Cleo seeks better life under Shell Gordon but falls into cycle of control.
In summer 1966, Baltimore saw two murders: Tessie Durst (Jewish girl) and Cleo Johnson (Black mother).
Tessie's body found in a lake; Maddie Schwartz joins search party, becomes journalist.
In the summer of 1966 in Baltimore, Maryland, two murders shook the community. The first victim was Tessie Durst, a young Jewish girl who went missing after the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Her body was later discovered in a lake. The second victim was Cleo Johnson, a Black mother whose life took an unexpected turn under the influence of gangster Shell Gordon (Wood Harris). These two tragic stories intertwine as Maddie Schwartz (Natalie Portman), a frustrated Jewish housewife, leaves her husband and teenage son to join the search party for Tessie. Upon finding her body, Maddie uses it as leverage to enter The Baltimore Star newspaper as a journalist. Meanwhile, Cleo's story takes an unfortunate turn when she becomes determined to make a better life for her family by taking on a new role under Shell Gordon.
Maddie's life as a housewife crumbles quickly, and she seeks agency by moving out of the suburbs and into Baltimore's Black neighborhood. Cleo, on the other hand, finds herself trapped in a cycle of control at the hands of men around her. Both women share little screen time but their stories are paralleled in this intriguing adaptation of Laura Lippman's novel
The title of the article is 'Lady in the Lake Series-Premiere Recap'.
Apple TV+ adaptation of Laura Lippman’s novel by the same name.
Cleo Johnson (Moses Ingram) is the main character, who was found dead in a lake and speaks through voice-over.
Two bodies are discovered in the lake - one Black woman and one Jewish woman.
Wallace White (Charlie Hofheimer) is a local anchor who provides commentary during a Thanksgiving parade scene.
Accuracy
Two bodies are discovered in the lake - one Black woman and one Jewish woman.
Deception
(100%)
None Found At Time Of
Publication
Fallacies
(95%)
The author makes several statements in the article that are not fallacies, but there are a few instances of inflammatory rhetoric and an appeal to authority. The author states 'Those are the very words that Cleo Johnson (Moses Ingram) utters in voice-over at the start of the very first episode of Lady in the Lake:
]They say until the lion tells its story, the hunter will always be its hero.
A girl goes missing after the Thanksgiving Day Parade in Baltimore, Maryland.
Maddie Schwartz, a Jewish housewife and mother, leaves her husband and teenage son to join the search party for the missing girl.
Maddie discovers the girl’s body in the lake and uses it as leverage to enter The Baltimore Star newspaper as a journalist.
Cleo Johnson, a young Black mother, takes on a new role under gangster Shell Gordon which leads to her demise.
Accuracy
Cleo Johnson is a young Black mother who takes on a new role under gangster Shell Gordon which leads to her demise.
Deception
(30%)
The article contains selective reporting and editorializing. The author focuses on the negative aspects of Maddie's character while barely mentioning Cleo's storyline or her demise. This creates a biased perspective that misrepresents the complexity of the women's experiences and their motivations. Additionally, the author expresses her opinion about the show being frustrating and regurgitating what is already known, which is editorializing.
The drama works like two detailed tapestries, taped together in the final hour to create a full picture. As the limited series crams in countless details, the audience must examine too much at once, creating a state of delirium rather than the pulsating tone of a nail-biter.
Despite intriguing characters and settings, Lady in the Lake on Apple TV+ is a story about women’s ambition, and what happens when those aspirations are denied. However, Har’el buries the tale in puzzling surrealist moments.
Maddie is exhausting. So obsessed with centering herself and forging her path, she never stops to consider how her presence as a middle-class white woman upends the ecosystem of The Bottom, literally putting its Black residents in harm’s way.
Fallacies
(80%)
The author makes an appeal to authority by mentioning the novel by Laura Lippman and the adaptation for television by Alma Har'el. The author also uses inflammatory rhetoric when describing Maddie as 'insufferable and obnoxious' and 'exhausting'. However, these fallacies do not significantly impact the overall analysis of the article.
]The series fails to sustain any suspenseful tension. Instead, it simply regurgitates what is already known.[
Maddie is exhausting. So obsessed with centering herself and forging her path, she never stops to consider how her presence as a middle-class white woman upends the ecosystem of The Bottom, literally putting its Black residents in harm's way.
Bias
(80%)
The author expresses a clear bias towards the character Maddie being 'insufferable and obnoxious' and 'exhausting'. The author also expresses a negative opinion towards the surrealist moments in the show, stating that they choke the mystery out of the narrative.
Maddie is exhausting. So obsessed with centering herself and forging her path, she never stops to consider how her presence as a middle-class white woman upends the ecosystem of The Bottom, literally putting its Black residents in harm’s way.
The drama works like two detailed tapestries, taped together in the final hour to create a full picture. As the limited series crams in countless details, the audience must examine too much at once, creating a state of delirium rather than the pulsating tone of a nail-biter.
The women initially live parallel lives, but their worlds collide on Thanksgiving Day. Despite intriguing characters and settings, Lady in the Lake never becomes the noir thriller it could have been. Har’el buries the tale in puzzling surrealist moments.
Cleo Johnson, a character in Apple TV Plus’s ‘Lady in the Lake’, is dead and angry.
Her anger isn’t directed towards her murderer or husband. It’s towards Madeline Schwartz (Natalie Portman), a Jewish housewife who becomes a reporter and makes Cleo Johnson’s murder her project.
The series explores the conflict between two women over narrative supremacy in the context of changing relations between Jewish and Black communities, feminist awakenings, racism, fascism, parental abandonment and disgruntled sons.
Created and directed by Alma Har’el, ‘Lady in the Lake’ builds its world patiently with unorthodox narrative strategies.
Milton (Brett Gelman), Milton’s obnoxious and exacting spouse, is excelled by Portman in her portrayal of Maddie.
Ylan Noel brings a wry, clipped, roguish intelligence to Ferdie Platt as the Black detective who becomes Maddie’s love interest.
Jennifer Mogbock’s textured work as Dora Carter saves a somewhat underwritten character. Ingram’s grounded brilliance and restraint in her portrayal of Cleo makes her imminent death increasingly intolerable, drawing attention away from Portman’s moral high ground.
The series premieres July 19 on Apple TV Plus with two episodes and subsequent episodes air weekly.
Accuracy
No Contradictions at Time
Of
Publication
Deception
(50%)
The author makes editorializing statements and uses emotional manipulation by describing Cleo's anger towards Madeline as 'wrath' and 'hostile'. She also uses selective reporting by focusing on the conflict between the two women over narrative supremacy, while ignoring other aspects of the story. The article also contains sensationalism through phrases like 'sumptuously creepy shots featuring fish' and 'extremely surprising dance number'.
That off-kilter setup pits two women against each other who might, in a more conventional production, have been written as allies. Or as stand-alone protagonists.
Cleo's wrath focuses squarely on Madeline Schwartz, nee Morgenstern, a Jewish housewife who abandons a sedate and suburban life in Pikesville with a dull husband and resentful son to pursue her dream of being a reporter – and makes Cleo Johnson’s murder, which most of 1960s America was happy to forget – her pet project.
The real dramatic contest is over narrative supremacy.
Fallacies
(95%)
The author makes several assertions in the article, but none of them contain any obvious fallacies. The author does make some comparisons between characters and situations, but these are not fallacious as they are based on observations made in the article. The author also uses some figurative language and metaphors, but these do not constitute fallacies either. However, there is one instance of an appeal to authority when the author mentions that 'Cleo Johnson’s death' is the central mystery of the series, implying that this is a significant or important fact without providing any evidence or explanation for why it is so. This could be seen as a weak form of appeal to authority and reduces the score slightly.
'They say until the lion tells its story, the hunter will always be the hero,' Cleo says as the camera follows a man rowing a boat and disposing of the body that will be known (until it is identified as Cleo’s) as the Lady in the Lake. It’s easy to miss at first that the ‘hunter’ in Cleo’s proverb refers to the reporter.
Bias
(85%)
The article contains a clear example of ideological bias in the portrayal of the conflict between Madeline Schwartz (a Jewish housewife) and Cleo Johnson (a Black woman). The author, Lili Loofbourow, highlights this conflict as central to the story and presents it in a way that suggests an intentionality to pit these two women against each other. This portrayal could be seen as perpetuating a narrative of competition or tension between Jewish and Black communities. Additionally, the author uses language that depicts Madeline Schwartz as having 'ethically dubious ways' and being 'ambitious', which may reflect a negative view of her character.
Madeline Schwartz...abandons a sedate and suburban life in Pikesville with a dull husband and resentful son to pursue her dream of being a reporter...makes Cleo Johnson’s murder, which most of 1960s America was happy to forget, her pet project.
The author uses language that depicts Madeline Schwartz as having 'ethically dubious ways' and being 'ambitious', which may reflect a negative view of her character.
The off-kilter setup pits two women against each other who might, in a more conventional production, have been written as allies. Or as stand-alone protagonists.
The real dramatic contest is over narrative supremacy.
Lady in the Lake is an Apple TV series based on the 2019 Laura Lippman novel of the same name, inspired by two real-life murders in Baltimore during Lippman's youth.
The story follows Maddie Schwartz, a Jewish housewife who investigates the disappearance of a young girl from her community.
Cleo Johnson is another protagonist in the series; she is framed in the first scene as a perfect representation of a doll, and her life becomes gripped and controlled by men around her.
The two main characters, Maddie and Cleo, share little screen time but their stories are paralleled.
Maddie's life as a housewife crumbles quickly while Cleo's story becomes gripped and controlled by the men around her. Maddie seeks agency by moving out of the suburbs and into a Black Baltimore neighborhood.
The series is at its most interesting when Cleo, played by Moses Ingram, is on screen. Ingram throws her body around in a striking sequence in Episode 3 that showcases her talents.
Director Alma Har'el handles the contrasting of Maddie and Cleo's stories with an appreciated amount of care.
The series takes place in Baltimore and explores themes of freedom, control, and the dark unknown. It delves into Maddie's fractured teenage memories and has a haunting quality.
Accuracy
]The title of the article is 'Lady in the Lake Series-Premiere Recap'.[
The story takes place in Baltimore during late 1960s.
Cleo Johnson (Moses Ingram) is the main character, who was found dead in a lake and speaks through voice-over.
Two bodies are discovered in the lake - one Black woman and one Jewish woman.
Maddie Schwartz, a Jewish housewife and mother, leaves her husband and teenage son to join the search party for the missing girl.
Natalie Portman stars in a new adaptation of Laura Lippman’s novel ‘Lady in the Lake’ about a pair of murders in Baltimore in the 1960s.
Alma Harél is the writer and director of ‘Lady in the Lake’, her first major fictional work after directing commercials, music videos, documentaries and the film ‘Honey Boy’.
The show explores themes of storytelling and broken dreams. Maddie Schwartz, a Jewish housewife and frustrated writer in Baltimore, embarks on a new career as a newspaper reporter after the murders of Tessie, a Jewish girl, and Cleo, a Black woman.
Harél conflates some significant characters and adds or subtracts others while adhering to the major points of the plot.
Accuracy
]The title of the article is 'Lady in the Lake Series-Premiere Recap'.[
Cleo Johnson (Moses Ingram) is the main character, who was found dead in a lake and speaks through voice-over.
Two bodies are discovered in the lake - one Black woman and one Jewish woman.
Wallace White (Charlie Hofheimer) is a local anchor who provides commentary during a Thanksgiving parade scene.
Deception
(80%)
The article provides context about the adaptation of 'Lady in the Lake' from its original novel and gives credit to the writer and director Alma Har'el. However, there are instances of selective reporting and editorializing that can be considered deceptive. The author mentions two small details that were added to the mini-series but does not mention any changes or additions made to the plot or characters that deviate significantly from the novel. This creates an impression of minor alterations when in fact there may be more substantial differences. Additionally, the author's statement 'But Har’el doesn’t manage to pull them together.' is an editorial opinion and can be seen as a judgment on the quality of the adaptation without providing any evidence or context for this assessment.
The Thanksgiving parade that opens the action is not in the book; neither is the man dressed as a mailbox whom we see relieving himself in an alley before resuming his place in the procession.
But Har’el doesn’t manage to pull them together.
Fallacies
(85%)
The author makes an appeal to authority by mentioning a rave review of Laura Lippman's novel in The New York Times by Stephen King. This is not a fallacy as such, but it does influence the reader's perception of the novel and its adaptation. Additionally, there are some instances of inflammatory rhetoric used to describe certain elements of the show, such as 'visually striking and full of sensuous atmosphere' being described as 'artificial, in a tinselly, uninteresting way'. This is an example of a slippery slope fallacy. The author also makes some assumptions about the intentions behind certain creative choices in the adaptation without providing evidence to support these claims.
][author] But working as creator, director and primary writer, Har[[author]] doesn’t manage to pull them together. The show is visually striking and full of sensuous atmosphere. But the ideas it is trying to put across about the wages of race, class and gender in a particular place and time don’t really translate from script to screen, and Har[[author]]’s baroque elaborations on Lippman[[author]]’s solid mystery plot start to feel increasingly artificial, in a tinselly, uninteresting way.[/]
