What Grace from 'Sinners' has in common with Netflix's 'His & Hers' starring Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal
My Cordelia Cupp detective instincts never saw what was coming with this murder mystery
Every time I watch a murder mystery or read a mystery book, I always convince myself that I'm a combination of Detective McNulty (“The Wire”), Agatha Christie's Detective Poirot and can understand the neighborhood like Carmen Sandiego. That's how I approached Netflix’s “His & Hers,” starring Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal.
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These two actors never miss. Like Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan, these two know their strengths and always pick well-written movies and TV series. (I'm still bitter about Netflix not continuing on with the newer version of “The Punisher.” Bernthal also made me want Yolonda Ross to quit “The Chi” to stay on “American Gigolo.”) When I found out these two were working together, that was an automatic win for me before I even pressed “play.”
I had no idea what the plot was and didn’t care. I just wanted to see these two. According to Netflix, here’s the TV series summary: “Two estranged spouses — one a detective, the other a news reporter — vie to solve a murder in which each believes the other is a prime suspect.”
Watching Episode 1 and not knowing Thompson’s character Anna and Bernthal’s character Jack were supposed to be married made this episode even better. About halfway through the first episode, I realized this six-show series was going to be a bit darker than I expected. I was a pretty good guesser while watching Netflix’s “The Residence” and cracking up at the quirkiness of Cordelia Cupp, but this had zero comedy in it.
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I still thought by the end of the second episode that I knew how it would end. And in every single episode, I realized I was wrong, wrong and more wrong. By the last episode, my jaw was on the ottoman next to me. Judging from Bluesky, quite a few of us were fooled.
What does Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” have to do with “His & Hers”?
IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN “SINNERS” BY NOW, YOU OUGHT TO BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF. MILD SPOILER ALERTS FOR “SINNERS” BELOW.
There was one character from “His & Hers” who reminded me of a debate on “The Bald Brothers Podcast.” The two comedians discussed whether Grace Chow from “Sinners” was justified in her actions toward the end of the film. While I thought that “anti-Black” accusation was a stretch (and so did KevOnStage and Tony Baker), I understood why “Sinners” moviegoers were furious at this Chinese-American woman willing to risk every Black life in the juke joint for her daughter.
However, Smoke was just as irrational for not killing his twin brother Stack. In both cases, that Black man and this Chinese woman cared more about family than the rest of the town. They both died, and the vampire version of Stack still went around biting and destroying. For all we know, Stack could’ve bitten Lisa “Guilty As Charged” Chow for being the reason Grace wouldn’t just wait until sunrise. The same way the Natives survived and rode off before nighttime, everybody in that juke joint could have done so too.
Grace and Smoke were cut from the same cloth. She just had a bigger mouth.
So how is “His & Hers” connected to the vampire horror film?