Peacock's The Miniature Wife has big tricks up its sleeve

What does it mean to actually feel small in a relationship and spend your life with someone who doesn’t know or appreciate you? Lindy gave up a burgeoning writing career to move from New York City to St. Louis for Les. And his two decades’ worth of work hasn’t yielded results. Their unique circumstances pave the way for The Miniature Wife to dig into universal questions, and it eventually does so with incisiveness and humor. In fact, the show frequently swerves between farce, action, and romance, much like The War Of The Roses and Mr. & Mrs. Smith. All is fair in love and war, so with escalating ferocity, Lindy and Les attempt to attack each other (verbally and otherwise). However, their passion, connection, and history bind them together despite their fights, much to the chagrin of other love interests (played by O-T Fagbenle and Zoe Lister-Jones). The latter is a chic tech manager with a crush on Les, having eliminated Jeff Bezos and Sam Bankman-Fried as her options.

Banks and Macfadyen are thankfully committed to the ludicrous bit. She has a physically demanding role, considering Lindy falls, jumps, runs, and punches throughout the season. But the actor makes her character’s exhaustion, fear, and rage tangible. Macfadyen, who knows a thing or two about shitty onscreen marriages, is striking as a sheltered madman unable to deal with failure. But they also capture a certain sweetness that is needed to sell their relationship. Along with their vulnerable performances, it’s easy to sink into The Miniature Wife because of Mike Leandro’s set decoration, stellar visual effects, and amusing props that highlight just how short Lindy is. The show’s conceit allows for surreal sight gags, like Lindy using Legos as stairs for her dollhouse, having frantic fights with an insect and a cat, and petting someone’s nose just like Dany did to her dragons in Game Of Thrones. 

As entertaining as this is, at 10 episodes, The Miniature Wife threatens to overstay its welcome. The show can’t seamlessly piece together subplots outside the main pair, including ones with Lindy’s agent (played by Sian Clifford) and a douchey entrepreneur who acquires Les’ company (portrayed by Ronny Chieng). TMW also suffers from Annoying TV Teen syndrome with Lulu Littlejohn (Sofia Rosinsky), whose hatred of her mother drives her actions for too long and for little payoff. In examining Lindy’s maternal instincts, which tie back to her own strict mom (played by Linda Emond), the show provides commentary about intergenerational trauma—but it feels shoehorned in. Despite the occasional dips of this roller-coaster, The Miniature Wife mines from its concept well, turning a largely escapist dramedy into one of surprising substance. 

Saloni Gajjar is The A.V. Club‘s TV critic. The Miniature Wife premieres April 9 on Peacock.