Long Bright River (Peacock series - 2025)
Not much we'd care to say about this one.....dark, dreary police procedural stretched out to eight long dull episodes.
Presumably, star Amanda Seyfried picked this adaptation of a Liz Moore police mystery novel as a worthy vehicle to display major acting chops. The entire story and all of the episodes revolve completely around her character of Mickey Fitzpatrick, harried single mom and Philadelphia patrolwoman.
Seyfried is indeed terrific, bringing nuance and depth to Mickey, who walks the beat of the very tough neighborhood she grew up in.
But as good as her performance is, the series maintains a dead slow moody pace from beginning to end. From the first episode on, a viewer can sense that nothing good will befall Mickey or anyone around her. The overall sense of gloom and futility of existence pervades every scene......to the point where you'll start to wonder why you're spending any amount of time watching the show.
Mickey's streetwise instincts tell her that the rash of supposed drug related deaths of young homeless women are actually murders. But she's mostly patronized and ridiculed by her precinct's chief and other male cops, until a detective who appreciates her efforts gets assigned to the case.
Her home life's an ongoing trainwreck - trying to raise a young son after her slimeball husband (another cop) simply abandoned his family. And more and more, from the contempt of the neighbors she went to school with and her fruitless search for the killer, Mickey's beginning to think she's not cut out for police work.
We can't fault the acting. Seyfried and her supporting cast turn in fine work, but the series stays content to wallow in its dank atmosphere without ever developing a pulse or a sense of immediacy.
Fans of Amanda won't want to miss it. We're just not sure if anyone else will muster the patience to stick it out for those eight eternally interminable chapters.......
2 stars (**).
No comments:
Post a Comment