Mysteries are worth a bite
Apple TV+ may have just delivered America’s answer to Broadchurch (let’s pretend Gracepoint, the US remake of that show, never existed). Based on William Landay’s 2012 best-selling novel, Defending Jacob is an atmospheric crime thriller that boasts many of the same hallmarks that marked Chris Chibnall’s British seaside mystery as must-see TV.
There’s the shocking death of a young boy, a community full of secrets who quickly turn on one another, and a beloved actor sporting a luxurious beard.
In this case, it’s not The Doctor, but rather Captain America himself, Chris Evans who, as assistant district attorney Andrew Barber, heads the investigation into the death of 14-year-old Ben Rifkin.
Stabbed three times in the chest in Coldspring Park, near the Barbers’ home, Ben was also a classmate of Andrew’s son Jacob (Jaeden Martell).
But while some within his own department are worried about Andrew’s close connection to the case, he assures them that if something goes wrong, ‘‘I’ll be the one in front of the jury taking the hit’’.
Treading warily, given half the parents at the boys’ school are lawyers, Andrew begins interviewing Ben’s fellow students. However, despite their apparent lack of knowledge, there’s a sense they are holding back, his son included.
Directed with the same style and panache Norwegian Morten Tyldum brought to Jo Nesbo’s Headhunters and The Imitation Game, and backed by Icelandic composer Atli Orvarsson’s haunting score, Defending Jacob also has the feel of Scandi-noir.
Another Apple TV+ mystery, albeit one suitable for much younger viewers, well worth checking out is the 10-part Home Before Dark.
Inspired by real-life junior reporter Hilde Lysiak (the editor of the Orange Street News), it’s the story of Hilde Lisko, a 9-year-old who claims to ‘‘bleed ink’’ and has watched All the President’s Men 36 times.
Having spent her life accompanying her journalist father to Brooklyn homicides, Hilde (Brooklynn
Prince) is now facing her toughest challenge yet. Dad Matt (Jim Sturgess) has lost his job and the family has had to relocate to his childhood hometown of Erie Harbour, Washington, where little happens.
However, it doesn’t take long for her to find something to pique her interest. Hilde stumbles upon a 30-year-old mystery that involves the deceased woman’s brother and her own father.