Defending Jacob (Apple TV+) S01: B+

Tragedy strikes a normal family, when Jacob (played by Jaeden Martell) is accused of murdering one of his classmates. His father (played by Chris Evans) is an assistant to the district attorney and he never imagines that the case he is investigating would turn agains his own son.

The marital struggle that comes with such an event, the secrets that come out thanks to it, are added to the drama of the on going trial.

This miniseries is based on the book by William Landay and the creator of the series is Mark Bomback, he is the writer behind the last Planet Of The Apes trilogy, among other films. He does a very decent job on this one, but for many the problem would be that the series doesn't stand out from others similar in story and style. It goes by the book of the unwritten rules of the genre. Even the photography, the grey / blue tone of the images go hand in hand with this type of stories.

I think that as a movie this could have worked better, since there are not that many twist and turns that really put you against your seat. Of course there is the question of whether or not Jacob is guilty, but other than that the story don't really venture beyond that house.

Michelle Dockery does a terrific job as Jacob's mother Laurie. And they could have explored more the torture and suffering of a mother to watch her son go under such an ordeal. That affects the life's of the whole family, and maybe things would never be the same again, regardless of the verdict.

Chris Evans serves also as a producer and his performance is good, but not really a stand out of his career. I would have expected a little bit more of this series in order to give it a better grade. But that doesn't mean is bad. In fact people that are not that demanding would completely enjoy, suffer and live the drama that the Barber family goes thru.

From the supporting cast we have a great performance by J.K. Simmons who plays Billy, Andy Barber's father. Let's just say that they are not on speaking terms so the tension between them is really good. But again the series focus so much on Jacob and the trial, that they don't venture that far away from that, Billy would have been an interesting storyline to watch as well.

Cherry Jones as Joanna, Jacob's lawyer also gives us a good performance and at times it seemed that her character would add more to the story, but doesn't really go beyond that. And Jacob's therapist played by Never Have I Ever favorite Poorna Jagannathan, is such a small character that again I thought would become more relevant as the story developed. But both of this characters stay sidelined.

I'm not going to go into detail of the series finale, but let me just say that it could divide opinions over it. A part of me liked it, but there is also a part of me that feels that is not a proper ending.

Unfortunately Defending Jacob is still among the first series that Apple TV+ brings to the table on its first year online. And so far only The Morning Show has stood out, but the service needs more popular material to attract subscribers. But so far there hasn't been many reasons to get a subscription to the service. And the fact that Defending Jacob is a miniseries and not a series, doesn't help them either. Also I'm sure the pandemic didn't help the streaming service as it halted many productions.