He Had It Coming (2025): Feminist Fury Meets Murder Mystery Chaos

Film Title: He Had It Coming
Cast: Lydia West, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Liv Hewson, Duncan Fellows, Roxie Mohebbi, Tom Dawson, Alex Champion de Crespigny, Mabel Li, Miah Madden.
Director: Rachel House, Anne Renton
Writers: Gretel Vella, Craig Anderson, Emme Hoy, Belinda King, Nick Coyle, Hannah Samuel
Distribution: Stan (Australia)
Production: Jungle Entertainment, Screen Australia
Release Date: November 20, 2025
Review by: Mother of Movies

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When Vandalism Becomes a Murder Investigation

He Had It Coming arrives on Stan like a Molotov cocktail thrown at the patriarchy, messy, incendiary, and impossible to ignore. This Australian black comedy crime mystery kicks off with Lydia West’s Elise, a bagpipe scholarship student (yes, you read that right), sitting through an art history lecture that’s basically a slideshow of male gaze objectification. From 1863 nudes to contemporary Fine Art’s obsession with naked women and fully clothed men, the opening scene establishes the series’ thesis: the world has been gaslighting women for centuries, and these characters are done.

When Elise crosses paths with Natasha Liu Bordizzo’s Barbara, a social media influencer fleeing a “reply guy” who’s escalated from Instagram comments to campus stalking, the two forge an unlikely friendship over cheap wine and righteous anger. A drunken night of vandalism (spray-painting “KAM” for “Kill All Men” and “FTP” for “Fuck the Patriarchy” on a campus statue) spirals into something far more sinister when bodies start appearing around the university. Suddenly, their feminist rebellion isn’t just symbolic, it’s tangled up in a murder investigation.

Tonal Chaos: Satire or Silliness?

The series’ greatest strength is also its most maddening flaw. He Had It Coming oscillates between razor-sharp social commentary and eye-rolling absurdity, often within the same scene. The opening lecture, where a professor gleefully displays centuries of female objectification in art (John Collier’s “Lady Godiva,” Henri Gervex’s “Rolla,” Gustave Courbet’s “L’Origine du monde”), is genuinely clever. It underpins the feminist rage with historical context. But then we’re thrown into sequences where Elise’s nervous vomiting becomes a running gag that mysteriously disappears mid-season, or where exchange student Jenny (Mabel Li) delivers lines in an accent so exaggerated it borders on offensive.

When it leans into dark satire, like the scene where male students protest about feeling “unsafe” walking on campus at night, oblivious to the irony, it’s electric. When it veers into quirky comedy territory (Jenny’s knitted garden elements subplot, the “Clit Pong” episode title), it loses the thread entirely.

Character Arcs: Evolution or Exhaustion?

Lydia West brings manic energy to Elise, a character who starts as an anxious outsider (literally called the wrong name by everyone) and transforms into something more complicated. She’s a foreign exchange student from England with a stalking charge in her past. This kind of boundary-pushing characterization is interesting in theory, but Elise’s whacky behavior often tips too far, making her harder to like.

Natasha Liu Bordizzo’s Barbara undergoes the most significant transformation. She begins as a popular influencer dealing with a leaked video (showing her drunkenly humping someone’s leg, but her arc becomes about confronting complicity. Barbara eventually deletes her Instagram, attempting to shed her old identity and start fresh. It’s a quietly radical choice in a series that’s otherwise screaming its themes through a megaphone. The show hints at darker elements in Barbara’s past involving a character named Maya.

The supporting cast is a mixed bag. Liv Hewson (from Yellowjackets) plays Officer Ivy Shepherd with an intensity that suggests she’s carrying secrets. Her character remains frustratingly underutilized in the main narrative. Duncan Fellows’ Detective Roach provides minimal procedural investigation. However, they both seem more like hired security as they lack police qualities that would give them more clout.

When Feminism Becomes a Hashtag

The series doesn’t shy away from provocative slogans. “KAM” (Kill All Men), “Dead Men Don’t Rape,” and “Down with the Patriarchy” are plastered across protest signs and graffiti throughout. In 2025, as reproductive rights remain under siege in multiple countries and figures like Trump continue to dominate political discourse, this rage feels earned. The show taps into a very real exhaustion with the “Not All Men” rebuttal, as one character suggests, the question isn’t whether all men are violent, it’s figuring out which one in three will be.

But He Had It Coming struggles to move beyond sloganeering. The feminist themes are front-loaded in the first few episodes. The series wants to interrogate male violence, campus rape culture, and social media’s complicity in harassment, but it keeps getting distracted by its own attempts at quirky humor. When a professor gives Elise an F for putting clothes on classical nude paintings (her attempt at “edgy” art), it’s a perfect metaphor for how the show treats its own politics, covering up the uncomfortable parts instead of confronting them head-on.

Pacing Problems and Missing Pieces

Here’s where He Had It Coming loses me: the pacing is wildly inconsistent, and the narrative assumes you’re watching every episode with full attention. Miss one installment, and you’ll be scrambling to understand character motivations or subplot resolutions. (Turns out Barbara once supported friends who assaulted Maya, and Barbara herself was assaulted that same night but remains in denial. It’s heavy stuff that the show handles with frustrating speed.)

The series also introduces too many characters without giving them room to breathe. Roxie Mohebbi’s Prue leads a feminist faction on campus, while Patrick Parker’s Lyle heads a men’s rights group (he gets murdered, naturally). These factions could provide interesting ideological conflict, but they’re mostly set dressing. Even the “reply guy” stalker subplot, which should resonate in our current social media landscape, gets abandoned in favor of Jenny’s knitting drama.

By episodes 5-7, the show feels like it’s treading water, padding runtime with detours that don’t serve the central mystery. The procedural elements are thin; we rarely see actual detective work beyond characters talking about evidence. Episode 8 comes with a cliffhanger twist that sets up a second season rather than providing satisfying closure.

The Verdict: Love It or Loathe It

He Had It Coming is the definition of a polarizing watch. If you’re here for boundary-pushing feminist satire that doesn’t apologize for its anger, the first few episodes will hook you completely. If you need consistent characterization, tight procedural plotting, and thematic follow-through, you’ll find yourself increasingly frustrated as the series progresses.

That said, there’s genuine substance buried beneath the silliness. Lydia West and Natasha Liu Bordizzo have undeniable chemistry, selling the evolution of their friendship even when the script doesn’t give them enough to work with. The series raises important questions about complicity, social media harassment, and how women navigate spaces designed to diminish them, even if it doesn’t always have the courage to answer those questions.

He Had It Coming is best approached as a messy, imperfect exploration of female rage in 2025. It’s not the feminist crime thriller we need, but it might be the chaotic, uneven one we deserve right now. Just don’t skip episodes, or you’ll be as lost as the tip of a penis cut off one of the victims.

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He Had It Coming (2025): Stan’s Feminist Murder Mystery Divides Viewers – Verdict & Rating

 

He Had It Coming is rated:
3.5 Feminist manifestos spray-painted on patriarchy statues out of 5

Final Word: He Had It Coming is the feminist murder mystery equivalent of a Molotov cocktail, incendiary, messy, and guaranteed to provoke strong reactions. Just make sure you’re paying attention, or you’ll miss the substance beneath the spray paint.

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Gretel Vella & Craig Anderson’s Filmmaking Stamp

Gretel Vella and Craig Anderson created He Had It Coming as their first major collaboration for Stan, bringing together a writers’ room that includes Emme Hoy, Belinda King, Nick Coyle, and Hannah Samuel. Vella’s previous work leans into character-driven comedy with social undercurrents, while Anderson has experience in Australian television drama. Their combined approach here merges black comedy with crime procedural elements, though the tonal balance remains elusive throughout the eight-episode run.

Directors Rachel House (known for her work on Thor: Ragnarok and Taika Waititi projects) and Anne Renton (whose credits include The Handmaid’s Tale and The Girlfriend Experience) bring visual sophistication to the material. House’s comedic timing and Renton’s ability to handle dark subject matter should theoretically complement each other.

Jungle Entertainment, the production company behind the series, has a track record of Australian content, including Wakefield and The Hunting. Their willingness to tackle controversial subject matter is evident here Screen Australia‘s investment and Screen NSW’s post-production support gave the series the technical polish to compete with international streaming content, making He Had It Coming a visually slick entry in Australia’s growing prestige television landscape.

Internet Buzz & Cast Highlights – Kill All Men Slogan Television Controversy

Online discourse around the series has focused heavily on its feminist messaging, with some viewers praising its unapologetic anger and others critiquing it as performative. The “KAM” (Kill All Men) slogan has proven particularly divisive, with think pieces debating whether the show is satirizing extremism or endorsing it. Reddit threads suggest viewers are split between those who find the dark comedy refreshing and those who feel the tonal shifts undermine the serious subject matter.

Production completed in February 2025, with the series premiering on Stan in November, an unusually quick turnaround that may explain some of the uneven pacing in later episodes.

Similar Titles: If You Loved (or Hated) “He Had It Coming”

Need more feminist rage with a body count? These titles channel similar energy, even if they execute it more consistently:

• Promising Young Woman (2020) – Emerald Fennell’s razor-sharp revenge thriller starring Carey Mulligan.
• The Politician’s Husband (2013) – British miniseries examining power, betrayal, and gender politics. David Tennant and Emily Watson star.
• Yellowjackets (2021–) – If you’re here for Liv Hewson, go back to the source.
• Killing Eve (2018-2022) – Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s cat-and-mouse thriller starring Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer. The first two seasons demonstrate how to blend dark humor, obsessive relationships, and murder.
• Dead to Me (2019-2022) – Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini navigate grief, secrets, and bodies buried in backyards.
• Big Little Lies (2017-2019) – HBO’s adaptation of Liane Moriarty’s novel explores female friendship, domestic violence, and murder.

Streaming Options – Australian Murder Mystery Series Campus Setting

Technical Craft: Shot in Sydney

Shot entirely in Sydney, the production benefits from Screen NSW’s support for post-production and visual effects. The university campus has gothic architecture, casting long shadows over manicured quads where bodies keep turning up.

Jungle Entertainment’s production values are solid throughout. The series looks expensive, with crisp cinematography that contrasts the dark subject matter. There’s a particular sequence where Elise and Barbara attempt to dig up buried clothes (evidence of their initial vandalism) that’s shot with genuine tension, even as the surrounding episodes struggle to maintain momentum.

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SPOILER SECTION: Who’s Really Behind the Murders?

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The Cliffhanger in He Had it Coming TV Show

In the final confrontation, Shepherd holds Barbara and Elise at gunpoint, confessing that she’s been acting under coercion. Before Barbara can negotiate, the Piggy Man appears and stabs Shepherd, then flees. The series ends with Barbara and Elise caught red-handed by Detective Roach, with no escape in sight and the true mastermind still unidentified.

This cliffhanger setup guarantees a second season focused on uncovering Piggy Man’s identity and motivations.

Potential Suspects for Season 2

Based on surviving characters and established relationships:

• Detective Roach – The procedural investigator who’s been present throughout.
• Prue – Leader of the feminist faction. Her ideological extremism could have motivated her to eliminate men she deemed irredeemable, using Shepherd as her weapon.
• Rory – As the boys die off, could Rory be a hidden assassin?
• Jared – Another primary cast member, making them a potential red herring or genuine suspect.
• Jenny – The exchange student with the problematic accent. Her quirky exterior could mask something darker, and she already shows a penchant for blackmail.
• Jess – Listed in main cast but underutilized in first season, suggesting potential expansion in Season 2.

The pig mask itself may be symbolic, pigs are associated with police (“pig” as slang for cops), gluttony, or male chauvinism. The killer’s choice of disguise likely carries thematic weight that will be unpacked in future episodes.

Barbara’s Buried Trauma

In a revelation that deserved more screen time, we learn Barbara once supported friends who sexually assaulted a student named Maya. More disturbingly, Barbara herself was assaulted that same night but remains in complete denial, believing “everybody was just drunk and fooling around.” This psychological dissociation explains some of Barbara’s erratic behavior and her eventual decision to delete her Instagram and reinvent herself.

The Feminist Manifesto and Season 2 of He Had it Coming Theories

The series’ provocative use of “KAM” (Kill All Men) as both graffiti and protest slogan is revealed to be more than shock value. The murders target men who’ve committed or enabled sexual violence, though Shepherd’s coerced killing of Ivan (described as innocent) complicates the vigilante justice narrative. The show wants to explore whether violence against oppressors is justified, but the revelation that Shepherd is being manipulated undercuts that moral inquiry.

Season 2 will presumably explain whether the Piggy Man is a true believer in the feminist cause (making Shepherd their unwilling instrument) or someone exploiting feminist rhetoric for personal gain. It’s unclear which direction the writers will take.