Easttown” (also starring Rice), but sadly, “The Last Thing He Told Me” doesn’t come close to those titles. As Hannah, Garner does get to showcase her range after the emotional bomb has exploded. Attempting to keep it together in front of Bailey pushes Hannah to her limits, and she captures the swirling chaos.
Flashbacks dotted throughout the show reveal how Hannah came into Owen’s orbit and the various stages of their romance. Beyond Bailey’s sneering, it has a fairy-tale aura, complete with luxe sweaters, glasses of wine, and playful back-and-forth between the couple. Juxtaposing past and present underscores the gap between what Hannah thought her life with Owen was and the cold reality in the wake of his disappearance. But Coster-Waldau doesn’t get much to do beyond these scenes and is one of several wasted cast members. Aisha Tyler plays Hannah’s supportive best friend, Jules, who is on hand no matter the hour of the day. She is just a call away, but when the action moves to Austin, it means Jules gets relegated to the telephone.
As with other Apple TV+ shows, no expense is spared regarding the locations, and San Francisco lingers on the horizon as a reminder of a show like “Surface.” There is a glossy veneer captured every time a shot of the waterfront is used, and it will leave you looking up boathouse options before the first episode is over. But an enviable aesthetic can only takes a show so far, and the visual magic quickly wears thin. Similarly, there are only so many times one can hear Hannah getting warned that she’s in imminent danger before it starts to ring hollow. Even when foot chases happen, they lack an undercurrent of terror. It’s also hard not to think of “Alias” whenever something mildly covert goes down, whether wearing a hoodie and a cap as a light disguise or making up a convincing fake story to get some information.
Avoiding “Alias” comparisons is difficult when the narrative structure and tactics used by Garner’s character are so similar. It also doesn’t help when Victor Garber turns up, guest starring as a professor with ties to Owen’s past, as he played Garner’s father for five years on that show. It might be due to this connection, but these scenes are some of the strongest in “The Last Thing He Told Me.” Overall, the material can’t match the performances, and the spark during Garner and Garber’s interactions is a reminder that Hannah’s husband isn’t the only thing missing from this series. [C-]