Defending Jacob

Gripping tv series, you keep questioning every episode. My recommendation is - give it chance with only one episode, and you will love that!

Beautifully acted - I am becoming a serious fan of Chris Evans. He's not just a pretty faced superhero. He really stood out in Gifted and I'm really excited to see more. Well done. This is a superbly designed series, I think it is a solid 9 - don't listen to the naysayers ... honestly, it's worth watching just to see the incredible segues in the opening credits. Watch it, binge it, worth it 😎👌🏻

It's good, but there is just so. much. filler. Especially the last four episodes could have been 10 minutes each and nothing of importance would have been missed. Also, the character of Lori is completely useless and watching her do nothing for minutes on end is agonizing at times.

The topic is not novel, similar productions have been before (usually pondering on and over the guilt of a spouse), but a mix of procedural and family drama as here is somewhat more interesting to follow. The performances are solid (all leading ones), but the clues and insinuations revealed step-by-step can be meaningful for viewers, but not from the point of view of active criminal investigation. So the plot got stuck for me in several places and I started involuntary comparisons with topical Danish series where distress and doubts are presented in a more thrilling manner.

PS I have not read the book, but as mothers tend to defend their sons to very end, the events in the last episode are not too realistic...

A lot of people are saying that the ending was unsatisfactory. I quite disagree. It would have been had this show been meant to be a whodunnit. But it never was that. If it were, it would have been called 'the murder of Ben Rifkin' and nit 'defending jacob'. This show is all about Jacob and his family. This is a show about how the balance of a perfectly normal family can go haywire when faced with an adversity such as a murder charge on a 14 year old. How doubt and suspicion can eat away at seemingly perfect bonds and suddenly make everything fall apart. It's about how we end up externalizing our troubles when the root actually lies deep within ourselves.

I liked every bit of it. As a mother of a 14 year old boy nyself, I would say the "defending jacob" affected me deeply. Couldnt find myself taking sides. Yes, this kind of an untoward incident, if it happens to anyone, will impact their family exactly the way it inpacted the Barber family. Very realistic characterization, awesome acting by everyone. Michelle Dockery disappoints a bit - its as if she forgot at times that she's playing the hapless mum of stoic teenager and not the wooden faced over-bred aristocrat from Downton Abbey.