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The Midwest is usually associated with uncomplicated kindness\u2014nice, polite people who like college football, a cold beer, and (recent events in Minnesota<\/a> notwithstanding) treating their neighbors with dignity and respect. But as an oft repeated phrase on Steven Conrad<\/strong>\u2019s new HBO show warns, there\u2019s more to Midwesterners than meets the eye.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one\u2019s normal,\u201d says Conrad, Zooming in from California. \u201cIt just looks that way from across the street.\u201d<\/p>\n In the HBO limited series DTF St. Louis<\/em>, Conrad explores the darkness just beyond a Midwestern city\u2019s white picket fences. The seven-episode dark comedy stars Emmy favorites Jason Bateman<\/strong><\/a>, David Harbour,<\/strong> and Linda Cardellini<\/strong><\/a> as three middle-aged St. Louis residents grappling with ennui, loneliness, and hidden desires, becoming enmeshed in a love triangle that leaves one of them dead.<\/p>\n As a writer, Conrad\u2014who sold his first screenplay at the age of 19\u2014has always been interested in messiness. \u201c[There\u2019s] a set of themes I\u2019ve liked since I was a young person learning how to write: You watch somebody you like make a mistake, and you watch them try to make up for it,\u201d he says. \u201cYou cheer for them to be able to do that. But like most of the consequential mistakes in our life, there really is no complete way to make it all better again.\u201d<\/p>\n Harbour in DTF St. Louis.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/span>Tina Rowden\/HBO<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n Conrad doubles down on that central theme in DTF St. Louis<\/em>, creating a series that explores how our mistakes\u2014and desires\u2014only compound with age. \u201cThe older I got, it occurred to me that we keep making them. There are plenty of middle-aged mistakes,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Bateman\u2014also an executive producer on the series\u2014was the perfect vessel to convey these ideas. He stars in the show as Clark Forrest, a hot weatherman and a micro-celebrity in the greater St. Louis area. While reporting on a storm, he\u2019s paired with a good-hearted yet simple ASL interpreter named Floyd, played by Harbour. An unlikely friendship between the two blossoms, leading Clark to meet Floyd\u2019s wife, Cardellini\u2019s Carol\u2014a previously single mother struggling to support a troubled tweenage-year-old son and an under-employed husband. The also-married Clark introduces Floyd to a new app called DTF St. Louis, made for singles and swingers looking to spice up their marriages. After a few fateful swipes, everyone\u2019s lives begin to change.<\/p>\n \u201cWe show some billboards for DTF St. Louis, and their log line is, \u2018All of the excitement, none of the consequences,\u2019\u201d Conrad tells me. \u201cA smart person would know that that\u2019s impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n