Just Because You're A Murderess Doesn't Mean You're A Bad Person -- 'Alias Grace'

Netflix's new series explores the mind of a confessed killer.

Unlike generic police procedurals, the new Netflix series “Alias Grace” doesn’t start with a grisly murder and who-dunnit, but rather with a jail visit to the woman found guilty of the crime — Grace Marks, a beautiful, young Irish woman convicted of killing her master and his housekeeper/lover in Toronto, Canada in 1843.

The murders made front-page news at the time not only because they appeared to be without motive, but also because the killings tore at the scab of simmering conflict between the wealthy and their hired hands; between immigrants and Canadian gentry. The Irish at the time were routinely looked down upon as too numerous, too poor, and too prone to criminality.

Grace Marks and fellow servant James McDermott, the stable hand, both confessed in the killings of wealthy landowner Thomas Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery, but it was never really certain whose idea it was, who did what, and whether Grace was merely a scapegoat.

Following his conviction, McDermott was hanged early on, but because of her young age, only 16 at the time of the murder, Grace was spared death and confined initially to an insane asylum (far more harrowing than those of today), then sent to prison for close to 30 years.

The series gets off to a slow start but introduces psychological elements. Was Grace crazy? Did she willingly take part in the murders? Did her own background of poverty and abuse by her father, play a role in pushing her over the edge?

“Alias Grace” is a slow-building, pot boiler taken from the eponymous novel by Margaret Atwood. Like the “Handmaid’s Tale” (another Atwood adaptation), its scope exceeds the bounds of the story. The series explores the role of women at the time, the scourge of being underclass and immigrant, and the tricky twists and turns of the mind.

The murder is told in flashbacks as Grace is interviewed over the course of months or maybe even years by a handsome, young American psychiatrist (a clever creation of Atwood’s that gives Grace a reason to tell her story.)

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The doctor’s interest in Grace, however, is more than just clinical. She is, after all, beautiful and mysterious. As the only narrator of the story, there’s no certainty that the picture Grace paints is accurate. Could she be embellishing in part to elicit interest, sympathy, or desire?

As a portrayal of the 1800s landed gentry as well as the lives of housemaids and servants, the details are beautifully rendered and the characters real. When Grace’s best friend and fellow maid, Mary, dies from a botched abortion (a pregnancy caused by the master’s own son), the shock to Grace causes what may be her first lapse into insanity.

The series is a palimpsest of time, class conflict and the perceptions of the mind and memory.

The first episode opens with a quote from Emily Dickinson: “Our self behind our self — concealed — Should startle most. Assassin hid in our apartment. Be Horror’s least.” It’s a clue that this won’t be the quickest or most straightforward story to follow. There’s no forensics, police sleuthing or (at least so far) murderous gore.

For those viewers who loved “OJ” or “The Night Of,” this is a much different type of crime story. But its steady buildup, careful work, attention to period detail, spot-on acting and psychological intrigue, will keep me watching.

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Toni Messina has tried over 100 cases and has been practicing criminal law and immigration since 1990. You can follow her on Twitter: @tonitamess.