A bickering couple finds their marriage tested when the husband, an arrogant scientist, shrinks his wife, an embittered author, down to six inches tall.
The first thing to know about The Miniature Wife, Peacock (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/peacock/)’s (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/peacock/)%E2%80%99s) new dramedy based on Manuel Gonzales’ short story, is that the title is not metaphorical. Or, rather, that it is in the sense that it centers on a woman who feels diminished in her marriage — but that those sentiments quickly become literalized when Lindy (Elizabeth Banks (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/elizabeth-banks/)) (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/elizabeth-banks/))) is accidentally reduced to a six-inch height by her scientist husband, Les (Matthew Macfadyen (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/matthew-macfadyen/)). (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/matthew-macfadyen/)).)
The inciting incident arrives at what was already an inflection point in the Littlejohns’ marriage.
Married for 20 years and miserable for the last several, they’ve fallen into an annual tradition of promising they’ll do better in the New Year, only to backslide into their usual bickering at the slightest provocation.
As quickly becomes apparent in the Greg Mottola-directed premiere, this holiday season is no exception.
When workaholic Les bails on their anniversary plans to hole up in his lab, Lindy, a once-promising novelist whose career has been put on hold in part so Les could pursue his, declares she’s done for good.
Then she gets hit with an errant spray of an experimental chemical he’s been working on, and she finds herself more trapped than ever thanks to her new, freakishly tiny size.
To give credit where it’s due: In a sea of largely indistinguishable streaming shows about wealthy white people trapped in unhappy marriages, creators Jennifer Ames and Steve Turner offer a fresh spin on that ballooning subgenre, if nothing else.
While it doesn’t feel wholly original — think The War of the Rosesby way of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, with a liberal sprinkling of Gone Girl references for good measure — at least it’s not another coastal murder mystery.
What if the biggest problem in your marriage literally became the smallest?
That's the premise behind The Miniature Wife - the brand-new sci-fi romantic comedy which is already shaping up to be one of the most talked-about new shows of the year.
Elizabeth plays Lindy Littlejohn, a bestselling author who finds herself suddenly (and very inconveniently) miniaturised.
Matthew is her husband Les Littlejohn, and the man responsible for building the device that caused the whole disaster in the first place.
Yep, it’s awkward! To make matters worse, when Les attempts to reverse the process and make things big again, they tend to explode.
Lindy is stuck and, understandably, not happy about it.
Well-meaning but catastrophically careless, Les spends the series desperately trying to reverse what he's done, while quietly finding that he might not entirely hate the new power dynamic.
RPW (O-T Fagbenle) is a physicist and a colleague of Les Littlejohn (Matthew Macfadyen).
He helped create the device which miniaturized Lindy (Elizabeth Banks).
Although it's not quite reciprocated with the same passion, RPW loves Lindy and would do anything for her.
Vivienne (Zoe Lister-Jones) controls the flow of money at the lab – and is not impressed with Les Littlejohn’s (Matthew Macfadyen) antics.
She has no patience for the amount of time and money the rapidly failing project is costing and wants to put an end to it.
New money lab owner Hilton Smith (Ronny Chieng) has the cash but not the science to back it up.
He loves reminding ‘his’ team who’s boss at all times, and regularly clashes with Les Littlejohn (Matthew Macfadyen) who is trying to keep the project on track with new vigour when he realises he needs to figure out a way to resize his wife.
While Hilton is not the brains behind the operation, his loud mouth and money certainly makes him the noise!
Lulu Littlejohn (Sofia Rosinsky) is the teenage daughter of Lindy and Les (Elizabeth Banks and Matthew Macfadyen), and finds herself caught in the middle of the most surreal family crisis imaginable.
Navigating life with a miniaturised mother and a guilt-ridden scientist father would test anyone – let alone trying to cope with it as a confused young person.