TV Review: SCARPETTA on Amazon Prime

I just watched the first episode of "Scarpetta," a new series on Amazon Prime starring Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis, and based off the Dr. Kay Scarpetta, Medical Examiner novels by Patricia Cornwell.

The series ties in with "Postmortem," the first book in Cornwell's series, which was published in 1990. I remember reading the book back when I was in college (and loved it) and immediately picked up on the source material while I was watching.

The series' inaugural episode flashes back and forth from the present day, where Dr. Scarpetta (played by Kidman) serves as the Chief Medical Examiner for Virginia, and is investigating a series of brutal murders eerily reminiscent of several she encountered early in her career (in the events chronicled in "Postmortem"). Those earlier murders are revisited through flashback scenes, and it's here that I really have to give Amazon some props.

In a time when filmmakers seem to be going ape shit using CGI or AI to "de-age" older actors and present them as digitally altered "younger" versions of themselves on-screen that are fake-looking at best, and downright terrifying at worst, "Scarpetta" wisely opts to cast a younger actress, Rosy McEwen, to undertake the Scarpetta of 30 years past instead. McEwen bears a remarkably strong resemblance to Kidman, as do the younger counterparts for the supporting cast (including actor Bobby Cannavale's doppelganger son Jacob), and they all do a capable job delivering consistency in their individual characterizations.

The special effects in the show so far are gruesome but great, and the unexpected twist of revisiting what is Scarpetta's best known storyline (at least among readers) is a bold and daring choice. Kidman is marvelous as always, and Jamie Lee Curtis, while over the top as Scarpetta's eccentric, self-centered sister, is a fun addition.

For anyone who's read Cornwell, this series feels long overdue. It's great so far, and I'm excited to see more.

(Fun fact: Anyone who's familiar with the infamous "body farm" in Tennessee, where forensic students study the decomposition of human remains under various natural and unnatural circumstances, may be interested to learn the term was actually coined by Cornwell, and serves as the title for one of her books in the Scarpetta series.)