Parents' Guide to Anatomy of a Scandal

With legal TV impresario David E. Kelley at the helm adapting a novel with a grabby #MeToo-inspired premise, this drama should be spectacular, but it doesn't quite hit those heights. The problem isn't with the acting, either: Sienna Miller is layered and sympathetic as Sophie, a wife suddenly forced to confront uncomfortable truths both about her husband and about her own past and privilege, and Michelle Dockery brings realism and electricity to her portrait of a prosecuting attorney at the head of a truly tough case. Meanwhile, the narrative seesaws back and forth between the present and the past, with Sophie seeing her experiences with her husband in a new light, while James tries every trick he can imagine to wiggle out of the consequences of his actions.

But did he commit the action he was accused of? Anatomy of a Scandal makes much of a blurry recording of James and Olivia in an elevator, when what could be a passionate coupling or an assault takes place, teasing the viewer with questions about power, consent, and the context Olivia and James both bring to that elevator trip. It's an intriguing setup, and Kelley and co-creator Melissa James Gibson (The Americans) make a meal out of it. Infuriatingly, though, a hard-to-buy narrative twist midway through the drama takes the focus off the finely drawn characters. It's not a fatal flaw, but it does downgrade Anatomy from A+ drama to a middling B.