Apples Never Fall

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.

I am getting tired of shows with such promise at the beginning only to be squandered away with a rushed, thoughtless, disappointing ending. Such is the case of "Apples Never Fall." Annette Bening (recently in "Nyad"), Jake Lacy of "White Lotus," and Alison Brie ("Promising Young Woman") lure me in, and for the most part, the mysterious unfolding of events keep me tuned. The feel of this series is very similar to "Big Little Lies," being that both are based on the work of the same author. However, "Apples Never Fall" is clearly the inferior of the two, with its contrived plot turns and a waste of an ending.

Liane Moriarty's story is transferred to Miami and torn between a satire about the disintegration of a dysfunctional family (who love their tennis) and a TV melodrama mystery. There is lazy dialogue that sounds as if taken directly from the book, and characters not fully realised or fleshed out. Even the actors seem a bit lost, with Sam Neill hamming it up, just going through the motions.

Still the mystery element keeps the interest, with two detectives hot on the trail. Other factors that stood out (and hopefully get wackier) is the children who come together in search of their mother. This forces the siblings to sort out their relationship hang-ups and family squabbles.

Overall disappointing, but the dark humour and mystery just keeps it afloat.

If you are willing to adjust your expectations of this limited series, you may not be let down by this generally well-acted drama.

In reality, there really is no "mystery" other than not knowing *anything* substantial about the central event for 7 of the 8 episodes. Plenty of suspicions and dubious conclusions by law enforcement are lobbed (sorry) between characters relentlessly episode after episode, with key "evidence" uncovered along the way being almost hilariously circumstantial (and obviously meant to mislead).

The *vast* majority of the episodes center around the family dynamics of the. Delaneys, with plenty of flashbacks that fill in present day interactions to explain why some family members react and behave the way they do.

In the end, the final episode was a complete letdown, with the last 5 seconds of the penultimate episode being the biggest twist/shocker of the series. I did not read the book, but it felt like the last episode was stretching the last couple pages of the book into a full hour of content.

If you temper your expectations oso that you don't expect a big payoff to the series, and instead watch it as a family melodrama wrapped around a "meh" mystery, your opinion might be higher.

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.