Keegs Recommends: Unbelievable (TV)
Keegs Recommends is not meant to act as a full review- if you wanted that, you already know where to find it. This is meant to suffice as a recommendation I’d give to you in a bar, in about the amount of time it would take to finish a Great Tasting, Less Filling.
Maybe I’ve just been desperate for content, but between this and Sunderland ’Til I Die, I’ve been really happy with some Netflix content. This is less surprising with the latter, as I think Netflix nails its sports documentaries. As a crime procedural though, I think it’s tough for anything to compete with Amazon’s Bosch, but Unbelievable might just top it. Let’s be clear, this is a really, really tough show to watch. This show needs a huge trigger warning for those have been victims of sexual assault. The show is based on true events, and spans 2008-2011, following two separate albeit connected storylines.
In 2008, we follow Kaitlyn Dever’s Marie Adler, a recent rape victim who struggles with the fallout of her traumatic attack, combined with most of the public and police not believing her story. We jump between 2008 Washington and 2011 Colorado where we follow Toni Collete and Merritt Wever as detectives Grace Rasmussen and Karen Duvall as two dogged detectives tracking the serial rapist responsible. Collete and Wever are a powerhouse duo, both nailing the “badass cop” while bringing impressive nuance to each of their roles. While Collette plays your more typical tough cop, Wever’s balances her no nonsense approach to crime scenes, suspects, and even coworkers with her jarring empathy towards victims. A lesser actor might have had a tough time balancing these two traits, but Wever effectively portrays them as two sides of the same coin.
The real heart of this show, what makes it different than six seasons of Bosch, is Dever. Her portrayal of a young woman both emotionally and physically abused by not only her attacker, but by the friends, role models, and police officers who don’t believe her, is heartbreaking. Part of what makes this show so compelling is that we, the viewer, bounce between the world of the detectives, rooted so strongly in justice, and the world of Adler which is absolutely devoid of it.
All in all, a really difficult watch- but an important one. With strong pacing, award-worthy leads, and tremendous heart, this one is absolutely worth a watch.
