Apples Never Fall Review: Annette Bening Elevates Series, Yet Questions Remain
- The way the episodes are arranged make for maximum drama
- The ensemble is compelling in their roles
- There are questions about the kids' constant presence in their parents lives that the show never answers
"Apples Never Fall," the limited series from Peacock, is the third TV show based on a novel by Liane Moriarty (after the HBO drama "Big Little Lies" and Hulu's "Nine Perfect Strangers"), but it's the first to deal with one family. That doesn't make the tale the show tells less wild, but it does make it more singular.
The Delaneys are an all-American family, at least in theory. Mom, Joy (Annette Bening), and Dad, Stan (Sam Neill), ran a tennis academy until they recently retired. They have four kids, all approximately in their 30s, who live locally. There's Troy (Jake Lacy), the eldest and by far the wealthiest, who nurses a grudge against his father; Amy (Alison Brie), the second eldest, who's a bit adrift and has her mother to thank for pulling her out of college when she needed it; Logan (Conor Merrigan Turner), the second youngest, who has a girlfriend but loves his parents so much he's basically their lapdog; and Brooke (Essie Randles), the youngest, who has a fiancé, a struggling physical therapy business, and a strong love for her father.
Into this comes a young woman, Savannah (Georgia Flood), who seems to be escaping an abusive boyfriend. Despite the fact that Stan objects, Joy invites her to stay, believing she's a good person who has simply fallen on hard times. But Savannah doesn't stay for a couple of days — she stays for weeks, disrupting the kids and Stan while Joy continues to insist she's a good person. In fact, she goes just about everywhere with Joy. She even cooks with her, which Joy can't remember even one of her kids doing.
Savannah eventually leaves after about six weeks, and eight months later, Joy goes missing. Does Savannah have anything to do with Joy's disappearance, as Logan believes? Or is Stan responsible for killing his wife, as Troy suspects? Only time, and a well-told mystery, will explain all the ins and outs of this situation.
Smartly crafted episodes with lingering plot mysteries
The seven episodes of the series are each labeled with one of the family member's names, outside of the first, which is simply titled "The Delaneys." Through that device, the show manages to spotlight one member of the family in a particularly precarious (and juicy) event per episode and move the story forward at the same time. It's a smart way of arranging the series as a whole and manages to give every one of the actors playing the family members at least one event that lets them shine.
Because of this, it's easy to get caught up in the story of the Delaneys. But I couldn't help wondering why all those kids still live there. While it makes sense that the kids would show up when their mother goes missing, the fact that they spend so much time together the rest of the time is a little hard to fathom. It seems that Mom calls them at least once a day. And although Joy falls for Savannah because both Stan and the kids don't pay enough attention to her, it seems the kids' lives are still defined by Stan and Joy.
These are adult children, though. And while they might live close to their childhood home, it defies logic (and the hours of their jobs) that all four of them would jump when their parents say so. That's why it's both easy to understand why none of them pick up when their mother calls on a regular basis and hard to understand why they're constantly at their parents' house.
Even more frustrating is the way the kids go back and forth between the two parents, first on one parent's side, then on the other. It seems that they can't make up their minds, and that constant back and forth has their parents spinning out of control too.
Exploring family dynamics at home vs away
But the real crux of the issue, and the theme of the show, is how Stan and the kids act when Joy is there versus away. When Joy is there they tend to ignore her when she calls on a regular basis. Even Stan doesn't always pick up. Of course, it's not to the point of a total blackout, but to the point where Joy feels ignored. When she's away, though, they all rally together, hoping against hope that she'll call.
It's an interesting theme to hang a show on. After all, how often does anyone who's a member of a family ignore the calls of others in the same family once they reach a certain age? And because of that, it does make you think. Ultimately, that's what makes this show so compelling.
That and the entanglements of all six of the Delaneys. None of them are paragons of virtue, except maybe Joy, but all six of them have interesting things happen to them and that's the most important thing for a TV series. Moreover, they're all portrayed by captivating actors. Annette Bening, in her first TV role, is luminous as Joy. Similarly, Sam Neill and all four of the actors who play the kids do a great job in their respective roles. Georgia Flood, meanwhile, is great as the disruptor in the family, charming enough to let you understand why Joy would let her in while slippery enough that you wonder what her true endgame is.
"Apples Never Fall" is a gripping series that will have you enthralled from the beginning. Nonetheless, it also may have you asking questions. Even if you buy the idea that all four kids are still so caught up in their parents' comings and goings, you may still wonder things like how old each of them is. We're never told that (outside of one of the kids), although we're told Joy's age ad nauseam. But between the way the story is arranged and the riveting performances by the talented ensemble, this series is still mostly a winner.
All seven episodes of "Apples Never Fall" debut on Peacock on March 14.