Defending Jacob: Season 1

"Defending Jacob flirts with power dynamics: The Barber family’s privilege also comes into play, thanks to some insight from Gabriel’s character, but it’s yet another road that the show outlines without fully pursuing."

"It’s not just that “Defending Jacob,” a new limited series on Apple TV Plus, has nothing to say — it’s that it set out to say so much."

"The conventions are so familiar that it's hard to find a single story beat or plot twist or emotional swing in Defending Jacob that doesn't feel utterly stale, elongated to a running time of eight hours not so much for added nuance, but mostly because the kind of two-hour film Defending Jacob would have been — mid-budget, effects-free entertainment for "grown-ups" — is one ceded to TV long ago."

"The role of Andy was aged down for the former Marvel star, and while it's biologically possible for someone in their late 30s to have a child in their teens, the relationship between Andy and Jacob feels too strained to be believable."

"On balance, this is a well-paced series that ladles out red herrings and legitimate clues in equal balance as we’re kept guessing."

"Forget the overbaked opening scene—it’s no indicator of the drama to come in “Defending Jacob”, a series largely powered by its subtleties."