Excellent-EXCELLENT-
brilliant.
This is the only way to describe Escape at Dannemora and Dirty John which start this week in a perfectly-timed commentary on the concepts of love, deception, betrayal and the abuse of women, which gets wrapped-up in a bow when it's Valentine's Day.
Escape at Dannemora premieres on M-Net tonight (Wednesday, 13 February) at 21h00 and Dirty John will be on on Netflix from tomorrow (14 February).
The most important thing to know about both: they're true stories of two women, Tilly and Deb, whose lives become a living hell as a result of being manipulated by men.
Escape at Dannemora is based on a real life prison break that happened in 2015 in New York. It stars Patricia Arquette as Tilly Mitchell, a seamstress who runs the tailor shop at Dannemora prison, overseeing prisoners who sew prison uniforms.
She starts having a sexual relationship with two of the inmates - one of them a murderer, played by Benicio Del Toro.
And then she helps them with their prison escape by smuggling them escape tools after they tell her they want to flee to Mexico with her.
Dirty John is about a successful interior designer business woman Debra Newell, played by Connie Britton.
Deb's been married and divorced three times and joins a dating site where she meets John Meehan (Eric Bana) AKA Dirty John.
Deb gets swept up in a passionate affair with John who lights up her life UNTIL he starts to live up to his dirty, filthy name...
And that's all I'm gonna say because what happens next is so mind-bending you have to see it unfold before your very eyes.
The hectic thing about both series is that Tilly and Deb have no agendas or anything suspect about them. They're simply women who want something more, something exciting and something passionate that gives their lives meaning and connection and this gets brutally used against them.
The men who manipulate them see their vulnerability, their passion and desire to be loved and use it in dreadful ways.
Dirty John was inspired by the real-world Deb's decision to speak out about what happened to her in order to help other women avoid the situation she got herself into. Her story started as a podcast and was then turned into the series.
Connie Britton and her co-star Eric Bana are both producers and Ben Stiller steps behind the cameras to direct.
What's also so good about both series is that they're purrfect for binge-watching. Escape at Dannemora has seven episodes and Dirty John has six. Trust me when I tell you that you'll be forced to hit "Play NOW!" on the next episode as soon as an episode ends.
Do. Not. Miss. Them.