Review of ‘DTF St. Louis’: Jason Bateman, David Harbour, and Linda Cardellini’s love triangle sizzles, then fizzles

“No one is normal. That’s what it looks like across the street.”

You’ll hear that phrase a few times throughout DTF St. Louisdark comedy miniseries from HBO with creator Steven Conrad (Patriot). The show explores the interwoven lives of three friends, diving beneath their seemingly ordinary exteriors to reveal the desires and dreams they hope will banish them from middle age. Along the way, there’s dating, murder, and an infamous hookup app called DTF St. Louis.

With these features, DTF St. Louis it seems to be a common thing across the street. But in a depressing twist on the show’s oft-repeated mantra, the closer you get, the more annoyingly normal it becomes.

What DTF St. Louis about?

Like many HBO hit dramas, incl Big Little Lies again The White Lotus, DTF St. Louis’ the first episode reveals that there was a massacre. The victim? ASL interpreter Floyd Smernitch (David Harbour).

In the months leading up to his death, we learn that Floyd became close friends with his co-worker, local weatherman Clark Forrest (Jason Bateman). As the couple bond during workouts and runs and hard parties, they joke about their sexless marriages now. Enter DTF St. Louis, an app for married people who want to “spice it up” as Clark puts it. He pushes the app on Floyd, and a few weeks later, Floyd is dead.

The above plays out in different ways DTF St. Louis‘the first episode. Time flies, leaving awkward gaps in Floyd and Clark’s relationship. These spaces serve less as a testament to the passage of time and more as a show that hides its most delicious later development.

Those events come into play as Detective Donoghue Homer (Richard Jenkins) and Special Crimes Officer Jodie Plumb (Joy Sunday) begin their investigation. Their biggest discovery? That Clark was having an affair with Floyd’s wife, Carol Love-Smernitch (Linda Cardellini).

DTF St. Louis‘ The love triangle is interesting, but underdeveloped.

Jason Bateman in “DTF St. Louis.”
Credit: Tina Rowden / HBO

As Homer and Plumb learn, Clark and Carol will act out their sexual dreams with each other, either trying out new positions or role-playing as a sexbot and his new owner. Each is a way for them to find what they are missing in their home life: Clark gives up control, while Carol begins to take it.

The sex scenes are mildly funny, with Bateman and Cardelini fully committing to their characters’ desires and their seeming belief that living up to these dreams will fix their midlife problems. (A particularly telling tale? He plays Clark’s role as a pool boy in his 20s.)

As Clark and Carol’s story continues, DTF St. Louis he begins to lionize Floyd, highlighting his compassion and understanding relationship with his son Richard (Arlan Ruf). It’s as if the show forgets that he, too, is actively trying to cheat, demoting him to a good bear in death. Clark and Carol are in danger of falling flat, turning into nothing more than a succession of blithe idiocy and cold delusion.

Bateman, Harbor, and Cardellini are terrific, though. Bateman’s usual dry humor is perfectly suited to Clark’s scumminess, and Harbor is wonderfully warm. I wish Cardellini would get more (he might in the last three episodes). Meanwhile, Carol alternates between Clark’s view of her as his fantasy woman and Floyd’s view of her as asexual. Somehow, Cardelini finds a middle ground that helps Carol to feel like her own person, but in the process of the love triangle, Carol remains the most unknown of all points.

DTF St. Louis‘the building is angry.

Linda Cardellini in “DTF St. Louis.”
Credit: Tina Rowden / HBO

To be honest, a lot of that is done by design. DTF St. Louis wants to keep viewers in the dark about its central investigation throughout its run. Unfortunately, that means dragging out the mystery, especially when it comes to Homer and Plumb’s investigation.

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Although Jenkins and Sunday make a fun old guard duo, what they find rarely reveals something hidden that isn’t fully explained. The flashbacks themselves are inspired by Clark’s investigation, which he does for himself – and the audience! – there is no good in being silent at the wrong time. Are you trying your best to look guilty, Clark, though DTF St. Louis just withholding details so it can justify its kill hook for a few more episodes?

In addition to engaging viewers, DTF St. Louis he doesn’t seem to trust them either. The show repeats the testimony many times. Worse, it repeats key dialogue almost word for word in two separate episodes, to the point where I felt like I was dreaming.

It’s a shame, because DTF St. Louis is full of genuinely funny moments, from a suspicious encounter to a whispered conversation in the Outback Steakhouse urinals about using DTF St. Louis. High loss behavior! I wish DTF St. Louis it leans heavily on that angle, but ultimately, its weird, anachronistic mystical approach succeeds.

DTF St. Louis begins March 1 at 9 pm ET.