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.

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.

Unbelievable though it may be, even at my age, I was unfamiliar with this story.

The acting, storytelling, and writing is stellar. The way this series has captured the way "B" preyed upon, manipulated and groomed not only his own wife and victim, but the entire victim's family is absolutely riveting.

Having been a child in the 70s who grew up in a religious family, I can understand the naivety and trepidation of the victims. This is very well captured by the writers and actors.

Lastly, the actor who plays "B" gives an incredible performance of a psychologically damaged, manipulative, pervert, pedophile who gaslights everyone he encounters. Actually, all actors gave top notch performances.

Highly recommend.

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.

This is not an easy watch and might not be for everyone. It is a very well made, well paced series that tells quite the unbelievable-but sadly real- story. There's not much more to say or the risk it's to spoil it: my take on the bad reviews is that throughout the series you constantly want to switch it off, as frustration towards individuals or the "system" (church, law, police, hospital, etc.) mounts. This is no fairy tale, that doesn't mean it's not with watching, or that actors didn't play well. All protagonists were extremely believable in their roles, with that slight edge of surreality that actually adds up to the realism of the story.