Hunting Wives (Netflix) 

By: Rachel Brodeur

Texas glamor, seduction and society are on full display in the Netflix thriller Hunting Wives. Not since the days of the primetime drama Dallas did Texas wealth and crime take such center stage. Series lead Brittany Snow (Pitch Perfect) plays Boston liberal Sophie O’Neil, who finds herself moved to Texas following her husband’s job. Beautiful and blonde, she grabs the attention of the neighborhood despite her fish-out-of-water awkwardness as she navigates conservative suburban values and all-female boar hunting trips.

Malin Akerman (Watchmen) is enchanting as the queen bee who pushes Sophie with a brand of peer pressure reminiscent of the iconic Regina George of Mean Girls (2004). There is an immediate awareness of a pecking order, and a tacit understanding that the worst enemy is one that poses as a friend. However, there is more to Hunting Wives than the politics behind the perfect hair and downhome grit of what it takes to be a Texas woman. The first episode teases an unknown female being chased in the woods, and the introduction sequence features a body. While watching scenes charged with sexual overtones, between both women and men and women and women, the audience is waiting for the sinister shoe to drop. 

I had initially written off Hunting Wives as vapid oversexualized lazy writing, however, for audiences that stick with it, the story has a way of being seductive. Based on the 2021 novel of the same title by May Cobb, Hunting Wives has unexpected twists and turns and the second half of the series is stronger than the first. Additionally, the seasoned cast made up of veterans like Chrissy Metz (This is Us) and Dermot Mulroney (My Best Friend’s Wedding) all deliver emotional performances. Characters are layered on paper, but in practice, the plot relies on poor decisions and weak details rather than tight storytelling. Regardless of several characters making a series of bad decisions, the wild debauchery and sexual escapades are bigger in Texas and this series is certainly fun to watch.  

Rachel’s Rating: 6/10

Netflix’s Hunting Wives offers a thrilling story of murder that ultimately proves more compelling than its glossy surface suggests. Messy choices drive the narrative, but that very recklessness is what keeps the show entertaining.