Apples Never Fall

This series started well and pulled me in for the first half. Sadly it is another example of a series that ends poorly leaving the viewer wondering what the heck did I just watch. The family dynamics are truly sad with each person being totally self absorbed and the Father, Sam Neill, being truly dislikeable. In the middle of that lot you have the interloper who no one questions. This, in my view, makes the series totally unbelievable. After a complicated six episodes of family dynamics, which, in parts, was full of suspense, the whole lot fell flat with several things left unanswered. This left me wondering what I had just watched.

This 7-part series is based on a book by an author that my wife reads and enjoys, although she had not read this particular book. While this series has a number of awkward spots in total it is interesting and entertaining story-telling. The title is a shortening of the old saying "Apples never fall far from the tree." The last episode ties lots of things up and is written to show how it is important for families, parents and their adult children, to keep dialog going and not take each other for granted.

Annette Bening is Joy Delaney and Sam Neill is her long-time husband Stan Delaney. Each was a tennis star in earlier days and in retirement established a successful tennis academy. As this series opens they are fairly freshly retired, having sold the academy.

There is an additional character, Savannah, a stranger that shows up at their door claiming to be a victim of boyfriend abuse and Joy, being a kind person, takes her in. She quickly becomes an ex officio member of the family, to the consternation of the others. It turns out she has a key role in resolving everything.

Joy and Stan have four adult children, each quite different, each with a different idea of what success in life might look like. There is an argument, the children blame Joy, won't take or return her calls under the guise of being too busy. Then Joy disappears. They find her phone in the laundry basket.

This all happens in the first episode, setting up what transpires in the rest of the episodes. The whole show is presented by alternating between a "then" and "now" manner, each time it goes from one to the other script at the bottom of the frame states which it is. So we get some information, but not all, and the rest is revealed gradually. In truth it could have been a 2-hour movie but I get why it is a 7-part series, more opportunity for insertion of 1-minute commercials during each episode. Revenue is important.

Joy is at first just presumed simply missing, as the days go by family and police get hints that she may in fact be no longer alive. So, much of the show is family dynamics as they search for their mother and the reasons she disappeared.

My wife and I watched it streaming on Peacock over three evening, 2, 2, then 3 episodes. It is satisfyingly entertaining.

The several negative reviews and "1" ratings are totally bogus, it is as if they didn't actually see the series.

There is absolutely nothing groundbreaking about the show, but it is enjoyable, well acted, interesting, and the perfect length at seven episodes. I did not read the source material yet, but I never compare books and movies for the sake of determining which one was "better", so that really doesn't matter to me anyway. I've always loved Annette Benning and Sam Neill, and both have certainly become better with age! The rest of the cast supports them well.

As for the low scores... completely ridiculous. I probably would've rated this a 7, but I gave it an extra point just to counter some of the unfair reviewers. One person in particular rates it a 2, and goes off about Hollywood culture war, blah blah, rich white people are being demonized blah blah. Well, I'm white, and I don't see that at all. Some people just need to get a life.

I enjoyed the slow burn. Sam Neill is excellent. He does a great job of portraying someone who's holding back. While the series progresses he keeps you guessing as to the type of person he might be. It's easy to say in retrospect that you knew the answer all along but, honestly, he made me wonder and I really enjoyed the journey. Annette Bening also does an excellent job of portraying a woman coming to terms with the meaning of her life upon retirement. Her kids are grown and she finds herself being alone with her husband. What happens when your identity for so long has been defined by your family and your profession? Was it all worth it? I enjoyed finding out.

Yes, ignore the low ratings from folks. This has a lovely slow burn. Easy to digest and follow even when it goes back from Then to Now and vice versa. Each episode focuses on a character and their vantage point or pov. Each tell a part of the story which if was spoken or shared, we would have figured out the mystery sooner. But this story is about what's done in the dark, the secrets you keep, the self preservation of yourself affects your life and your family. The decisions we make alter the perspective of others. How they see us and how they see themselves. All of this plays into the telling of the story.

To be honest I thought the ending was going to fall short. But it didn't. They could have however, had an eight episode entitled Savannah. The only mystery is the life and the character of Savannah which is never fully developed or shown. To see her then and now would have warranted a 10/10.

I'll definitely be watching this again. And as a father and husband reminding myself that all my actions and words have a bigger impact and butterfly effect that I could ever imagine.