There’s no question that Shonda Rhimes is a force to be reckoned with, having created such blockbuster series as Grey’s Anatomy and Bridgerton. And now she’s tackling true crime with a new Netflix limited series, Inventing Anna.
The Premise
In Inventing Anna, a journalist with a lot to prove investigates the case of Anna Delvey, the Instagram-legendary German heiress who stole the hearts of New York’s social scene – and stole their money as well. But is Anna New York’s biggest con woman, or is she simply the new portrait of the American dream? Anna and the reporter form a dark, funny, love-hate bond as Anna awaits trial and our reporter fights the clock to answer the biggest question in NYC: who is Anna Delvey? The series is inspired by the New York Magazine article “How an Aspiring ‘It’ Girl Tricked New York’s Party People — and its Banks” by Jessica Pressler, who also serves as a producer.
For those unfamiliar with Anna Delvey (a.k.a. Anna Sorokin), the trailer, linked below, hints at just how far she was willing (and able!) to take the con. Anna Chlumsky, who played Amy Brookheimer on Veep, plays Vivian Kent, the journalist who broke the case, and since real-life journalist Jessica Pressler serves as a producer on the show, one imagines the story will largely be told through her eyes. But it’s unsurprisingly Anna Delvey/Sorokin herself – played by Julia Garner of Ozark fame that steals the attention, complete with (possibly intentional) dubious accent. (Supposedly, the real Delvey/Sorokin’s accent is very much muddled – she is a con artist and not a linguist, after all.) Even in the brief glimpses provided in the trailer, she appears at times charming and brazen as she requests – and apparently secures – a forty million dollar loan; at times obliviously entitled, as she insults Vivian’s appearance from behind bars; and at times so mousy, it’s hard to believe how she got away with her crimes.
If there’s one thing Anna Delvey/Sorokin’s story proves, it’s that you can get away with just about anything if you’re brazen enough to try and bold enough not to let fear hold you back. Well…almost.
The Payoff
So, is Inventing Anna everything one has come to expect from a Shondaland show?
From the very first episode, Anna Delvey/Sorokin (okay, I’m going to just call her Anna Delvey, even though I have as much confidence in that name being real as I do in anything else about her story)… From the very first episode, Anna Delvey is a fascinating mystery you can’t help but want to crack. Who is she, really? What is she? Is she German? Russian? Neither? Both? Which, if any, persona that she presented to the world was true? Were any of them?
I watched the first episode of this limited series with a huge bowl of popcorn and every intention of pacing myself. I ended up eating…more bowls of popcorn than I’m willing to admit in print and absolutely no self-control (as evidenced by the copious amount of popcorn), just in the first hour alone.
Who is Anna Delvey? I need to know! Who is she?
As one might expect of a Shondaland show, Inventing Anna is addictive television. It’s slick and polished, with plenty of twists that are made even more enthralling because they’re based on a true story. Unless, of course, they aren’t.
And that’s really what makes Inventing Anna the newest example of Shonda Rhimes‘s propensity to make must-see TV. Watch one hour of this series, and I guarantee you’re going to watch the rest. You’ll want to know more.
Seriously, who is Anna Delvey????
Of course, the whole point is…we may never really know. But perhaps the fun comes in trying to find out. And going along for the ride.
Check out the trailer:
Will you be binging Inventing Anna when it premieres on Netflix on February 11? Sound off in the comments below!
