Dead or Love - Netflix Series

Dead or Love

Japanese psychological thriller. (8) 40 minute episodes. Did not find a trailer, which surprised me. 

We've got a smorgasbord of personalities. Our girl, Mio, is timid and self-effacing, almost to the point of non-existence. She is totally dependent on her new husband. She got dumped by her first husband, possibly because they were unable to conceive a child. Her new husband, Masato, is not interested in children. She works in a fancy pastry shop, well, until the chef gets arrested for killing the second woman. He didn't do it. He's just a horny old man.

We've got several young women attempting suicide, some successful, some not, mostly over being jilted. Our girl, Mio, is jilted by her first husband after they have been married for a year when she fails to conceive. She is about to leap off of a rocky cliff into the crashing ocean waves below when Masato, stops her. They begin a relationship and he seems to be fine, upright dude.

He is not. He is rotten to the core, but he is a fine actor. His one redeeming trait is that is loyal to his sister. They were orphaned in the Kobe earthquake in 1995. Their father had disappeared and their mother had taken up with another man who resented having to deal with somebody else's kids. His sister is in the hospital, comatose. Don't know how long.

There is no evidence of Masato having an actual job. He has a room somewhere that contains his collection of poisonous plants and animals along with some exercise equipment. He is apparently running a scam on an older woman, telling her about the great deals he is making. She willingly keeps funding these 'schemes' as long he as keeps making love to her. That eventually falls apart when she tries make him her slave, and they both find out who they have been screwing.

Masato had a previous wife who had money. She also had some kind of heart disease. She has a fling with Masato, but once was enough for her and now she's done. Masato is puzzled, so she explains to him that he is ignorant of all the things that educated people know about, so he goes on a multi-year expedition to become educated. He returns and she takes him back. She is kind of feisty, but after she has been with him for a while she becomes very docile, which is kind of puzzling, except he's got this room full of poisonous stuff, so maybe he's doping her. Not long afterwards, she dies. Was it natural causes or did Masato help her? Her niece (a reporter) is suspicious and starts investigating. When Masato realizes she is onto him, he kills her.

The second is a girl who was wonderful until her husband dumped her. Now she only wants to destroy other people's happiness. Masato supposedly has a job and is trying to start a business on the side, but it's beginning to look like he is a con-man through and through.

There were a couple of slick shots, don't know how they did them.

• Woman releases a bird from its cage. It flies away. Not much later it flies back and gets back in the cage.
• Just as a guy sits down at his desk, the corner of a large picture that is taped to wall comes loose and the corner flops forward.
• Our couple are walking along in a big crowd and the girl is feeling anxious. The camera closes in on them and he tells her to close her eyes and imagine they are alone. The camera pulls back and they are in the same place, but now they are alone.