Paramount+ just debuted a riveting new psychological thriller show, and it’s shaping up to be our next binge-watch.
Little Disasters is based on the 2020 novel of the same name by Sarah Vaughn and stars Diane Kruger as a mother whose character is called into serious question when she brings her newborn baby to the hospital after an accident.
With a fascinating premise, sharp script and great cast, the show looks to be a fantastic streaming addition.
Here’s why Watch With Us will be seated for Little Disasters this December.
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‘Little Disasters’ Has an Intriguing Premise
Jess (Kruger), Liz (Jo Joyner), Charlotte (Shelley Conn) and Mel (Emily Taffe) are four very different mothers who formed a friendship while meeting during their pregnancies. However, these relationships are thrown into chaos when Jess arrives at the hospital where Liz is on-call, with her newborn baby, Betsy, sporting a head injury. It’s clear to Liz that this was no accident, and she is faced with a difficult choice: give her friend the benefit of the doubt, or call in social services.
Liz ultimately goes through with the latter choice, and it incites the unraveling of both the group of women and of Jess — an overwhelmed mother who may have been pushed to the brink. Suddenly, all of Jess’s time spent with her other two kids must be monitored by social services, and the audience is let in piece by piece as to what exactly happened to Jess and her baby by bouncing between the present events and flashbacks to earlier days with the friend group. It’s a hooky, emotional premise based on an amalgam of parental fears.
‘Little Disaster’ Turns a Nightmare Scenario Into a Taut Thriller
Little Disasters depicts a worst-case domestic scenario and shapes it into an engaging mystery story, while also generating tension from an all-too-real problem — the inherent pressure placed on women to be perfect mothers. Jess is presented very clearly as a mother who is stretched too thin, and it is shown how, despite her having had two other children first, something changed after she had her third, Betsy — but could this somehow have turned violent?
Across the nimble span of six episodes, Little Disasters wants to answer that question. The suspense-filled script co-written by series creator Ruth Fowler and Amanda Duke keeps you guessing at every step, as we come closer and closer to understanding not only Jess’s psyche but that of her family and mom friends as well.
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The Show Deftly Explores the Nuances of Motherhood
While questions swirl concerning Jess’s intentions towards her baby daughter, Little Disasters is not an indictment of bad moms. Rather, it is a careful exploration of the anxieties, pressures and mental toll of motherhood. While not only focusing on Jess’s mental health leading up to her daughter’s accident, the show also takes time to depict how motherhood is handled by the other three women as well, and how a new mom may experience difficulty adjusting to the role.
Jess’s third pregnancy doesn’t play out as she had hoped, while Charlotte struggles with IVF treatments and Liz faces hardship during her first pregnancy. There is joy in motherhood, but there is also plenty of stress, fear, guilt, judgment and shame, and with the expectation of every woman to slide into the role seamlessly, duress can build under a well-maintained facade. Thus, Little Disasters is incredibly empathetic in showing how women’s experiences with motherhood are layered, complicated and flawed.
Diane Kruger and Jo Joyner’s Performances Anchor the Show
The relationship between Jess and Liz drives the inciting incident of the show, and much of the sustained tension derives from their complex history in conjunction with their two other friends, Mel and Charlotte. However, Kruger and Joyner do most of the series’ heavy performance lifting. As Jess, Kruger seamlessly portrays the duality of her character: a woman who once seemed to have it all together but who has struggled since Betsy’s birth. Kruger evokes the paranoid emotional spiral Jess endures as her meticulously maintained life is suddenly under a microscope.
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On the other hand, Joyner captures the internal turmoil faced by Liz, who, even if it was the right thing to do, has to live with the fact that she called social services on her friend. Thus, the character turns to alcohol as an unhealthy coping mechanism. Still, Liz is unsure about the root of Betsy’s accident, and Joyner executes the high-wire act of expressing genuine concern for her friend’s well-being while also harboring suspicions — especially because Jess and her husband’s accounts don’t match up.
Stream Little Disaster now on Paramount+.
