Name: Defending Jacob: Season 1
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Released: 2020
Duration: TNaNHNaNM
Cast: Chris Evans, Jaeden Martell, Michelle Dockery, Betty Gabriel, J.K. Simmons

Trailer

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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

All Reviews (6)

Creator:: Mark Bomback
Cast:: Chris EvansJaeden MartellMichelle DockeryBetty GabrielJ.K. Simmons

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Pilot

Assistant D.A. Andy Barber is assigned as the lead prosecutor in the case of his son's murdered classmate.

Everything Is Cool

When new evidence is discovered, Andy is taken off the case.

Poker Faces

Andy admits a family secret to Laurie before it becomes public.

Damage Control

Andy takes matters into his own hands.

Visitors

Andy visits his father, and learns some troubling information from Jacob's friends.

Wishful Thinking

Andy and Klein explore two last-ditch to prove Jacob's innocence.

Job

As the trial begins, Jacob's fate hangs in the balance.

After

The trial comes to an end, but with unexpected consequences.

Defending Jacob: Season 1 / Reviews

A.V. Club

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.

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Variety

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.

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Hollywood Reporter

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.

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TV Guide

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.

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Chicago Sun-Times

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

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Wall Street Journal

Forget 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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