Peacock's new series All Her Fault presents a gripping thriller about a missing child while examining the pressures faced by working mothers. The show debuts with all eight episodes on Thursday. Based on Andrea Mara's 2021 novel, the story follows Marissa Irvine, played by Sarah Snook, who rushes to collect her five-year-old son Milo from a playdate only to discover he has vanished. The person answering the door claims no knowledge of the boy or the arrangement. Beyond the suspense of the abduction, the series explores how women shoulder the burden of managing careers, households, and childcare while often receiving blame when things go wrong. Creator Megan Gallagher drew from personal experiences of exhaustion trying to balance everything. The cast includes Dakota Fanning, Michael Peña, Jake Lacy, and Abby Elliott, with the narrative set in the Chicago suburbs among well-off families.
A Thriller That Highlights Motherhood's Unequal Burden
The series centres on Marissa Irvine, a finance professional who knows every detail about her son, including the dinosaur decal on his coat. Her husband remains largely oblivious. Creator Megan Gallagher explains that women are expected to be household CEOs while working full-time, delegating and managing all family projects. The show portrays mothers drowning in guilt—worrying their children prefer nannies, missing meetings for bedtime routines, or not volunteering enough at school. One character laments being the default parent while her husband's time off means leisure, whereas hers involves grocery shopping, cleaning, and laundry. Gallagher notes her generation inherited the expectation to excel at both work and home without any exit strategy from domestic responsibilities.
Female Friendship Amid Family Secrets and Investigation
Sarah Snook and Dakota Fanning portray mothers who support each other as police investigate the disappearance and they await a ransom call. Snook appreciated the empowering female friendship rather than the typical portrayal of women pitted against one another. The abduction investigation gradually reveals hidden family secrets involving various characters, including the detective played by Michael Peña and Marissa's relatives portrayed by Daniel Monks and Abby Elliott. Elliott's character blames herself for a childhood family tragedy. Jake Lacy, playing Marissa's husband, describes how the thriller's tension causes long-buried secrets to surface. Fanning believes embedding these struggles within a thriller format effectively highlights issues many women face, particularly how men in households often remain oblivious because tasks get handled invisibly.
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