tv review
Big crimes, small screen; true crime television series and TV documentaries that recreate and reexamine some of the mystifying and grisliest cases in history.
Review of 'Suspicion' (Season 1) Finale
Excellent finale of Suspicion on Apple TV+. Lots of answers to questions, with some big questions remaining. [Spoilers ahead ... ]
Paul LevinsonPublished 2 years ago in CriminalReview of 'Suspicion' 1.7
Another excellent episode -- 1.7 -- of Suspicion, which is still managing to keep us in the dark about who kidnapped Leo. That's an impressive accomplishment, after seven episodes.
Paul LevinsonPublished 2 years ago in CriminalReview of 'Suspicion' 1.6
An excellent episode of Suspicion began streaming yesterday on Apple TV+ -- 1.6 -- even if it didn't really move the whodunnit narrative very much forward -- that is, until the very end of the hour.
Paul LevinsonPublished 2 years ago in CriminalMurderville Review
A combination of an absurdly good murder story, comedy and improvisation? Yes, please! I absolutely loved the new series on Netflix with Will Arnett as a senior homicide detective named Terry Seattle who is supposed to solve a murder in every episode with a new partner, a celebrity playing him- or herself. While the show actors have a blueprint for the story, character parameters, and pre-written lines, the celebrities have absolutely no idea of what is about to happen. As true partners to the detective, they interrogate and observe three murder suspects. The episode always starts out with some sort of a test for a new trainee in the form of questions, where Terry and his new partner are supposed to bond. Then they go and investigate the murder. At the end of the episode, they are supposed to solve the case by naming the murderer, usually in a game-show revealing and suspenseful manner, and explain how they arrived at that conclusion. Then Chief Rhonda Jenkins-Seattle (who is also Detective Seattle's estranged wife) comes out and tells whether the celebrity guessed right or wrong, also in a comically suspenseful way with close-ups and dramatic pauses, and explains how the murder was really committed. Throughout the show, the detective and celebrity are fed certain clues that just like in a good murder mystery are supposed to lead the detectives to the right conclusion.
Lana V LynxPublished 2 years ago in CriminalReview of 'Suspicion' 1.5
Superb, delightful episode 1.5 of Suspicion up on Apple TV+. Yes, delightful. [Spoilers follow ... ] My favorite scene was Tara and Sean in undies at the door, pretending to be a couple when the pesky neighbor came calling with a shotgun or a rifle. Perfectly staged and acted. Tara actually enjoying it underneath the pretence. Sean almost reminiscent of James Bond.
Paul LevinsonPublished 2 years ago in CriminalReview of 'Suspicion' 1.4
First, let me say that I'm really liking Suspicion on Apple TV+. It has great ambience, including the music, fine acting (including now Tom Rhys Harries as Eddie Walker), and a plot that keeps slapping you in the face with unexpected developments, often lethal. Episode 1.4 was the best so far, excelling in all of those pulsing qualities.
Paul LevinsonPublished 2 years ago in CriminalReview of 'Inventing Anna'
The wife and I binged Inventing Anna the past few nights, the nine-episode Shonda Rhimes series detailing the real-life rise and fall of Anna Delvey aka Anna Sorokin. It's superb television, for a bunch a reasons. Julia Garner in the title role was perfect, peerless, and Emmy-worthy. Pretty much the same for Anna Chlumsky who plays Vivian Kent, the fictitious name for the real reporter Jessica Pressler whose New York magazine story "How Anna Delvey Tricked New York's Party People" is the basis of the Netflix series. I haven't read the story, but the story in the movie is an incredible, powerful tale of a con artist, Anna, so charismatic that her lawyer and Vivian in their own ways practically fell in some kind of love with her.
Paul LevinsonPublished 2 years ago in CriminalGypsy Rose Blanchard Says 'The Act' Is Not Based On Facts
Gypsy Rose Blanchard made national headlines when she manipulated her mentally ill boyfriend, Nick Godejohn into murdering her mother, DeeDee Blanchard. She convinced him, if he wanted them to be together, her mother had to die.
Chrissie Marie MasseyPublished 2 years ago in CriminalReview of 'Suspicion' 1.3
You may recall in my review of the excellent two-episode debut of Suspicion last week, I wondered why, though there were only four masked kidnappers of Leo Newman at the beginning, and only three suspects taken in by London police plus one murdering suspect on the loose (3 + 1 = 4), the description of the series on IMDb, Wikipedia, etc., as well the above publicity photo, say or show five kidnappers not four. Tonight, at the very end of episode 1.3, we find out why: there is indeed a 5th suspect, Eddie Walker, who helped with the getaway but was not in the original hall of the kidnapping. And he's a student at Oxford, where Tara (one of the three London suspects now under surveillance) happily teaches.
Paul LevinsonPublished 2 years ago in CriminalReview of 'Suspicion' 1.1-1.2
Just saw the first two episodes of Suspicion on Apple TV+. Looks to be a top-notch crackling whodunnit, with all the trimmings.
Paul LevinsonPublished 2 years ago in CriminalReview of 'Reacher'
Hey, see Reacher on Amazon Prime Video. At its best, and that's more than some of the time, the lead character named Jack Reacher but known just by his last name has some of the quick thinking and lethal delivery of another Jack, last name Bauer, on 24. And sometimes Reacher even recalls James Bond, with his wit and penchant for the sharp retort.
Paul LevinsonPublished 2 years ago in CriminalReview of 'Ozark' 4.1-4.7
Just binged the first half of the final (fourth) season of Ozark, some seven episodes of pure adrenalin, propelled by powerful plots with memorable characters and all kinds of stunning surprises, including deaths.
Paul LevinsonPublished 2 years ago in Criminal