‘Hearts’ Is Wickedly Watchable

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, CBS delivers an engrossing two-part passion play beginning Sunday at 9 p.m. in which love conquers all.

Of course, with a title like “Guilty Hearts,” you might suspect that there’s a seamier side to the story, and you’d be right--in spades. The miniseries is scarcely an hour old before infidelity, dark threats and then murder grab center stage, and it’s a wild ride to the finish (Part 2 airs Wednesday at 9 p.m.).

The wickedly watchable miniseries is based on the true story of a woman (Academy Award-winner Marcia Gay Harden as Jenny Moran) whose growing dissatisfaction with her marriage leaves her vulnerable to the charms of the town icon (Treat Williams as Dr. Stephen Carrow).

The strong cast, which includes another Oscar-winner in Olympia Dukakis, helps elevate the movie above its soap-opera sensibilities, and the brisk pace directed by Marcus Cole negotiates jaw-dropping twists and turns with aplomb, particularly in Part 1.

A scene early on in which Moran and Carrow meet at a coffee shop, ostensibly just to chat about their common interests, is particularly well done. Using fade-cuts to denote the passage of time, the innocent meeting ends up galvanizing the characters into a belief that they are only cheating their spouses by remaining with them.

With Moran’s boorish husband (Gary Basaraba) and Carrow’s chilly wife (Jennifer Dale) representing the other halves of the equation, it’s even a move viewers might be pulling for. But then a bigger picture starts to emerge.

And when Carrow’s wife, confronted with his plans for divorce, replies, “I’m going to take you for everything you’ve built up all these years,” you know things are going to get messy.

Happy Valentine’s Day.