A Friend of the Family

This mini-series is a well executed telling of the events which befell an apparently good but very naive family in the mid-1970s. The whole story from beginning to end is as colorful as the Pacific Northest settings where it takes place. The acting in this well-casted production really gives the viewer a great picture of the pain and heartache experienced by the Brobergs and the inner struggle experienced by Jan throughout her entire brainwashing and manipulation. Jake Lacy resurrected the false charm and conniving abilities of Bob Berchtold while Colin Hanks showed us a picture of Bob Broberg and the personal pain of distraught father and conflicted husband.

The other cast such as McKenna Grace, Anna Pacquin, and Lio Tipton really complement the aforementioned actors making this a dramatic machine. The pacing does seem to drag at some points because B's mentioning of "the Mission" is like a broken record sometimes. This film serves as a cautionary tale regarding who you choose to trust and I think this story's telling is way overdue. The Broberg's gullibility is pathetic but the time and place and person has to be considered. This is happening at a time when pedophilia was hardly heard about and before kids were showing up on milk cartons. Also, a white family man in the Mormon community established trust rather easily with those in his church. If this was happening back then, it can easily happen again today.

I'm not sure if it's such a good idea to make shows like this because of the fact that it could spread ideas into sick peoples heads, but nonetheless, it's a great show with great level of acting that felt very real, and the events are perfectly unfolding in such a medium pace scenario The struggles of both families are real and the characters are extremely believable. I loved watching the show because it opens up your eyes to a lot of things that surrounds you whether it's in the neighborhood or the city or the country I just personally don't like any harm done to under aged kids and it's really painful to watch things like this that happened in real life.

A lot of unexpected and shocking events happen that were never expected.

How stupid were this parents?

Even if you're religious, even if you're in the 60s, even if you are frustrated in your marriage, their behavior in every second of this episodes just makes me anxious and frustrated.

The poor girl was living under the worst anxiety daily thinking that she was on a mission and was about to be visited by monsters from another planet. A lie created by that lunatic and criminal.

The main guilty person here is the kidnapper indeed. But for example, her mother was about to stay away from that family as the FBI asked and she was all the time wanting to hear the kidnapper's voice and wanted to have sex with him.

The show is well done cause it really shows how stupid this people was and makes you mad while watching.

Aside from the fact this is a True story if this was fiction it would Still be shocking ..very in depth in gives you a interesting perspective on a story most of us haven't known I appreciate how well this was out together and easy to follow.. at times during this it was hard to believe some of these events occurred.

This is one of those shows Thts gonna have you remember plus also gives a you a look of how ppl views things in the 1970s .. the parents in this show start to make you mad but at times. Hard to believe they let this dude infiltrate they're whole family..this is highly recommended.

Some reviewers can't understand how these ppl were so naive and why they handled things the way they did. This happened in a whole other time. There was no internet to learn from. The 6 p.m. News didn't teach about pedophiles. Ppl generally thought ppl were good and trusted those they went to church with. These ppl had no clue how to deal with this or what to do. Ppl didn't have social media to share their stories and teach others.

Children were more easy to manipulate back then than now.

I also don't understand the negative comments about Anna Paquin's acting. I thought she did a great job. She was portraying how many family oriented, religious women behaved back then.