Mary Kills People Season 1 Review: Now I'm Afraid of Caroline Dhavernas

"Mary Kills People" is a Canadian import that originally aired in the US on Lifetime. Season 1 is currently available on Hulu. And with just six episodes total, it's a super fast watch. See my premiere review here

Dr Mary Harris (Caroline Dhavernas) provides euthanasia services. Is she doing it out of the goodness of her heart? Kinda but she's charging $10,000 a pop because she's financially strapped with an ex husband, teenagers in private school, yada, yada. Is she getting some pleasure out of the deaths? I'm not sure we'd call it pleasure but she seems to be an adrenaline junkie. The jury is still out on the rest. She has been doing it a long time too. She helped her mom die when she was only 16. I'm very interested to learn more about her motivations.

Mary's partner in crime Des is a total mess. He's an ex plastic surgeon who lost his license because he's a drug addict. Des cannot be trusted. Then there's an undercover cop (Joel/Ben) who's trying to put Mary away by posing as a terminally ill man. They have sexy times. She comments that he has a lot of stamina for a dying guy. Of course now he's conflicted about arresting her.

Des gets hauled in by the cops. He and Mary's "official" cover is they're end of life counselors. Des first wears a wire to expose Mary but chickens out at the last second. After reviving Des from an OD, Mary kicks him to the curb. She will partner with his supplier Grady Burgess (played by Greg Bryk) instead. Uh, are you sure this is a good idea? Greg has no problem killing people (and not in a clinical way).

In the finale, Mary sets up Grady (by shooting herself up with phenobarbital and planting documentation of the previous deaths). Joel comes running and shoots Grady dead when he sees him holding a gun on Mary. That's an interesting way to solve your problem. Is Grady a slimeball? Most definitely. But he does seem to love his daughter so I'm a teeny tiny bit conflicting. Still, a great finale since I wasnt sure who was doing what to who. I was worried Mary might end up dead instead.

Grade: 4 1/4 (out of 5 Monsters). While I'm all in for "Hannibal" type shows (where I first met Dhayernas), I tend to avoid "end of life" series. They're much too heavy and raise too many unanswerable questions for me. None the less, "Mary Kills People" gives Caroline a venue to exercise her sizable acting chops. She is VERY compelling onscreen. The rest of the staff isnt too shabby either. The teenagers are a lot of fun to watch. Mary's sister Nicole is seriously underutilized. Luckily there is a season 2 to rectify these issues. It's available for a fee on Amazon Prime. It's not currently available on Hulu, NetFlix, On Demand or on the Lifetime website.