This new Apple+ political thriller, Suspicion, left me feeling both happy and disappointed by the end of its eight episode-run. Let me explain.
The series opens with the son of a prominent media mogul, Leo, getting abducted by four people in rubber masks resembling political British figures. The suspects are pretty early determined to be four Brits who all stayed at the same US hotel and left the next morning. Aadesh gets picked up at his home, Tara gets picked up in the middle of a lecture, Natalie gets picked up just as she’s walked down the aisle to get married, and Eddie gets picked up about a day later at a club. Also suspected to be involved is Sean, who’s got some serious guilt associated with him, given that he pretty quickly kills a couple people, no problem.
The intricate web that is woven from there is too complex to spell it all out, but the biggest thing here is trust. Even though these people all vehemently claim their innocence in the abduction, none are too forthcoming with the details, and none ever truly trust each other. There are times when you think someone is going to get close, but then it’s found out that they’ve been lied to, so the trust is broken all over again. With that being said, there are plenty of reasons for them not to trust one another. Especially Sean. He seems to be the biggest mystery within the series, and even by the end I didn’t have him totally figured out.
The real motivation for the abduction gets revealed by the true culprits about mid-way through, though their identity is still not revealed until the end. They want Leo’s mother, Katherine Newman, of the Cooper Newman Media Firm, to reveal a dark truth that’s been swept under the rug for several decades. She’s steadfast in her opinion not to share the company’s misdeeds, but her love and desire to get her son back win out in the end. Kind of stupidly, this all ties back to climate change, and I won’t ruin how, but it was a little anti-climatic. Not that climate change isn’t tragic and newsworthy, but it just seemed like the lengths this show was going to for that reveal just kind of made its momentum putter out.
I will say though, they succeeded in surprising me in the end. It was clear someone in the immediate group was involved, and it really could have been any of them for a number of reasons. I was certain I knew who was involved, but they pulled one over on me! This show also succeeded in that I was still thinking about it days later and wishing there was still more of it for me to watch. No luck though. It’s certainly not the best thing Apple+ has to offer, but Suspicion was pretty dang entertaining.