Lately, the only way I can fall asleep is by watching Minecraft Youtube videos. I know, along with it being extremely embarrassing, it is, in actuality, not helping my sleep at all. We all have vices. Mine just happens to be relaxing Minecraft long plays with rain sounds.
A few weeks ago, while I was in one of these 1 a.m. spirals, my video was interrupted by an ad for Long Bright River, a TV show set to be coming out in a little more than a week.
Believe me when I say very little can pull my attention away from my late-night Minecraft videos. When it’s that late at night, I’ve usually spent my whole day at school and am completely tired out from water polo practice. But this ad managed to grab my attention.
I was intrigued by a few things; namely, that it was starring Amanda Seyfried. Some of her previous roles were as Sophie in Mamma Mia! and Cosette in Les Miserables, both of which are light characters in comparison to the patrol cop she plays in Long Bright River.
Especially given that the show centers on multiple suspected overdoses that are revealed to be serial homicides, I wondered if Seyfried would be able to convincingly portray such a serious character. In terms of this alone, she knocked it out of the park; the acting and complexity of her character were consistently spectacular.
And I’ll say this: Long Bright River’s storyline was genuinely good. I was entertained; it wasn’t trite or overdone like some murder mysteries tend to be.
The show follows Mickey Fitzpatrick (Amanda Seyfried), a patrol cop who grew up in Kensington, an impoverished neighborhood with a high crime rate. For the duration of the show, she searches for her sister, Kacey Fitzpatrick (Ashleigh Cummings), under the assumption Kacey is connected to the multiple homicides of women who “work the Avenue.” Mickey and Kacey were raised by their great-grandpa, Gee Pop (John Doman), since both of their parents died. While it is never explicitly said, it is suggested that they both overdosed. Kacey herself has been battling addiction since she was 12 years old, disappearing often, and sometimes breaking into Mickey or Gee Pop’s house to pay for her ever-growing addiction. However, she’s never been gone for this long before. Mickey and her old partner, Truman Dawes (Nicholas Pinnock), investigate the Kensington Murders, despite it being strictly forbidden, and reveal that these incidents are much bigger than just a few homicides.
This one-season mini-series is amazing on paper, and I loved the complexities of both the characters and interpersonal relationships demonstrated. However, the execution left many aspects to desire.
I fell in love with the storyline immediately. The first half of episode one, “These Girls,” was a little slow, but after the exposition, I couldn’t stop watching; I binged the entire eight-hour series in two days. The acting is phenomenal, and they discuss complex, hard-to-handle topics very well, with scenes and events that feel genuine and realistic.
However, sometimes when the mood gets a little too dark, the show will try to transition into lighter themes, mostly unsuccessfully. Almost every time they switched to a different storyline, it felt forced, like the directors were saying, “Let’s throw something fun in here, this is getting a little too serious.”
It felt forced and awkward, taking away from the solemnity of the topics Long Bright River focuses on. For example, in a scene when Mickey and Truman are discussing the next step in finding the murderer, Mickey’s son, Thomas (Callum Vinson), asks Truman to stay over to watch a movie. The episode then immediately, without even taking a few seconds to breathe, jumps into a Christmas montage of the three of them buying presents, decorating a Christmas tree, watching It’s A Wonderful Life, and having Christmas dinner. This is backed by cheery Christmas music that feels plain wrong when put against the conversation the characters were having just thirty seconds before.
On top of this, the show would randomly cut to black every few minutes, leaving me confused for a second before I realized it was intentional. In hindsight, it was probably to accommodate the ad breaks on Peacock, but for someone watching without ads, it was difficult to stay interested. In the most emotionally tense moments, the show would just stop. And it wasn’t like they put these breaks at moments that made sense, because most of the time, the sound wouldn’t fade out or anything, just suddenly stop. These cuts made the show seem unnecessarily unfinished and messy. This is unfortunate because the show was obviously made by talented people, with talented actors involved. But these production issues were disruptive and took me out of the story.
What kept me invested was the soundtrack. Mickey loves classical music, as she plays the English horn, and the series often shows her listening to the music, playing her horn, or showing Thomas her favorite pieces and telling him the story behind the composition. This served as a constant throughout the uncertainty of her work and family life. Plus, every time Long Bright River’s theme played, it brought a smile to my face. It is expertly captivating and represents the melancholia of the topics dealt with in the series very well.
I don’t typically pay attention to the next movie or show coming out. I’m, instead, usually the friend who asks if it’s worth the watch after it’s been out for a few months and I’ve practically seen the whole thing in clips on Instagram. This time around, I’m glad I watched without having preconceived notions. If only the formatting of the show had been smoother, this could’ve been my next favorite series.
Regardless, I would still highly recommend Long Bright River to anyone who asks about it, as it is an inspiring story about prejudice and privilege that I think everyone should hear. I enthusiastically look forward to future award shows to see both the actors’ and producers’ talents in Long Bright River rightfully recognized.
Mrs. Damstra • Mar 21, 2025 at 12:51 pm
This popped up in my recommendations and seemed right up my alley. I will likely watch it this weekend and will be interested to see what I think of it.