Starz Review: ‘Three Women’ Features Four Formidable Female Performances

Life can be an isolating journey if it feels like you’re going through it alone. Starz’s new series Three Women, based on Lisa Taddeo’s 2019 novel, follows three women in drastically different situations across the United States yearning to be truly seen. Found and united by a journalist traveling from place to place in search of perfect subjects, these three women all have vivid storylines worthy of their own individual focus that, drawn together, make for a truly engrossing and memorable spotlight of the female experience.

Three Women begins with, technically, a fourth woman: Gia (Shailene Woodley), who is a writer who has lost a great deal and is looking for ordinary women who she can speak to and share what they’ve been through with the world. Lina (Betty Gilpin) lives in Indiana and can’t get her husband to touch her physically and yearns for sexual fulfillment. Sloane (DeWanda Wise) runs a successful business in New England and has an open marriage with her husband Richard (Blair Underwood) where playing by their carefully-set rules is critical. Maggie (Gabrielle Creevy) is a student in North Dakota whose decision to report a sexual relationship with her married teacher Aaron (Jason Ralph) causes her to be under intense scrutiny and severely question her past actions.

This series, which runs ten episodes, gives ample time to each of its protagonists. While the first episode introduces all four main characters, successive installments take great care to focus on just one of them, giving more background information to the already sufficient brief look at what it is that they have, what they want, and what it is that’s getting in the way of achieving it. Gia is highly inquisitive but also going through her own issues, and knowing that the content of this series is the finished product of her work makes her a worthwhile narrator who enhances the story by getting to be part of it in this adaptation.

Episodes featuring Maggie open with a disclaimer that her real-life teacher maintains his innocence and that there are multiple sides to all stories, an indicator that this show is at its heart genuine. While Gia is based on Taddeo and not meant to be a carbon copy of her, the other women are real and this show seems intent more than anything on getting to know who they are authentically. They’re also surely representative of a range of other women who have endured similar dynamics and situations, and this series provides a welcoming safe space to explore topics that might in some circles feel taboo but are not at all off-limits in this case.

All four actresses deliver lived-in performances that enhance the show greatly. Woodley is playing someone completely different from and far more self-assured than her Big Little Lies outsider, not so in control of her life but with a distinct vision of what she wants. Gilpin, a highlight of past programs like GLOW and Mrs. Davis, communicates marvelously what she’s missing in her life and how much joy it brings her when she’s able to find something she didn’t think she would ever get. Wise exudes a confidence that she knows could be shattered at any point, and she masterfully navigates the complexities of power. Creevy’s performance may be the most vulnerable, and the heartbreak she feels as she contemplates her conflicting feelings for the older man who knowingly pursued an inappropriate relationship with her is palpable.

Three Women is a show for everyone despite its focus on only one gender, and its depiction of men is also particularly interesting. Underwood is a solid choice for the role of Richard, one that at first seems magnanimous but soon reveals control issues, while Gilpin’s onscreen husband barely merits a mention since he factors so minimally into Lina’s sexual awakening. Ralph, seen recently in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, is charming and caring in a way that attracts the impressionable Maggie, but also reveals a darker side that indicates guilt on his part. Some audiences might be turned off by the uncensored sexual content featured, but that’s precisely the point, that exploring what it means to be fulfilled shouldn’t be considered untouchable or even undesirable. Starz is a fitting platform for this series, which isn’t concerned with pushing limits and expresses above all a devotion to its characters.

Series Rating: 7/10

Awards Buzz: Woodley and Gilpin are both past Emmy nominees who could get nominated again, though DeWise and Creevy are just as deserving. Starz doesn’t have a fantastic track record with awards, but maybe this will be just the show to change it.