There are no spoilers in history. But even if you knew exactly what happened in the true tale of Candy Montgomery, the HBO Max miniseries based on her story, Love & Death, cannot have failed to keep you on the edge of your seat. This was in large part thanks to thoughtful directing, a great soundtrack, and an excellent cast that included Elizabeth Olsen as Candy and Jesse Plemons as her lover, Allan Gore.
With only seven episodes, three of which dropped in one go, it was over within a month. If watchingย Love & Deathย has you hankering for more small-town American crime shows to binge, there are several to choose from.
A Friend of the Family
This new miniseries cleaves most closely to Love & Death in that itโs also based on a true story, set in the โ70s, and follows a churchgoing family โ but itโs a much darker tale. Candy Montgomeryโs was a crime of passion no one saw coming. Despite her affair with the victimโs husband, she was a model housewife, mother, friend, and churchgoer. But the events in A Friend of the Family are an audacious slow burn from a disturbed man who kidnaps his friendsโ daughter not once, but twice, all the while manipulating both the young girl and her whole family.
Watch the final episode of A Friend of the Family on Monday 5 June at 20:00 on M-Net or catch up on the series with DStv.
Candy
If you want something that cleaves even closer to Love & Death, thereโs the Hulu series on Disney+ which tells the exact same story. This version was released just last year. Similar stories being released within a hairโs breadth of one other is not unusual. Itโs happened many times before: think Showgirls and Striptease, Danteโs Peak and Volcano, Antz and A Bugโs Life, Deep Impact and Armageddon, and Octopussy and Never Say Never Again, which saw Roger Moore and Sean Connery playing James Bond in different movies in the same year.
In this version of Candy Montgomeryโs story, sheโs played by Jessica Biel. The actressโs look is modelled more closely on the real Candy and the show has an overall darker tone and a less linear narrative. Love & Death uses music quite differently, including lots of disco hits, and itโs just these kinds of details that distinguish the telling and make both worth watching.
Fargo
A Friend of the Family takes you to Idaho and Love & Deathย to Texas. While not based on a true crime (instead itโs inspired by the 1996 film of the same name), the anthology showย Fargo focuses on all kinds of crime, using different (not always small) towns as settings: from Bemidji, Minnesota in season 1 to Kansas City, Missouri in season 4, dealing with murder, theft, and organised crime along the way. The second season stars Jesse Plemons.
Stream Fargo seasons 1 โ 4 on Showmax.
The Outsider
Based on the book by Stephen King, this story is of course fictional. It also has elements of the supernatural, so if you prefer your crime stories to be of the close-to-home variety, you might want to give this one a miss. But if all youโre looking for is small-town crime, youโll get it in this Georgia-set show. Bonus if you like detectives featuring prominently, because this oneโs full of โem.
Stream The Outsider on Showmax.
Sharp Objects
Maybe youโre not into Stephen King but prefer Gillian Flynn. If youโre a fan, youโll want to watch this adaptation of her book Sharp Objects. But you donโt need to have read the book, because this psychological thriller has plenty to keep you gripped. Itโs led by Amy Adams who plays a crime reporter covering the murder of two girls in her hometown, in this case, a fictional place called Wind Gap.
Stream Sharp Objects on Showmax.
True Detective
Like Fargo, this is an anthology series delving into different murders in different towns, some fictional, some not. There are three seasons, and tonally theyโre all quite different, so you may find yourself enjoying one season more than another โ but thatโs often the case with anthology shows. A fourth season, subtitled Night Country, is on its way. It's set in Alaska and stars Jodie Foster.
Stream True Detective seasons 1 โ 3 on Showmax.
Missed Love & Death? Catch up with DStv here or stream it on Showmax here.