Shondaland Strikes Again

Netflix’s ‘Inventing Anna’ is the latest hit from the Shonda Rhimes factory.

Courtesy of Netflix

If you’ve been watching the most recent limited series on Netflix called ‘Inventing Anna’ you’ve probably started to notice some familiar faces and styles to another breakout show, ‘Scandal’. There’s one key reason that these shows feel so familiar, it’s because of the talented woman pictured below, Shonda Rhimes. After creating shows such as ‘Greys Anatomy’, ‘How to Get Away with Murder’, and ‘Scandal’ — She signed a reported $300 million dollar exclusive deal with Netflix in 2017.

Photos: Getty Images, NETFLIX; Illustration: Dillen Phelps

This brings us to ‘Inventing Anna’, Shondaland’s second Netflix series after the pop culture phenomenon ‘Bridgerton’. ‘Inventing Anna’ follows a journalist, played by Anna Chlumsky, who has a deep reputational hole to dig out of as she investigates the strange case of Anna Delvy, an Instagram famous German Heiress who stole the hearts of the New York Socialite scene — and also their money.

This is where the real-life source material exceeds what any writer's room could conjure. If you put aside the moral pitfalls in her endeavors, it’s kinda impressive that she made it as far into her scam as she did. It’s deranged to begin to think that anyone could have the guts to embark on conning some of New Yorks's finest out of thousands, and almost millions, of dollars. Let alone come within a hair of convincing legitimate financial institutions to invest in a social club. How could anyone manage to swindle money from seemingly sophisticated socialites? All orchestrated by someone who no one has heard of and with no legitimate credentials.

Where it becomes less impressive is when it came to her friends. Delvy left a trail of tragedy amongst her friend group. They were lured into her enigma persona and as a result, one girlfriend was left holding a $60,000 hotel bill…

As usual, Rhimes captures this rollercoaster in epic fashion and similar style to her previous hit, ‘Scandal’. There’s continuous drama in every episode that ties together tension building across the limited series. As the audience, you’ll have a first-hand look at how Delvy fooled the elite class of New York while digging a hole too deep to scale out of. All the questions you’re wondering will be answered, where did she come from? What does her family think of this? Shonda leaves no stone unturned. It's another excellent show in her growing portfolio and serves to grow the aurora around her style and abilities as a TV connoisseur.

The biggest issue with the show doesn’t fall to Rhimes. It’s the root of a lot of problems, acting. Specifically one person, Anna Chlumsky. Some of her facial expressions, dialogue delivery, and mannerisms did not come off the way she intended. The goal of her character is to be an investigator for the audience and ask the questions of Delvy that we can’t. Instead of effectively probing for the audience and raising the show's entertainment value, her performance only serves as a distraction. However, this is balanced out by Julia Garner’s performance as Anna Delvy. Garner nails the accent and attitude that is unique to Delvy. Gandering at the photo below, you can see the resemblance between Garner in the show and Delvy in real life. Garner is proving to be a reliable actress who is capable of exceeding any limitations someone tries to put on her abilities. I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of her work in the coming years.

GETTY IMAGES/NETFLIX

After watching the show it won’t come as a surprise to anyone that the real Anna Delvy felt like it portrayed her badly, which I’m not sure how she thought it would’ve turned out any differently. It goes to show just how warped her thinking is behind every action. However, one unique aspect of this show is that you, the audience, can decide for yourself. Was Delvy going to return the money after getting the loan? Or abscond with even more of her friend's and business partner's money? I guess we will never know…

Check out the trailer below!

‘Inventing Anna’ = 7.3/10

*This article was originally published in the Film Cut