An intense psychological drama!!
The major factor that attracted me towards trying out this miniseries is Chris Evans. The tensed look on his face in all the posters and trailers made me desperately want to watch it. The story is about Barber family which has to stick together and prove the innocence of their 14 year old son, Jacob Barber (Jaeden Martell), who was the accused for the murder of his classmate. Chris Evans as Andy Barber, an Asst. district attorney and Michelle Dockery as Laurie Barber plays as father and mother respectively.
Andy was appointed as the in-charge of the investigation initially and was taken off the case when Jacob turns a suspect. The whole family has to go through a lot of deeply distressing and disturbing experiences on and off the court during the investigation. The parents’ past, son’s social media posts, all becoming point of discussion for the media and the public. The psychological trauma is portrayed in a detailed manner, each of the family member’s character are explored in detail here. Thus, even though the premise is set for a crime thriller, the plot often turns into an intense drama.
Acting department enthralls us, with lead characters Chris Evans, Michelle Dockery and Jaeden Martell essays their roles with wide variety of emotions. Rest of the cast stick to their task. The script understandably lags a bit in the middle portions as the narrative is a deep character study, but it does seem intentional and the whole turn of events seemed very realistic. The tense background scores and often dark themed visuals play well with the narrative.
To conclude, Defending Jacob doesn’t give you new revelations every now and then like in a packed thriller. But it is a compelling watch for anyone who is up for an intense psychological drama with lots of thriller elements!!
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