Oh dear lord, this was a show I was looking forward to, having read quite a few of Patricia Cornwell’s Scarpetta novels. The cast seemed promising, from Nicole Kidman playing the protagonist, the medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta, to Bobby Cannavale as Pete Marino, the detective and Scarpetta’s abrasive but heart-in-the-right-place, sidekick.
The tone, however, is all over the place, swinging wildly from graphic, with top shots of nude bodies laid out on autopsy tables, to a grating family drama. The plotting is cluttered, with the switching between two timelines, which, far from adding depth to the characters and showing why they behave the way they do, only muddies the waters further.
The casting also did not work, and the biggest misstep is Jamie Lee Curtis as Dorothy, Kay’s sister. She is shrill and strident, and Dorothy and Kay’s constant fighting is not engaging at all.
The worst crime in Scarpetta is the fact that the writers seem to have forgotten this was meant to be a police procedural and should shine a spotlight on one of the most fascinating investigative processes.
Scarpetta (English)
Creator: Liz Sarnoff
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Jamie Lee Curtis, Bobby Cannavale, Simon Baker, Rosy McEwen, Jacob Lumet Cannavale, Hunter Parrish, Ariana DeBose
Episodes: 8
Runtime: 50 minutes
Storyline: A murder brings back more than memories of her first case for the medical examiner
Evidence does not lie, and some of the charm of the books lies in how Kay and her team of expert witnesses put the forensic evidence together to build a case; be it polished pennies or a practically impossible high shot.
With the introduction of an AI chatbot in the form of Janet (Janet Montgomery), Scarpetta decidedly went over to the goofy side and lost whatever semblance of believability it could lay claim to.
After that, tech companies printing organs, being attacked in space by Russians and peppering a field with organs seemed like another day at the office. Even the red herrings are annoying, just placed for the sake of filling the field.
Kay returns to the Commonwealth of Virginia as the chief medical examiner, a post she held some time ago, before leaving under a cloud of suspicion. A woman’s body is discovered, staged in the same way as it was in Kay’s first case. We go back 27 years to see Kay (Rosy McEwen) as the newly appointed chief facing hostility for her gender (probably).
A still from ‘Scarpetta’
| Photo Credit:
Prime Video
The city is in panic as a killer attacks and kills women in their houses. Scarpetta meets young Marino (Jacob Lumet Cannavale) and an FBI profiler, and her future husband, Benton Wesley (Hunter Parrish, Simon Baker in the present).
There is an actor who might be the killer in the past and who is doing shady things in the present as well. Kay faces pushback from the smarmy city attorney Bill Boltz (Mike Vogel). A reporter, Abby (Sosie Bacon), is following the case and pops up at inopportune moments to grill Kay about the case.
We also meet 11-year-old tech genius Lucy (Savannah Lumar), Dorothy’s (Amanda Righetti) daughter, who is staying with Kay as Dorothy has run off with some man. Lucy (Ariana DeBose) continues her computer wizardry, enough to create an AI chat bot of her dead wife, Janet. The way the mystery unfolds is underwhelming and the unmasking of the killers in both timelines supremely tedious.
The makers have not done right by any of the characters, especially Kay. As far as the cast goes, Bobby Cannavale seems to have the most fun, though there is zero chemistry between him and Curtis, and he looks a far cry from the book Marino. Kidman does not work as Kay, as all she seems to do is stalk through corridors with her coat billowing out behind her wearing a curiously mask-like expression. McEwen, on the other hand, has done a good job of channelling a younger Kidman.
Those who have not read the books would be confused by who is doing what (why does everybody hide information from everyone else?) and those who have read the books will be equally confused about the muddled mess on screen. And a second season is already in production. Sigh.
Scarpetta currently streams on Amazon Prime Video
Published – March 15, 2026 11:20 am IST
