Reality is often more chilling than fiction. Case in point: the story of John Meehan and Debra Newell. Debra, a 50-something interior designer from California, met Meehan, a nurse anaesthesiologist, on a dating site and they hit it off immediately. Meehan seemed to be the man of Debra’s dreams – charming, suave and caring. They got married two months after they met. He made fruit juice for her every morning, warmed water for her daily bath and squeezed paste on her toothbrush—talk about getting spoilt rotten. But her dream soon turned into a nightmare when she realised that her Prince Charming was a stalker and drug addict who had conned and swindled several women.
A hit podcast—Dirty John—was made on Meehan by journalist Christopher Goffard and the Los Angeles Times. On Valentine’s Day, a series based on the podcast was released internationally on Netflix, with Eric Bana and Connie Britton playing Meehan and Newell respectively.
The show starts with a bloody montage, which sets the tone for what is coming. The menacing music, fancy clothes, beautiful locales and great-looking people hint at the dramatisation of truth. But it need not have been stretched because the bare facts of the story of Debra and Meehan are themselves so gripping. Britton delivers a credible performance as the lonely woman in search of love, but it is Bana who steals the show, with his nuanced portrayal of a smooth-talking conman.
Meehan is handsome and intelligent. He knows just what to say, but is a pathological liar. He is sadistic, shady and preys on the vulnerabilities of women. The complex matrix of his personality is potential gold waiting to be mined. It is frustrating to see Debra fall for his wiles when all the signs were there for her to pick up on—the suspicions of her daughters, his insistence on installing cameras in the house and open a safe deposit locker to “keep their valuables”, his anger when she refuses to sleep with him after their first outing…. But the sad truth is that there are too many Debras out there for men like Meehan to con. Love is such a potent force that it is difficult to discern when it turns deadly.
John is as dirty as it gets and Bana who plays Meehan puts up a great act as a conman you want to hate with all your gut.
Debra's every discovery about John from the second half of the season will make you want to reach out to her about the red flags. But as the season reaches the finale, there are moments where things sort of get tied together for Debra. Connie Britton does a great job as a woman falling for an anti-hero. When she is torn between going back to John or listening to her daughter, you can feel her angst. Writer-creator Alexandra Cunningham and director Jeffrey Reiner sure know how to loop you into Debra and John's worlds layered with her mother Arlene, parallel narration of her sister Cindi's story, Debra's daughters Terra and Veronica and John's own past with his father and sister.
The narration that goes back and forth in timelines actually works well for a series based on real crime than make it tough for viewers to navigate. The jumps in fact give you 'ah' moments, especially when it comes to John's arc. The cinematography and background score go well with the tone of the series too. Even though initially you might find Debra's daughter Veronica and Terra played by Julia Garner and Juno Temple to be a tad irritating with their superfluous life of privilege, you realise that their dynamics with their mother, who has been through four marriages, cannot be any different than how it is.
Dirty John is a must-watch for lovers of true crime stories.
Series: Dirty John
Starring: Eric Bana, Connie Britton, Juno Temple and Julia Garner
Directed by: Jeffrey Reiner
Where to watch: Netflix