PEACOCK’S “STRUNG” IS A TWISTY THRILLER WORTH GETTING TANGLED IN

There are few things more satisfying in a thriller than a rich Black family with a mansion full of secrets. Strung knows that, and for most of its runtime, it has fun pulling at each loose thread until everything starts to unravel.

The Malcolm D. Lee-directed Peacock original stars singer-songwriter and one half of Chloe x Halle, Chloe Bailey, as Laila, an aspiring classical violinist chasing a coveted seat in the city philharmonic. Instead, she’s substitute teaching music, crashing on her best friend’s couch, and trying to keep her dream alive one audition at a time. She’s also having nightmares about the young sister she lost. In other words, she could use some economic stability.

 Enter Audra, an elegantly coifed stranger.

Audra (played with fabulous, honeyed menace by Lynn Whitfield) overhears Laila playing and offers her a private tutoring job for her granddaughter. The pay’s better, the house is grander, and the connection to the philharmonic is exactly the kind of door Laila’s been waiting for someone to open.

But this is a thriller. So every blessing comes with a trap door.

SPOILERS FOR "STRUNG" FROM THIS POINT

the type of money they pay me is the perfect opportunity.

Before the gates to the mansion even swing open, Laila’s wowed. She’s bright-eyed, bubbly, and overwhelmed by the opulence she’s suddenly crossed into. Her new student is Zuri (played by Romy Woods), a child with severe allergies, a locked-down personality, and a habit of hiding behind a Dahomey warrior mask that belonged to her dead father, the rapper RGB. The family says RGB died of an overdose, but the house has the energy of a place where everyone knows the official story is total crap.

At first, Strung practically begs you to assume Zuri is the problem. Between the creepy mask, and the Blumhouse logo in the opening credits, you could be forgiven for expecting a very different kind of movie. Zuri’s behavior, along with the eerie way she echoes another young Black girl who looms large in Laila’s memory, seems to set her up for the classic killer-kid role. But Strung quickly swerves away from that setup.

Laila gets pulled further in because Zuri’s behavior hits a nerve. As a child, she watched her younger sister die from an asthma attack, and that loss makes it hard for her to walk away from another little girl in distress.

So despite the icy reception Laila receives from Audra’s daughter, Imani (Titans star Anna Diop), Laila stays. Imani should be grateful for the arrival of this supposed childcare savior, especially since she’s well into her third trimester, but her hostility tells on the house before the plot does. Everybody here is keeping something from somebody.

Ok, let's talk about Marcus, the real problem.

Played by a frequently shirtless Lucien Laviscount, Marcus is Imani's husband, a music-biz exec who coincidentally is also the charming stranger Laila slept with before accepting the tutoring job. And from there, Strung starts getting real, real squirrelly. Marcus is married to a pregnant Imani. He’s also sleeping with nanny Laila. He’s also involved with mother-in-law Audra. He may or may not have aided in former husband RGB's death. And he may or may not have helped steal former husband RGB's money. Some men cheat. Marcus is out here building a whole fuckboy ecosystem.

The movie’s not subtle. But it does have momentum. And it knows the unique and distinct pleasures of a messy, Black thriller.

we don't pay you to worry.

Bailey anchors all of the films many turns with an easy sincerity. Laila is chasing the biggest opportunity of her career while quietly carrying the loss of her sister. And she never lets either side of that equation overwhelm the other. Her optimism and her grief are constantly in conversation with one another, which makes Laila far more interesting than the typical thriller heroine. She’s not foolish, she's hopeful. And thrillers love putting hopeful women through hell.

What's a thriller without a best friend? Coco Jones pops in and out as comic relief and the audience's grounding force. Her chemistry with Bailey gives the film room to breathe between all the tension.

And Lynn Whitfield, unsurprisingly, steals every scene she's in.

The movie does get crowded, though. Imani, especially, could use more screen time. She has one of the most devastating positions in the story—dead husband, lying new husband, dangerous mother, endangered child—but the plot keeps moving around her as if she isn't even there. I almost wonder how delicate the film would've been if the story was told from Imani's point of view.

But Strung isn’t trying to be delicate. It wants to entertain, and mostly, it does. The twists pile up. People make terrible decisions in beautiful rooms. Lynn Whitfield narrows her eyes and suddenly the temperature drops. And that’s a perfectly valid use of everyone’s time.

be careful what you dream.

After all that plotting, lying, framing, and attempted murder, Audra meets her end by way of the massive glass chandelier she lovingly showed off to Laila on her first tour of the home. Is it obvious symbolism? Extremely. Is it satisfying? Absolutely.

The movie gives Zuri the final grace note. She performs a song from her father’s music box, and the movie finally lets her just be a kid.

Those little emotional beats keep Strung from being pure camp, but only just. The movie’s got a dead rapper, a creepy mask, stolen money, secret affairs, real estate porn, and Lynn Whitfield gliding through a house like she personally invented emotional surveillance. It may not reinvent the modern thriller; it’s basically a Lifetime movie with Peacock money. But that’s exactly what makes it so fun.

7/10 A twisty little thriller that may not reinvent the genre, but absolutely knows how to have fun with it.