But by episode six in this first season, “Based on a True Story” finally develops into something meaty and noteworthy. With a darkness that’s familiar to “The Boys,” “Based on a True Story” starts showing how true crime isn’t fun when you’re in the narrative. And with brazenly open dialogue (“Money’s great!”), the series riffs as a bonkers media satire, relishing what might happen if such a podcast were to become popular and available on Spotify. Everyone in America listens to it, like Serial, and everyone has an opinion. Celebrities tweet about it, and then the fluid moral conscience of American pop culture has its say. Cue the Alba line.
Once this shift is made, “Based on a True Story” allows us to see Ava and Nathan from a different and more challenging angle. They’re no longer our kooky, misguided heroes in an initially cutesy premise but a couple desperate for control (and Cuoco and Messina have great chemistry presenting this). As they succumb to the temptations that would make this podcast a mega-hit in real life, Ava and Nathan create a phenomenon that also becomes their trap, with ego-driven producer/star Matt taking more and more control. First, it’s his notes about how the show should be edited and even the music cues. He also comes up with the podcast’s name. But then it gets much worse. Eventually, Ava and Nathan are complicit in his new crimes, their dance with the devil turning into a marathon. It’s a shame the show takes so long to get to this point.
“Based on a True Story” is also something of a marriage story, in which Ava and Nathan have been married for ten years and are about to have a baby but are disconnected by their stresses with work (she’s a realtor, he’s a former tennis star who still clings to the day he beat Federer). The series is restricted to glimmers with this idea, too, and has a bad habit of going off on fantasy tangents—scenes in which they daydream about having sex with someone else, only for us to be reminded that it’s only in their heads. “Based on a True Story” uses this time-killing trick constantly, a cheap way for the show to push more buttons.