"Mary Kills People" aired on Lifetime last Sunday, April 23. The plot and the themes surround the controversial subject of euthanasia. While the main focus is on euthanasia, that is not the only theme. There is some irony in the series. For instance, Mary is a single mother supporting her two young children as an emergency room doctor by day where she saves lives. Then by night, the doctor and a partner assist people in their own death for a very high fee.
This might not seem like a movie some people want to watch on a Sunday night, but producers and officials are asking viewers to give the six-episode series a chance.
The ratings for this first short season will determine if the show will be canceled or given the green light for a second season. A little over one million people watched the premiere.
The first episode was packed with everything crime thrillers, medical series and soap operas are made of. Viewers noticed a lot of things happened quickly in the very first episode that are usually spread out over several episodes in a lot of television series. Producers wanted to give the audience enough to keep them returning for the remaining five episodes.
Actor speaks out
Actor Richard Short who plays Mary's partner, Des Bennett, wants people to watch not to get viewers to change their mind about assisted suicide but to bring awareness to what could happen and what does often happen that people keep hidden about the delicate subject.
The 41-year-old British actor told Fox News that his character helps terminally ill patients end their lives on their own terms.
The new Lifetime series is a combination of a crime thriller, medical series, and a soap opera all rolled into one show. Short added that there is a cliff hanger at the end of each hour-long episode that is explained in the next one.
The writers deliberately used this method to get viewers thinking about what's coming next. Fans of the series will anticipate the next episode only to discover that there are twists and turns they didn't see coming.
Freedom of choice
Short posted a picture on Instagram of himself from a scene in "Mary Kills People" along with his views about Freedom Of Choice.
He confessed that his own personal views of euthanasia were developed while working on the series. In his post, he said people push assisted suicide aside until they or a family member is faced with that difficult decision.
It was through his research and learning the stories of real people living through a terminal condition that the actor realized that it should be up to terminally ill people to decide their fate and not leave it up to others to make that decision for them. Notice with all assisted suicides, the ill person must participate in his own death. He must be the one to take the pills or drink the lethal cocktail. Mary and her partner assist until something goes wrong as it did in the first episode.
Watch "Mary Kills People" on Lifetime on Sunday nights at 10 p.m.
