Directed by : Lisa Cholodenko, Michael Dinner and Susannah Grant
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7909970/
Even with good people, even with people that you can kinda of trust, if the truth is inconvenient and if, if the truth doesn't, like, fit.. they don't believe it. Even if they really care about you, they just.. they just don't.
Spoilers ahead..
True story about a teenager Marie, who is charged with lying about having been raped and how two female detectives find out the truth.
First episode is hard to watch because as a viewer you know Marie Adler (Kaitlyn Dever) isn't lying and yet the abuse and trauma she had dealt with all life has taken a toll on her and you see how she keeps changing her statements. Ofcourse the blame has to go to male detectives who didn't do their job well. Specially the scene where instead of giving hope to Marie to let her do the polygraph test, they just scare her off citing potential jail time if she was lying. And that results in her life getting affected badly after she is forced to accept that she was never raped.
2nd Episode shifts story from Washington 2008, to Colarado, 2011 and we get introduced to Detective Karen (Merritt Wever) who meets a rape victim and on the spot we can draw parallels on how she investigates and talks to the girl, and how Marie was asked questions in 1st episode. No, I am not referring to the instant thought that would come to mind 'woman did it better than the guy', what this says is how one person did a better job than the other, and in this case the better one was woman.
Detective Karen happens to meet Detective Grace (Toni Collette) after being told by her husband how her case resembles the one Grace was dealing with where the victims happen to go through similar procedure by the rapist. Grace is total opposite of Karen in the way she walks, talks, total fierceful character which clearly was done by writing team so that they would look a great pair. Though found through google, the real Grace (different name) was more of a calmer person. So bit of fiction but it made for a great watch, I don't mind it.
The performances of Meritt, Toni and Kaitlyn all standout, but I personally loved Meritt most, the kinda of laidback and yet I want to find this motherf***** attitude, and the emotional attachment she shows towards the people she meets. Also, love the slow gradual bonding she develops with Grace. And also enjoyed watching Kaitlyn who had a tougher role, the vulnerability and trauma she showcases and also the urge to get a 'sorry' from the male detectives. The other actors who play intern and the desk old lady give in a good supporting acts.
Love the scene of the counselor with Marie where a zombie film 'Zombieland' is used in conversation to discuss the thoughts Marie has about the world and people. Also, love how they show Marie story, dedicating 1st and last episodes fully on her, and keeping the rest 6 with fewer scenes. Starting with how tough life Marie is about to live, losing out on friends with the false rape charge, both her foster moms not trusting her and losing her job too. And then ending with the phone call to Detective Karen, for once I wanted Karen to talk more than she does in this phone conversation but then maybe thats how she always is as per the series.
I read some reviews suggesting how this series tries to show 'girls power, and every man is bad', and it made me wonder did those people not see the behaviour of both foster moms of Marie, or did they miss watching husbands of Detective Grace and Detective Karen who always kept supporting them, one even went out of way to get the file on a person Grace wanted, or did they miss the help Special Agent Taggert gave? Or did they expect sympathy shown to Detective Parker and Detective Pruitt who clearly were at faults and they were main reasons why more rapes took place. I mean seriously how blind some people can be, yes there's some fiction but this is a real story shown in as solid manner as it can be, so just avoid watching the series if you believe guys have to be portrayed as good not matter what they do!
Unbelievable for me is near perfect series, my only complaint would be lack of surprise but then it went more for getting the guy caught angle and not that element of 'oh no, he is that person' surprise. And other marginal problem was editing that was at places not tight to my liking. But I could easily ignore these small hiccups, as I just felt it was a very good gripping series from start to finish, shown in a very realistic manner, top-notch acting from main leads and a certain emotional tone to the way it finishes. Would love a 2nd season with same cast, and probably a different real life based story!
My Rating : 8/10
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7909970/
Even with good people, even with people that you can kinda of trust, if the truth is inconvenient and if, if the truth doesn't, like, fit.. they don't believe it. Even if they really care about you, they just.. they just don't.
Spoilers ahead..
True story about a teenager Marie, who is charged with lying about having been raped and how two female detectives find out the truth.
First episode is hard to watch because as a viewer you know Marie Adler (Kaitlyn Dever) isn't lying and yet the abuse and trauma she had dealt with all life has taken a toll on her and you see how she keeps changing her statements. Ofcourse the blame has to go to male detectives who didn't do their job well. Specially the scene where instead of giving hope to Marie to let her do the polygraph test, they just scare her off citing potential jail time if she was lying. And that results in her life getting affected badly after she is forced to accept that she was never raped.
2nd Episode shifts story from Washington 2008, to Colarado, 2011 and we get introduced to Detective Karen (Merritt Wever) who meets a rape victim and on the spot we can draw parallels on how she investigates and talks to the girl, and how Marie was asked questions in 1st episode. No, I am not referring to the instant thought that would come to mind 'woman did it better than the guy', what this says is how one person did a better job than the other, and in this case the better one was woman.
Detective Karen happens to meet Detective Grace (Toni Collette) after being told by her husband how her case resembles the one Grace was dealing with where the victims happen to go through similar procedure by the rapist. Grace is total opposite of Karen in the way she walks, talks, total fierceful character which clearly was done by writing team so that they would look a great pair. Though found through google, the real Grace (different name) was more of a calmer person. So bit of fiction but it made for a great watch, I don't mind it.
Love the scene of the counselor with Marie where a zombie film 'Zombieland' is used in conversation to discuss the thoughts Marie has about the world and people. Also, love how they show Marie story, dedicating 1st and last episodes fully on her, and keeping the rest 6 with fewer scenes. Starting with how tough life Marie is about to live, losing out on friends with the false rape charge, both her foster moms not trusting her and losing her job too. And then ending with the phone call to Detective Karen, for once I wanted Karen to talk more than she does in this phone conversation but then maybe thats how she always is as per the series.
I read some reviews suggesting how this series tries to show 'girls power, and every man is bad', and it made me wonder did those people not see the behaviour of both foster moms of Marie, or did they miss watching husbands of Detective Grace and Detective Karen who always kept supporting them, one even went out of way to get the file on a person Grace wanted, or did they miss the help Special Agent Taggert gave? Or did they expect sympathy shown to Detective Parker and Detective Pruitt who clearly were at faults and they were main reasons why more rapes took place. I mean seriously how blind some people can be, yes there's some fiction but this is a real story shown in as solid manner as it can be, so just avoid watching the series if you believe guys have to be portrayed as good not matter what they do!
Unbelievable for me is near perfect series, my only complaint would be lack of surprise but then it went more for getting the guy caught angle and not that element of 'oh no, he is that person' surprise. And other marginal problem was editing that was at places not tight to my liking. But I could easily ignore these small hiccups, as I just felt it was a very good gripping series from start to finish, shown in a very realistic manner, top-notch acting from main leads and a certain emotional tone to the way it finishes. Would love a 2nd season with same cast, and probably a different real life based story!
My Rating : 8/10
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