Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ 1782 novel Les Liaisons dangereuses once again finds a way in the test of time and reincarnate, this time in the form of an Amazon Prime TV series. The series is a modern reimagining of the 1999 film Cruel Intentions starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Reese Witherspoon, Ryan Phillippe and Selma Blair.
I’m one of those who will approach the remake of an already iconic classic with some skepticism at first– especially when the original Cruel Intentions is still beloved to this day—sure, maybe a little outdated but Kathryn Merteuil will never not have a fan, even after twenty-five more years.
Surely Prime’s Cruel Intentions didn’t want to mimic the film but it is still inevitable that the series is filling big shoes—it has to take the film that it’s based on and enhance it, even when avoiding too many similarities. That’s the key. If the series takes this cult classic and falls flat, then immediately the question of ‘What was the purpose of making this?’ will arise.
The series’ first episode “Alpha” wastes no time in introducing Caroline Merteuil as the rich and cold-hearted sorority president at the prestigious Manchester College. Her stepbrother, Lucien Belmont, on the other hand, has a more playful personality as the morally questionable, elite playboy that Ryan Phillippe had mastered back in the 90s. In other words, he sleeps with freshmen girls pledging Caroline’s sorority with the promise of putting in a good word with his sister.
A flashback to three months before reveals there’s been a hazing incident that resulted in a student getting hospitalized, putting all Greek life on campus at probation risk. Caroline wants to avoid this at all costs, so she needs a certain freshman student to pledge for her: Annie Grover, daughter of the U.S. vice president starting her first year at Manchester, is the perfect solution to keep Caroline’s sorority safe. However, Annie will need some convincing to consider rushing any other sorority than her own mother’s—that is if she even partakes in Greek life at all.
As the mastermind that she is, Caroline asks Lucien to seduce and convince Annie to join her sorority. As a reward, he will finally get to have sex with his stepsister (for up to one hour, as specified by Caroline). This part of the plot will likely raise some eyebrows from newcomers who aren’t familiar with the film. But yes, the step siblings have this weird sexual vibe and blatantly, you can’t really have a Cruel Intentions remake without this particular plot point.
But here’s why some fans will likely struggle with the series: the toxic Greek life drama is guiding the plot too much, including character motifs and even the bet. At the end of episode two, there’s a protest against Greek life on campus during Caroline’s President’s Night speech—and it feels very out of place. Almost like watching an episode of ‘‘The Sex Lives of College Girls’’, it takes the story completely elsewhere.
While a sorority setting makes sense for Caroline, I doubt it needed to be such a major driving force behind her actions and entire arc. In Kumble’s Cruel Intentions, the character of Kathryn Merteuil (aka Caroline, in the series) was the villain not because she was part of a questionable organization, but because she was the questionable one-woman organization with her own personal vendettas. The Greek life storyline, although interesting in a different context, doesn’t fit too well in the essence of Cruel Intentions, taking away from what made these characters so naturally cruel but also complex in the first place.
On the other hand, Sarah Catherine Hook, who plays Caroline, could not have been a better choice for the revival of this role. In every scene, she delivers the emotional depth but also the essential coldness that makes the perfect Mertuil, making one root for her at times but also not with full trust. She is charismatic on her own and also has a perfectly tense on-screen dynamic with Zac Burgess, who plays Lucien. Together, the pair makes you uneasy but also intrigued for what’s next.
Despite the great casting and certainly entertaining plot, the series is mainly missing that ‘cruelty’ aspect. The original villains in Cruel Intentions (as well as Les Liaisons dangereuses) were so nonchalantly sinister that they had the audience laughing but also disturbed at times. The duo was morally jaw-dropping on a scene-ly basis but you wanted more of them. In the series, every motive is too detailed and unnaturally logical for it to be just simply unapologetically cruel. Both Caroline and Lucien are very likable and honestly great casting, but how the characters were written lacks that terrifying charm. They are intriguing in their own ways but when a series is marketed as a remake, the audience expects the characters to either slightly stay true to their originators or at least outdo them.
One of the standout characters is CeCe Carroway (Sara Silva), Caroline’s sorority sister and people-pleasing personal assistant. CeCe is based on Selma Blair’s Cecile Caldwell from the film, but rewritten with a slightly more independent arc—she is less airy and more ambitious but still has Cecile’s sweet and comedic naivety. This approach to reimagining Cecile as CeCe is the best (and only) example of bringing something from the original and enhancing it with meaningful alterations.
Another change in the series is that it takes place in college with young adults instead of high schoolers at a prep school. Earlier this summer, during my interview with Roger Kumble (writer/director) for the 25th anniversary of Cruel Intentions, we talked about some of the no-brainer decisions he had made about the film. He recalled, ‘‘The biggest fight I had when I wrote [the script] and I was going around to sell it [was that] everyone wanted it but everyone was like, ‘‘Could you make it in college?’’ and I said no. If we made it in college, it just doesn’t have the weight—it’s like, so what? The fact that they are in high school makes it kind of terrifying.’’
With that being said: Amazon Prime’s Cruel Intentions is very fun, steamy at times, and introduces a talented new cast—especially if you’re recently done with binge-watching Maxton Hall and on the lookout for another elite school drama. Although the show doesn’t stand out among its genre, not in the way that the film once easily set itself apart from all the other teen dramas of its time. Again, the cast truly has the potential to win you over and it’s quite the filled-up storyline with enough thrilling romantics and college scandals to get you hooked.
The full season of “Cruel Intentions” with eight episodes was released on Prime Video on Nov. 21.