I keep chugging along through shows with my new Apple+ subscription, and next on my list was a show I was really excited about when I first saw an advertisement for it, Defending Jacob. Sure, it’s got everyone’s favorite Captain America, Chris Evans, and Downton Abbey‘s Michelle Dockery, but the premise just sounded so intriguing that I was going to watch it regardless of its leads.
The series follows what at first seems to be an idyllic family in Newton, Massachusetts. Andy is assistant district attorney, while Laurie is a director of a children’s home, and together they have teenage son, Jacob. All is well until Andy is to prosecute the murder of Ben Rikfin, a boy who was Jacob’s classmate, but found stabbed in a nearby park. At first the obvious suspect seems to be Leonard Patz, a convicted sexual predator, but later, a fingerprint belonging to Jacob is found on Ben’s collar.
This is when shit really starts to hit the fan for the family. Andy is taken off the case, Laurie is told to take time off away from her job, and the two keep finding more and more concerning things about their son. Like the fact that he owns a hunting knife and that he frequents a site for people with fetishizes towards violence. It also doesn’t help that Andy’s father, Billy, is serving a life sentence for murder. Something that Andy has been keeping from his family for his entire life. You can tell that something is truly off with Jacob, and sessions with a therapist revel that he lacks empathy and has genes that predispose him towards violence.
When the trial starts, it seems like the prosecution doesn’t have enough solid evidence or witnesses to really go anywhere until they bring a classmate named Derek to the stand. It’s during this scene that everything starts to fall apart, especially the confidence of Jacob’s innocence in the eyes of his parents. In reality, Andy harbors some disbelief only because he’s caught off guard, but you can really see how this is all destroying Laurie. It’s clear that she doesn’t trust her son, and honestly, I don’t blame her!
Without giving all the twists to the final episode away, the ending is strangely both satisfying and unsatisfying at the same time. It’s somewhat of a cliffhanger, and there could be so much awesome potential for a future of the show, but it’s my understanding that what we got is all we’re going to get. Bummer. I also understand that the end of this show deviated a bit from the book, so obviously I’ll be seeking that out in the near future. Overall, I was pleased with the suspense of the show, although it could have picked up the pace a little bit. Everyone’s acting was sublime, and I’m really glad I finally got the chance to watch this!