# Shining Girls (2022)

> A traumatized woman whose reality keeps shifting teams with a veteran reporter to unravel a murder tied to her own brutal attack.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/88905

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 8
- Episode runtime: 51 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, mystery, thriller
- Created by: Silka Luisa
- Network: Apple TV
- Cast: Elisabeth Moss, Wagner Moura, Phillipa Soo, Chris Chalk, Amy Brenneman, Jamie Bell, Madeline Brewer, Ulrich Thomsen
- TMDB rating: 7.4/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2953250/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: brutal
- Tone: eerie, paranoid, melancholic, claustrophobic, propulsive

## What critics say

Audience reception is positive, with viewers praising the lead performance and the unsettling premise while the 7.4/10 rating reflects a well-received but modest-sized thriller.

## Synopsis

Shining Girls (2022) is an American limited series created by Silka Luisa for Apple TV, an eight-episode prestige thriller adapted from a novel. Elisabeth Moss plays Kirby Mazrachi, a woman who survived a brutal attack that left her living in a constantly shifting reality, and Wagner Moura plays veteran reporter Dan Velazquez, who helps her investigate a recent murder linked to her assault. Chris Chalk, Amy Brenneman and Jamie Bell round out the principal cast. The engine is a race to connect a present that will not hold still with a past she cannot fully trust: each episode peels back another layer of the killer's pattern while Kirby struggles to tell memory from distortion. The show is a single continuing story rather than a case of the week, built on eerie, paranoid suspense and a pervasive sense of dread. Set in contemporary Chicago, it moves through gritty urban streets, newsrooms and quiet apartments, with a mood that is melancholic and claustrophobic. Fans of Dark, Mindhunter and The Night Of will find resonance in its blend of psychological unease, trauma and investigative tension.

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