Ranking Apple TV+'s Top 10 Best Original Series
7. Defending Jacob
This adaptation of William Landay's Defending Jacob novel is filled with intrigue and dark possessive drama. The more and more you watch, the darker and more brutal it becomes.
Plot-wise, Defending Jacob is based around a 14-year-old boy who is accused of murdering one of his classmates and what effect that has on him and his family.
Chris 'the Captain' Evans (so not to confuse him with the British radio personality) plays Andrew Barber, a District Attorney and Jacob's father, who fights tooth & nail to prove his son's innocence. Here, it must be said that with Evans at the forefront and quality like Michelle Dockery, Jaeden Martell and JK Simmons backing it up, Defending Jacob has some really powerful performances on show.
Though the series is full of twists and turns that take you tumbling further into the rabbit hole, it does also feel incredibly simplistic at times. It's dark and brooding atmosphere never relents, therefore the audience is never subject to a moment of euphoria.
Alfred Hitchcock once said that every tension built needed relief to an audience, otherwise it can become too closed off emotionally. Defending Jacob is guilty of never releasing said tension, and in that way it can be a turn-off.
On the whole, though, it is a well-acted and written miniseries, with plenty to like for most.