HBO's 'DTF St. Louis' Episode 1 Review: Did Clark Confess?
Two lonely men. One dating app. And a deadly discovery.
The HBO Original limited series DTF St. Louis, from creator Steven Conrad (Patriot), debuted Sunday, March 1. The seven-episode series will debut weekly leading up to the series finale on Sunday, April 12. This series centers on a love triangle between three people experiencing the downside of marital relations that leads to one of them ending up dead. With the series premiere, “Cornhole,” DTF St. Louis wastes no time riding directly into the wreckage.
Written and directed by Steven Conrad, the series stars Jason Bateman, David Harbour, Linda Cardellini, Richard Jenkins, Joy Sunday, Arlan Ruf, Peter Sarsgaard, and Chris Perfetti. Episode 1 immediately introduces us to Clark (Bateman), Floyd (Harbour), Carol (Cardinelli), Det. Donoghue Homer (Jenkins), and Special Agent Jodie Plumb (Joy Sunday)
From Friendship to Fatality
In a convenience store “meet-cute,” that becomes something far worse than a romantic comedy, Clark and Floyd strike up an immediate friendship that appears to be rooted not just in chemistry and similarity, but in a shared and unspoken loneliness as well. Six weeks later, during a cornhole party, Clark brings up a dating app for married people to spice up their lives: DTF St. Louis (yes, it happens that fast). What begins as curiosity amongst friends quickly becomes the timebomb that sets off all subsequent events.
The show centers on physical attraction and how it fades within a marriage when two people no longer check in; when they no longer find ways to desire nor be attracted to one another. One singular decision between new friends, to step outside their marriages to explore a passionate life beyond their marital bed, leads directly to the investigation of Floyd’s suspicious death by Det. Homer and Agent Plumb.
A Reveal In Plain Sight
We proceed to go down a rabbit hole—or cornhole— of “whodunnit” as we explore a crime through the lens of sexual desires, hidden fantasies, and deadly secrets. The level of secrecy between Floyd and Clark is elevated in their use of sign language to keep their desires from being overheard by their spouses and anyone else in the vicinity. A clever insert from the writing team shows the two friends at the gym practicing ASL, when the final interpretation from Floyd is left unrevealed on the screen—a crucial way to keep a major clue away from the audience and solely between the characters.
Flashes of the moments leading up to Floyd’s death include Clark, Carol, and what’s exposed to us as likely the final moments between Clark and Floyd before his death. Everything in the investigation points to Clark, but is that too easy? Often times it’s the ones closest to you who is the guilty party but, by revealing this so fast, it feels like the perfect setup for the audience to get every prediction wrong right up until the end.
Confession or Cover-Up?
Episode 1 ends rather ambiguously: did Clark confess or is he simply reflecting on how the start of their friendship subsequently became the beginning of the end? And just when you think the episode will close with Clark’s tale of it all starting with a game of cornhole, we go back to the ASL conversation in the gym where Floyd reveals to Clark,
“I know you’re f— my wife.”
A stunning revelation to the episode—that is, unless you are fluent in ASL.
If DTF St. Louis pilot episode feels like sleuthing in online forums, sneaking through phones, or reading someone’s diary, that’s because it is—and it feels intentional.
The framework of the entire episode feels like walking into a messy room—carefully stepping over everything and peeking under scattered junk so you don’t knock anything out of place. You don’t quite know what you’re looking for, but you’ll know you’ve found it when you’ve seen it. That final moment feels like “it” was found by the audience, even if “it” isn’t revealed during Clark’s confession. And as you begin to think “not another whodunnit series, please stop,” the final flashback scene and smash to credits changes it all.
Questions That Need Answers
Do we think Clark confessed?
Do we think that the reason Clark brought up using the app was after he’d already began an affair with Carol (and he used it to hide/justify his actions)?
Was Carol going to umpire code for meeting Clark?
Do we think Carol did it?
A successful “whodunnit” presents many pathways to the truth and “Cornhole” does just that. Here at So There’s That, we love predictions and theorizing, and DTF St. Louis is the perfect series that sets us on the path to a dark discovery.
So who do you think is guilty? Tune in weekly as we uncover the deadly truth.
DTF St. Louis will air every Sunday at 9pm ET/PT only on HBO. Check out the trailer below.