Sam Neill (left) and Annette Bening are the newly retired couple central to the series Apples Never Fall.
Sam Neill (left) and Annette Bening are the newly retired couple central to the series Apples Never Fall.
Apples Never Fall (M) Seven episode mini-series. Streaming on TVNZ on Demand
Created by Melanie Marnich, based on the book by Liane Moriarty
A perfect-looking family is thrust into an unfolding mystery, causing their deep flaws to come to the surface.
Good basics, handled capably by Melanie Marnich, who devotes an episode to each family member, saving the mother, Joy Delaney (Annette Bening), for last.
There are seven episodes, six family members, plus an episode for an imposter: a good structure.
Staying reasonably close to Liane Moriarty’s bestselling novel of the same title, Marnich’s story focuses on Joy and her husband Stan (Sam Neill), both recently retired from running a West Palm Beach, Florida, tennis academy.
Stan was an ace coach; both are highly regarded in their community.
Joy and Stan’s four children all feel damaged in some way by having been raised in the competitive atmosphere generated by their parents and don’t hesitate to point that out.
Troy (Jake Lacy), a successful venture capitalist, shows strength as the eldest child but is bruised by his father’s dismissiveness of him.
New age Amy (Alison Brie) needs Joy’s extra protection from life’s slings and arrows, gutsy Brooke (Essie Randles) has a struggling physical therapy practice and a lesbian fiancée whose loyalty she disparages, and boat-hire manager Logan (Conor Merrigan Turner) can’t break free from the apron strings.
Each of the siblings comes across as a real person, likeable for one reason or another.
What sets the Moriarty/Marnich story apart is the way it takes what could have been a mediocre family drama to the next level, each episode switching often between “now” and “then”, a clever way to use backstory to create sensational twists.
When Joy suddenly disappears, bloody smears beside her crumpled bike on the roadside, with apples from its basket strewn on the ground, Stan’s emotional distance instantly makes him a murder suspect.
Adding intrigue to each episode is an over-confident young woman called Savannah (Georgia Flood), who bursts into Joy and Stan’s empty nest, giving Joy the companionship she craves and bringing lightness to the bickering household, but proceeding to drive wedges between family members.
Even though the offspring see through her, Joy won’t listen.
Stan’s mentorship of Harry Haddad (Giles Matthey), a prodigy turned Grand Slam winner, links all the parts of the story and provides an answer to its two driving questions: Who is Savannah? Has Stan really killed Joy?
Slow patches are understandable, people can delay or become a bit inert when under pressure, and by the time episode seven′s thrilling ending comes along (a different one, by the way, from Liane Moriarty’s original), it’s worth having stayed the distance.
The well-selected soundtrack, from Have You Ever Seen the Rain to When the Party’s Over and Never Felt So Alone, is occasionally overbearing but helps to hold the sometimes-meandering storylines together.
In particular, Annette Bening’s Joy is fittingly uncertain, rather bewildered, strong at times, and occasionally impetuous, while Sam Neill’s Stan moves easily between being bemused and determined.
His pride is fragile, his gruffness hides sensitivity.
Really good entertainment … and food for thought too.
