EPISODE 1.1
24 April 2020
Pilot
Defending Jacob: Season 1
Chris Evans stars in this mystery-thriller series as a district attorney whose sense of justice blurs when his teenage son (It star Jaeden Martell) is accused of murdering a fellow classmate. Amongst the media fallout, he and his family start to feel the weight of the public backlash as the court case plays out. Bast on William Landay's bestselling novel, co-starring Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey) and Oscar winner JK Simmons (Whiplash).
2020USA
DramaMysteryThriller
Reviews & comments
A.V. Club
pressDefending 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.
Variety
pressIt’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.
Hollywood Reporter
pressThe 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.
TV Guide
pressThe 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.
Chicago Sun-Times
pressOn balance, this is a well-paced series that ladles out red herrings and legitimate clues in equal balance as we’re kept guessing.
Wall Street Journal
pressForget the overbaked opening scene—it’s no indicator of the drama to come in “Defending Jacob”, a series largely powered by its subtleties.
A.V. Club
pressDefending 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.
Variety
pressIt’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.
Hollywood Reporter
pressThe 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.
TV Guide
pressThe 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.
Chicago Sun-Times
pressOn balance, this is a well-paced series that ladles out red herrings and legitimate clues in equal balance as we’re kept guessing.
Wall Street Journal
pressForget the overbaked opening scene—it’s no indicator of the drama to come in “Defending Jacob”, a series largely powered by its subtleties.
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