As a True Crime/Crime drama, the premise of this show - a Choose Your Own Adventure, non-linear story based around different interrogation tapes - caught my eye. What sealed the deal for me was seeing Kyle Gallner - an actor whose work I loved back in the mid-2000s - was signed on as the lead.
I had my reservations over a few things - the quality of shows on CBS All-Access, the other bodies of work done by the showr unners. But after watching the entire series (I chose chronological order of when the event happened, instead of how the episodes were listed in order), I have to say the show lived up to my hype.
Gallner is perfectly cast as Eric, particularly nailing the scenes when his character is an unstable 17-year-old junkie. It's partly a time-capsule for the roles he played early in his career, partly a show for how he has grown as an actor over the years. It's so exciting to see him graduating from guest star to series lead.
Peter Sarsgaard is always a pleasant surprise when he pops up, and he plays the misguided cop in such a subtle way. This isn't a arrogant, domineering, almost stereotypical performance of the "bad cop" we usually see. Sarsgaard brings humanity and sympathy to the character, making him hard to hate when he's clearly in the wrong and impossible not to feel sorry for when we see his personal struggles.
There are some minor criticisms though. I think there could have been more effort put into make-up to make the characters look older/younger a the series jumped across 27 year. A bit of grey hair in the wigs, or a slight belly pouch for Sarsgaard doesn't really add up to much. Thankfully, the actors knew how to fill in the gaps - Gallner portrays his 17-year-old character as jumpy and fidgetty, but injects more confidence and rigidity into his body language as the character is in his 40s.
It may have been the order I chose to watch the series, but I did call the true killer quite early. Having said that, the more I watched and the more information that came up there were still moments where I questioned myself, which is a plus for a Crime Drama fan. Good writing isn't spoon feeding your audience the answer, just like it isn't pulling something completely out of left field and calling it a "plot twist". At the very least, the writers have done their job well when it comes to unraveling the murder mystery.
But ultimately, there are a few unanswered questions at the end, which maybe the writer's left for the audience to fill in on their own. Or maybe it was just a failure to tie up all the loose ends.
The questions: why didn't police check for fingerprints on the window panes? Why did Eric ramp himself up to hysteria on the second phone call to 911? Was Chris really dead, or was Amy paranoid?
I'm not completely satisfied by these hanging questions, and it does leave the ending on an underwhelming note. But overall, the performances from Gallner, Sarsgaard and Kodi Smit McPhee (Australia represent) are compelling, the main mystery, and the social commentary on the judicial system are all aces.
I had my reservations over a few things - the quality of shows on CBS All-Access, the other bodies of work done by the showr unners. But after watching the entire series (I chose chronological order of when the event happened, instead of how the episodes were listed in order), I have to say the show lived up to my hype.
Gallner is perfectly cast as Eric, particularly nailing the scenes when his character is an unstable 17-year-old junkie. It's partly a time-capsule for the roles he played early in his career, partly a show for how he has grown as an actor over the years. It's so exciting to see him graduating from guest star to series lead.
Peter Sarsgaard is always a pleasant surprise when he pops up, and he plays the misguided cop in such a subtle way. This isn't a arrogant, domineering, almost stereotypical performance of the "bad cop" we usually see. Sarsgaard brings humanity and sympathy to the character, making him hard to hate when he's clearly in the wrong and impossible not to feel sorry for when we see his personal struggles.
There are some minor criticisms though. I think there could have been more effort put into make-up to make the characters look older/younger a the series jumped across 27 year. A bit of grey hair in the wigs, or a slight belly pouch for Sarsgaard doesn't really add up to much. Thankfully, the actors knew how to fill in the gaps - Gallner portrays his 17-year-old character as jumpy and fidgetty, but injects more confidence and rigidity into his body language as the character is in his 40s.
It may have been the order I chose to watch the series, but I did call the true killer quite early. Having said that, the more I watched and the more information that came up there were still moments where I questioned myself, which is a plus for a Crime Drama fan. Good writing isn't spoon feeding your audience the answer, just like it isn't pulling something completely out of left field and calling it a "plot twist". At the very least, the writers have done their job well when it comes to unraveling the murder mystery.
But ultimately, there are a few unanswered questions at the end, which maybe the writer's left for the audience to fill in on their own. Or maybe it was just a failure to tie up all the loose ends.
The questions: why didn't police check for fingerprints on the window panes? Why did Eric ramp himself up to hysteria on the second phone call to 911? Was Chris really dead, or was Amy paranoid?
I'm not completely satisfied by these hanging questions, and it does leave the ending on an underwhelming note. But overall, the performances from Gallner, Sarsgaard and Kodi Smit McPhee (Australia represent) are compelling, the main mystery, and the social commentary on the judicial system are all aces.