Marc Cherry has a type. We know this. From the manicured lawns of Wisteria Lane to the multi-decade mansion in the first installment of his anthology, the man loves a high-stakes housewife. But Why Women Kill Season 2 did something risky. It ditched the three-timeline gimmick. It stopped jumping between the 60s, 80s, and 2019. Instead, it planted its feet firmly in 1949 Los Angeles and stayed there.
It was a pivot. Some fans hated it at first. They missed the temporal gymnastics. But honestly? Focusing on Alma Fillcot’s descent from a frumpy wallflower to a murderous social climber was probably the smartest move the show could have made. It allowed for a slow-burn character study that the first season simply didn't have the "real estate" to execute.
The Alma Fillcot Problem
Allison Tolman is a powerhouse. You might know her from Fargo, but here she plays Alma, a woman who just wants to belong to the exclusive Elysian Park Garden Club. It sounds trivial. It's just flowers, right? Wrong. In 1949, for a woman like Alma, that club represented the only path to a "real" life.
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The season starts with a discovery. Alma finds a box of trinkets belonging to her husband, Bertram, played by the always-charming Nick Frost. She thinks he’s cheating. She wish he were cheating. The reality is much darker. Bertram is a veterinarian who moonlights as a "mercy killer." He finds people who are suffering and ends their lives. He thinks he's a saint. Alma thinks he’s a monster.
Then, the shift happens.
Alma realizes that having a murderer for a husband is actually quite convenient when you're trying to hide your own social climbing secrets. The dynamic between Tolman and Frost is the heartbeat of the show. It’s a marriage built on mutual destruction. It's kinda dark, totally twisted, and weirdly domestic.
Moving Away from the Gimmick
The first season was flashy. Ginnifer Goodwin, Lucy Liu, and Kirby Howell-Baptiste were great, but the editing had to do a lot of heavy lifting to keep the themes aligned across three different eras. In Why Women Kill Season 2, the horror is more intimate.
By staying in 1949, the show leans into the film noir aesthetic. We get the high-waisted trousers, the smoky lounges, and the sharp shadows. It feels like a cohesive piece of art rather than a collection of short stories. Lana Parrilla enters the fray as Rita Castillo, the villain you love to hate. She’s the president of the garden club, trapped in a marriage to a wealthy, dying man.
The rivalry between Alma and Rita is what drives the plot, but the subtext is all about class and beauty. Rita is everything Alma isn't—glamorous, wealthy, and cruel. But as the season progresses, we see that they are two sides of the same coin. They both use whatever tools they have to survive in a world that views them as decorative objects.
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Why the 1940s Setting Matters
Post-war America was a weird time for women. They had just spent years working in factories while the men were at war, only to be told to go back to the kitchen and bake a perfect souffle. The pressure to conform was immense.
- The Garden Club: This wasn't just a hobby. It was a gatekeeping mechanism for the upper class.
- The Private Investigator: Vern Loomis (played by Jordane Christie) brings a classic detective element to the story, bridging the gap between Alma’s domestic drama and the gritty reality of the L.A. underworld.
- The Daughter: Dee Fillcot (B.K. Cannon) is perhaps the most "modern" character, navigating a secret affair and eventually finding a sense of self that her mother lacks.
The costumes by Janie Bryant (who also did Mad Men) aren't just clothes. They’re armor. Alma starts the season in drab, ill-fitting browns. By the end, she’s draped in vibrant reds and sharp silhouettes. She’s literally dressing for the role of a killer.
The Psychology of the Kill
Why do they kill? In the first season, it was mostly about infidelity and betrayal. In Why Women Kill Season 2, it’s about ambition.
Alma doesn't start as a bad person. She starts as a lonely person. That’s the nuance Marc Cherry brings to the table. We watch her justify every "minor" crime until she’s standing over a body with a shovel. It’s a "Breaking Bad" trajectory but with floral prints and tea sets.
The show explores the idea of "becoming." Alma doesn't just want to be in the club; she wants to be the club. She wants the power that Rita has. She wants people to be afraid of her. And honestly? It’s satisfying to watch a woman take what she wants, even if "what she wants" is a trail of bodies.
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Critics vs. Fans
If you look at Rotten Tomatoes or IMDb, you'll see a bit of a divide. Critics generally liked the focused narrative of the second season. They appreciated the tonal consistency. Fans, however, were split.
Some missed the "vibe" of the first season. They liked the fast-paced cutting between the 60s and the 80s. They found the 1949 setting a bit slow. But if you stick with it, the payoff in the final three episodes is massive. The finale is a bloodbath that rivals some of the best dark comedies on television.
It’s worth noting that the show was originally renewed for a third season, but Paramount+ ultimately canceled it due to the shifting streaming landscape and production costs. This makes Season 2 the final word on the series. It ends on a high note, with Alma finally getting the attention she always craved—just not in the way she expected.
Breaking Down the Visual Language
The cinematography in the second season is much more intentional. Because they stayed in one era, the directors could play with lighting and composition in a way the first season couldn't.
- Use of mirrors: Alma is constantly looking at herself, checking her "mask."
- Color theory: The shift from muted pastels to aggressive primaries reflects the characters' moral decay.
- Interior design: The Fillcot home feels claustrophobic, while Rita’s mansion feels like a cold museum.
Everything in the frame tells you something about the character's internal state. You don't need a narrator to tell you that Alma is losing her mind; you can see it in the way the camera lingers on her reflection in a silver teapot.
Actionable Takeaways for Viewers
If you haven't watched Why Women Kill Season 2 yet, or if you're planning a rewatch, here is how to get the most out of the experience:
- Watch it as a standalone: Don't compare it to Season 1. It’s a different beast entirely. Think of it as a 10-hour noir film.
- Pay attention to the background: The show is dense with 1940s references and subtle clues about Bertram’s victims.
- Follow the fashion: Watch how Alma’s wardrobe changes. It tells a more honest story than her dialogue does.
- Appreciate the side plots: The romance between Dee and Vern is surprisingly sweet and provides a necessary counterpoint to the cynicism of the main plot.
The series is currently available on Paramount+ and various VOD platforms. It remains one of the best examples of how to do a "prestige" soap opera. It’s campy, yes, but it’s also deeply human. It asks the question: how far would you go to feel like you finally belong? For Alma Fillcot, the answer was "all the way."
To appreciate the full scope of the show, start by analyzing the character of Bertram. While Alma is the protagonist, Bertram’s moral compass—or lack thereof—is what sets the entire tragedy in motion. His "mercy" is the catalyst for her greed. Once you understand their distorted partnership, the rest of the season’s carnage makes perfect sense.