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Zero time Tony Award winner • Production Assistant • Serial rewatcher
As soon as the first three episodes of Defending Jacob released on AppleTV+ I was hitting play on my remote. It combines everything I love in a television show. There’s mystery, plot twists, thrills and, for good measure, Chris Evans.
This limited series is based on the novel by William Landay and it’s about the Barber family who has to deal with the accusation that their 14-year-old son is a murderer. Andy (Chris Evans) is a defense attorney, Laurie (Michelle Dockery) is a teacher at a school for underprivileged children and Jacob (Jaeden Martell) is a regular high school kid.
In the first episode you see Andy being interrogated by a fellow district attorney. It has to do with the murder case that took place 10 months prior. The narrative then flips back to the day of the murder. A normal suburban family, joking banter in the kitchen, everything seems normal. None of them suspect that in less than 24 hours their lives are going to be flipped upside-down. The body of 14-year-old Ben Rifkin is found in a park near a residential area. Andy is assigned to the case and part of that is interviewing all of the students of Archer High are questioned. Things start getting weird when one of Jacob’s classmates accuses him of murder. As the series progresses, the family dynamic takes a turn. Laurie starts to lose her trust and questions the evidence around her. Andy spills an old family secret that starts to mess with Jacob’s mind and flashbacks of Jacob’s childhood seem to push away his innocence.
I want to keep this as spoiler free as I can so here is my casual review of the series so far. The ease of domesticity is not equivalent with the tension of the mystery. Now, I understand why but I do wish that the home-life was expanded a little more. I feel that it would give more of an insight to the characteristics of the Barber family. I would prefer that instead of the back and forth scenes of Andy being interrogated. The suspense flows really well from episode to episode. The third episode left off on somewhat of a cliffhanger so I’m anxious to see what the next one holds. There is a big psychological factor here. That comes from the flashbacks I mentioned that both Andy and Laurie experience. Flashbacks that lead them to realize their family was far from perfect all along and they just tried keeping up a persona. Lying wasn’t the right choice to make. It always comes back to bite you. One thing’s for sure, I can’t wait to see how the rest plays out. We’re seeing that Andy will stop at nothing to prove his son’s innocence. Although right now we’re unable to tell who the benefit is for, Jacob’s or if there is another motive.
If you’re not subscribed already, you can watch the first two episodes for free on AppleTv+. To watch the third episode, you can sign up for a free seven day trial. May 1st is the next release date and the rest of the episodes will come out every week after that. Reviews seem to be mixed online, and I’d love to know what you all think. Follow @TheCinemaSpot on twitter for my reviews on the rest of the series and follow @msfrancescaaloe on twitter for more tweets about Chris Evans.
Zero time Tony Award winner • Production Assistant • Serial rewatcher
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