Apple TV’s Black Bird is a crime drama based on James Keene’s 2010 autobiographical novel, ‘In With The Devil: A Fallen Hero, A Serial Killer, and A Dangerous Bargain for Redemption’.
It follows Keene’s character (played by Taron Egerton) who tries to befriend a serial killer, Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser), in jail. He attempts to get past his secrets and get a confession out of the killer in hopes of attaining freedom from his own jail sentence.
Episode 1 recap: “Pilot”
The premiere episode opens with a narration from James “Jimmy” Keene (Egerton) who introduces his outlandish lifestyle during the nineties. A lavish mansion, beautiful women, sports cars are just the tip of the iceberg for him, who used to be a football champion but shifted to drug dealing.
His high eventually comes crashing down when one of his employees betrays him, attracting the FBI to the door. The mansion is raided and Jimmy is arrested as the authorities seize money, drugs and weapons from the place.
While in jail, Jimmy is visited by his former Police officer dad, James “Big Jim” Keene (Ray Liotta), who tells him to plead guilty since he’ll probably be sent in for five years and can get out in four with good behaviour.
Unfortunately, the judge reveals that if the case goes to trial, the sentencing would be for at least 25 years so they give him 10 years instead. Feeling deceived, Jimmy stares at a decade inside prison.
Seven months down the line, Jimmy is seen making a decent living in jail as a porn dealer. However, his fortunes change when FBI agent Lauren McCauley (Sepideh Moafi) offers him a deal.
He has to transfer to a maximum security prison for the criminally insane in Springfield, Missouri, get close to a serial killer and oust a confession from him. The man in question is Larry Hall (Hauser) who is suspected of killing up to 13 women. They only need the location of one.
Jimmy initially rejects the offer and returns to his monotonous life. His father warns him not to agree as the other prison is a living hellhole. This leads to him studying up on Larry’s file, giving way to a flashback.
The narrative rewinds four years to 1993 where we see Chief Investigator Brian Miller (Greg Kinnear) probing the murder of Jessica Roach — a young girl found dead in a field in Indiana.
Brian follows his leads and narrows in on the town weirdo, Larry, as the prime suspect. He is a simpleton who has a reputation for bothering young ladies while driving around in his grey van which adds to Brian’s suspicions.
He eventually interrogates Larry quite fiercely but gets nothing. He is told by the local authorities that Larry loves to talk and would have confessed by now had he killed someone.
Brain sticks to the facts and refuses to comply. The van is identical to a witness description, Larry confessed to being in the area before the crime and has a history of notorious behaviour.
The final bit of the episode sees Larry confess that he has vivid dreams of murdering women.
Episode 2 recap: “We Are Coming, Father Abraham”
The second episode gives an insight into two tales — one following Jimmy inside his cell and the other focusing on Larry’s interrogation.
Jimmy finally decides to use his get out of jail free card but gets told that he better be up to the task as there are other candidates on the list as well. Thus, begins his training to become a murderer’s inside man.
The sessions involve Lauren attempting to train Jimmy’s mind into sharpness and also force him to understand Larry’s perplexing view of the world. They also talk about his disturbed upbringing to find common ground between him and Larry.
Meanwhile, another problem presents itself in the way of Jimmy’s father. Having suffered a stroke, he is weak and forgetful which makes Jimmy realize that if he doesn’t get out soon, he may never see Big Jim again.
Elsewhere, Larry grows tired of his interrogation and demands to go home. Desperate for a confession, Brian seeks the help of the FBI to make him confess.
In the first half of the episode, Larry hints that he’s ready to disclose some potentially sensitive information. He mentions that he would fail a polygraph test and that he is afraid to sleep. He adds that he has nightmares all the time and that makes him depressed.
He also says that he’s sad about being lonely. The conversation with the FBI agent leads to Larry talking about women as the former shows him a photograph of Jessica Roach. Without thinking, Larry talks about killing women, folding their clothes and gives out more sensitive information that shocks everyone.
Thinking that they’ve got him, the authorities make him sign a confession. Larry is absolutely distraught but he meets with a lawyer who asks him to say that his words were coerced and the confession was faked.
They stick to this argument in court and Larry is imprisoned but on the verge of release unless a proper confession is retrieved. This leaves Jimmy with another deadline to consider as he prepares to assure his own freedom.
Jimmy, having aced the process moves to the new prison as an arms dealer. His job is to act like a brother to Larry, always looking out for him and passing no judgment. Furthermore, he is advised to not get involved in anything illegal as that might add to his sentence.
Finally, the two end up in adjacent cells and notice each other as the episode ends.
Review
- Apple TV+ continues its streak of amazing shows with Black Bird which builds a stellar and suspenseful narrative with its first two episodes.
- Egerton and Hauser are brilliant in their respective roles, unabashedly displaying all their acting chops that make their characters so believable.
- The adaptation of the book feels natural, thanks to the writing. The narrative flows seamlessly and presents enough challenges to hook the audience for the remainder of the season.
- The stakes presented are immensely high and the show needs to maintain the same level of quality if it needs to do justice to it.
Rating: 4/5
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