Is it a show or is it a movie? I mean, in the linear version of Mosaic, it’s broken down into six, 50-ish minute parts, so in my mind it’s a show. However, when each bit starts, HBO tells me I’m watching a movie. Who knows! What I do know is that when Mosaic emerged in 2018, it was very unique for the time. It originally aired on apps, where you could pick a path would alter what things you saw. The plotline itself really didn’t change, but the perspective could, which means you could discover certain things not available from other perspectives.
I appreciate how unique and cool that is, but this is ultimately a TV show. Just give me something linear to watch! I don’t want to have to think too hard about my choices, nor do I want to have to spend even more time back-tracking just to maybe get a couple nuggets of new information. Regardless, I was happy to just get to watch it through a few years later in a straight-line fashion. Also, as far as I know, the app and supplemental documents related to Mosaic no longer exist today. I’m a little bummed at that. There were some instances where it’s clear I was supposed to want to look into something shown peripherally, but now I’ll never get to! Oh, well.
The story is this. Olivia Lake is a famous children’s book author who likes her men young, and will manipulate them a little bit if she even thinks there’s a chance they’ll sleep with her. Well, she picked the wrong guy. Joel is a bartender at a charity event, who’s also a pretty good artist. She invites him to move into a finished room in her barn so they can collaborate. He’ll do work around the property in exchange for rent. All things are looking pretty good until she learns he’s in a committed relationship, then sort of throws him to the wayside. Meanwhile, a successful con man, Eric, is tasked with getting Olivia to sell her property, which is apparently rich with some mineral (unclear). That plan fails when he really falls for her.
Everything comes to a head on New Years Eve, when at her party, Olivia tells Joel that he’s a crummy artist, to get lost, and that he owes her about 10 grand in rent. This sends Joel into a drunken rage. Olivia herself gets thrown into a rage when Eric confesses about the origins of their relationship. We don’t get to see specifically what happens next, but we do know that Olivia is missing and presumed dead. It doesn’t take long for a (sort of) dirty cop to pin it on Eric, even though it doesn’t totally make sense. That’s something local detective, Nate Henry has to live with for the next four years until Olivia’s hand is found and Eric’s sister Petra tries to re-open the case.
The two work in tandem until the body is found, then the two go on their own paths of justice. In my opinion, this is where things get messy. Not that they weren’t before. Petra decides to get Joel and the dirty cop involved, but they end up really helping them all along in the end. A lot of evidence is stacking up against Joel, and his drunken black outs means he doesn’t remember anything from the night, but is pretty convinced himself that he did it. In reality, Petra knows the real culprit, but they end up getting out of any real punishments again.
I thought this whole show was really gripping right up until the last episode. Firstly, Nate wasn’t in it at all! I know the penultimate episode was from his perspective and this one was from Petra’s, but for them to never meet again seemed like an odd choice. Even more odd, when the real bad guys asked what could make her go away? Instead of getting her brother out and them thrown in jail, she wants a bunch of paintings! I suppose that makes sense from a really superficial perspective when you know she’s an art restorer, but still. Also, we never catch up with Joel or Eric again! Personally, I would have also liked to see the attack go down. Overall, it was good, but it could have been great. Regardless, it was prime Steven Soderbergh work, and I hope to see him return to television soon.