![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
"Unbelievable" on Netflix
Oct. 25th, 2019 06:50 pmUnbelievable is a limited series on Netflix, based on a true story. It has parallel narratives, the first being about Marie, a young woman who was raped and then gaslighted (gaslit?) by the people around her and bullied by police. The second narrative follows two detectives, in a different state, investigating and trying to identify the serial rapist.
I would recommend this series, but I also recommend that you skip the first episode. I tried a couple times but could not watch beyond the first 5 minutes of that ep; from what I can tell it focuses solely on Marie's horrific experiences. I did listen to the pop culture happy hour's discussion of this series (link), which gave it a glowing review, and to the This American Life episode "Anatomy of Doubt" (link) which discusses the real-life cases this show was based upon.
The two detectives are played by Merritt Wever and Toni Collette, and they are fabulous. I appreciated so much about this show: the focus on survivors, discussion of domestic abuse within the police force, and just how hard the detectives worked to solve the case. It's nice to see a procedural that is not about murder. It's refreshing to see a serious show about women, one in which they don't smile much, and are dressed normally, and are focused on work. I loved that the detectives got to be angry.
Other content notes: Brief scene at the beginning of ep 2 in which Marie contemplates suicide; PTSD; brief scene of a dead animal. Some drug and alcohol use, guns and weapons are shown.
I would recommend this series, but I also recommend that you skip the first episode. I tried a couple times but could not watch beyond the first 5 minutes of that ep; from what I can tell it focuses solely on Marie's horrific experiences. I did listen to the pop culture happy hour's discussion of this series (link), which gave it a glowing review, and to the This American Life episode "Anatomy of Doubt" (link) which discusses the real-life cases this show was based upon.
The two detectives are played by Merritt Wever and Toni Collette, and they are fabulous. I appreciated so much about this show: the focus on survivors, discussion of domestic abuse within the police force, and just how hard the detectives worked to solve the case. It's nice to see a procedural that is not about murder. It's refreshing to see a serious show about women, one in which they don't smile much, and are dressed normally, and are focused on work. I loved that the detectives got to be angry.
Other content notes: Brief scene at the beginning of ep 2 in which Marie contemplates suicide; PTSD; brief scene of a dead animal. Some drug and alcohol use, guns and weapons are shown.
