‘Based on a True Story’ Season 2 Ends with Another Killer Cliffhanger
Did “Based on a True Story” need a second season? Arguably no, but credit where credit is due: Season 2 the Peacock series — now led by Annie Weisman — is significantly more confident, entertaining, and batshit (respectfully) than the first, so when the inevitable cliffhanger rolls around, it actually feels earned.
Season 2, Episode 8, “This Week’s Guest” starts with Ava (Kaley Cuoco) and Nathan (Chris Messina) held hostage at a podcast studio by the as-yet-unidentified Copycat Killer. This is a show with so few characters that I was genuinely stumped as to the murderer’s identity, and thrilled by the reveal that its Chloe Lake’s (Natalia Dyer) sister (Sarah Paxton) — whose sister was killed by Matt (Tom Bateman), the West Side Ripper.
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It’s a turn very much of a piece with the rest of the season, which smartly pulls away from Ava, Nathan, and Matt’s hit podcast and its dubious ethics. Watching two otherwise likable people protect and profit off of a bloodthirsty killer was a challenging task for the casual comedy viewer — but with Matt engaged to Ava’s sister Tory (Liana Liberato), the personal stakes get dialed up exponentially. Season 2 sees the family helping Matt with his “sobriety,” openly discussing his past and doubts about his present, and raising intriguing moral quandaries and questions — but is self aware enough to know that this isn’t the show to tackle them.
Case in point: Chloe’s sister studying history’s most notorious serial killers in order to imitate them and target people who have profited off true crime; podcasters, their sponsors, Jared Leto (for playing John Lennon’s assassin). She still misses her sister every day and as much as she can’t forgive the Ripper, she also can’t forgive the society who claimed to mourn Chloe and then turned her into a statistic who barely has a name.
When it comes down to it and she’s about to kill Ava, they ask what she wants. Ava’s answer is that her captor wants what everyone else wants, “to not feel fucking invisible.” That’s an oversimplification… but it’s not entirely wrong. It’s the “Based on a True Story” version of it, and it flies in the moment. Credit to Cuoco and Paxton in particular for these studio scenes; Chloe’s sister has minimal but powerful character background behind her performance, while Cuoco deftly swings between the darkness, humor, and empathy of their interaction.
Liberato also has little to go on other than Tory and Ava’s mother/sister dynamic and notes of rebellious teen as she insists on staying with Matt, but once again it’s somehow plausible. She doesn’t play Tory as a woman who has been conned or gaslit, but similarly embodies the supportive partner of someone who has committed major crimes and struggles with addiction. It’s morbidly funny without being particularly insensitive. Bateman continues to have a visible blast both as the new Matt and the growling ghost of his lethal past, and pairs beautifully with Chris Messina’s impeccable comic timing.
Nothing good was ever going to come from Chekhov’s incriminating evidence, which Matt planted in Nathan’s garage a few episodes ago, but the final twist totally blindsides him and Ava. They have come to trust Matt, despite every (correct) instinct to the contrary, so much so that they never dream that he won’t walk out of the studio with them, turn himself in, and cast all suspicion away from them. Somewhere, while pretending to befriend a serial killer, they accidentally did. There’s also something so disarming about separating Ava and Nathan, who spent a lot of Season 1 thinking they’d both go to jail and now have to navigate this whole mess without the other.
The big question mark is Tory, who drops Matt’s son off at the police station while stashing a gun in her purse, and calls Ava to say “turtle” — their shorthand for when something bad is happening, specifically when creepy guys are getting too close to Tory. Did she have a change of heart about Matt? Or did she go back into the station and turn in her own brother-in-law to save the man she loves? Killing Matt’s ex-wife Olivia (Melissa Fumero! Can we just acknowledge the brilliance of Melissa Fumero?) drove an instant and understandable wedge into the relationship; the question now is whether they’ll use those spousal privileges they fought for or turn against each other entire.
And that’s how I find myself, a year after scoffing when this show got renewed, hoping that it happens again and we get a third installment to wrap everything up and make it even more bananas. What if Matt and Chloe’s sister team up? What if Tory goes after both of them? Who’s going to play Nathan’s lawyer?? The possibilities are to die for.
“Based on a True Story” is now streaming on Peacock.
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