Liane Moriarty’s novels have served as the inspiration for some successful TV adaptations, with Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers. Now her fans are being treated to a new series from her latest book, Apples Never Fall, which is available to stream now with a Peacock subscription. Critics had the chance to stream the seven-episode miniseries ahead of its March 14 release, and they can’t decide if this mystery-drama is a binge of “soapy satisfactions” or just “rotten” to its core.
Annette Bening joins the wave of movie stars heading to TV to star as Joy, the matriarch of the tennis-playing Delaney family, whose lives are thrown into upheaval when she goes missing, and her husband Stan becomes a suspect. Sam Neill plays Stan, with their children being portrayed by Jake Lacy, Alison Brie, Conor Merrigan Turner and Essie Randles. There are always secrets lurking where Liane Moriarty’s stories are concerned, and Cristina Escobar of RogerEbert.com says the “smart script” and Bening’s expertise help the series avoid the pitfalls of other “missing-or-dead woman” plots. The critic gives it 4 out of 4 stars, writing:
Bening never lets Joy fade. She is powerful when she needs to be, vulnerable and pensive all at once. In her, we see a portrayal of a flawed and dynamic woman who’s happy with her choices if not her current stage in life. The recent Oscar nominee for Nyad is such an extraordinary star that here she’s able to portray a warmth that allows others to skip over her accomplishments and edge, even as it does them all a disservice. It’s an arresting portrayal that insists on Joy’s humanity even when her story is being told by those who would negate it.
Ben Travers of IndieWire grades the miniseries a B, writing that it delivers the “soapy satisfactions” of the Delaneys’ strife with an interesting mystery that offers motivated payoffs. Its focus on the family’s drama and the overarching mystery without digging too deeply into the effects of media speculation and rumors works to its advantage, according to the critic, who writes:
Apples Never Fall is not a complicated TV show. The seven-episode Peacock limited series, adapted from Liane Moriarty’s latest novel, is a tabloid mystery rooted within a relatable (albeit extreme) family drama. Yes, the Delaneys get caught up in a frenzy of rumors and news reports, but the series isn’t all that interested in peeling back the curtain of social media (and regular media) to reveal the false realities we construct for ourselves in public or on Instagram. Nor is showrunner Melanie Marnich’s story overinvested in how an intimate family tragedy can be warped by the sudden influx of outside attention, forever warping people’s lives. Apples Never Fall is a mystery through and through, driven by its characters and their increasingly dramatic confessions – primarily, to each other. And it works.
Other critics, however, don’t see Apples Never Fall for the visual beach read that the above reviews portray. Time magazine’s Judy Berman calls the acting “inconsistent” and says the script and direction are a “disaster.” Big plot twists can be seen coming several episodes in advance, Berman says, writing:
It’s a serviceable premise for a potboiler, despite the thin characters and trope-laden plot. But subpar storytelling robs Apples Never Fall of all suspense—or, really, any other form of enjoyment. The dialogue leans on cliché: ‘I was like a father to you!’ ‘She was a force.’ ‘It’s crazy, isn’t it? How a split second can change everything for the rest of your life.’ And Marnich treats viewers like we’re stupid, spoon-feeding unadorned exposition and analysis through a pair of generic detectives (Jeanine Serralles and Dylan Thuraisingham). ‘Did Stanley Delaney do what I think he just did?’ one asks, in a typical exchange. ‘Yes, he did. He just threw his son under the bus,’ the other replies.
Anna Govert of Paste calls the series a “bore,” rating it a 4 out of 10. The cast feels like it’s sleepwalking, the critic writes, and every dramatic moment falls flat because of shoddy pacing and shallow characters who are unlikeable and uninteresting. Govert continues:
The Peacock series fails to offer anything meaningful in its seven-episode runtime. It’s a missing persons story, a classic vanished-without-a-trace mystery, and yet it’s so unbelievably boring. From the kids’ petty and underdeveloped personal drama to the frustrating lack of urgency from both the story itself and the players within it, Apples Never Fall is about as thrilling and mysterious as watching paint dry. At every turn, it feels like no one is ever actually all that interested in bringing Joy home, with each episode finding both the kids and Stan moving at a snail’s pace in their half-hearted efforts to locate their mother and wife. … Each character in this series is simply unlikable but not sinister enough to actually be interesting; they’re just a family of mildly shitty people, and their ultimately tame secrets and lies do very little to justify pressing play on each episode.
Taylor Gates of Collider also gives Apples Never Fall a 4 out of 10, and though the critic admits that the series has the ingredients for a successful effort, a lack of focus results in the Peacock series being a “snoozefest.” Gates writes that it tries to be a family drama and chilling mystery, ultimately failing at both. The review states:
The main issues have to do with what the show chooses to focus on and how. Each member of the family gets their own episode, making it glaringly apparent who the weaker characters are — and wasting precious time making us suffer through their chapters. The sibling relationships are thinly drawn and inauthentic, with very little chemistry between the four of them. I had trouble buying that they loved each other, hated each other, or even grew up together. Instead, we spend eons fleshing out all of their romantic relationships that do very little to dig into their characters and even less to develop the overarching plot.
Some critics find Apples Never Fall to be a fun binge, with Annette Bening and Alison Brie garnering some praise for their performances, but others think bad pacing, unlikeable characters and an unsatisfying ending doom this latest Liane Moriarty book-to-screen adaptation.
If you are a fan of the novel or if you want to give this series a try, all seven episodes of Apples Never Fall are available to stream now on Peacock, and be sure to check out our 2024 TV schedule to see what other premieres are coming soon.
