Review by C.J. Bunce
Most pop culture fans discovered Amanda Seyfried as the MacGuffin murder victim via flashback scenes in Veronica Mars. She lit up mainstream films like Mamma Mia!, showed she even has comedy chops as a lawyer for the star teddy bear in Ted 2, and she’s the only reason to watch the film Mank–which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award. So why is she making a slow, thin-plotted crime series? That’s tougher to decipher, but as with her other projects there’s only one reason to watch the new police procedural Long Bright River, now streaming on Peacock. It’s because she’s the lead.
Most of the fun elements of your typical great TV police procedural are missing here. Based on a book by Liz Moore, the series follows Seyfried as police officer Mickey Fitzpatrick, a beat cop in what we’re told is a high-crime district of Kensington, Pennsylvania. Irish and cop are a frequent pairing in TV series, but nothing about the story has particularly Irish elements, except maybe for a garish masquerade parade promoted by Mickey’s grandfather “Gee”, played by John Doman (The Trial of the Chicago 7, Deep Space Nine, Gotham). In a good twist of gender roles from the typical police story, Mickey is from the neighborhood, and secrets of her past are slowly drizzled out in each episode. She looks young but has been around the block, has established characters on the streets who help her get her job done, while others from her school days don’t seem to care for her.
Police shows are usually surrounded by a mystery, and that’s the case here, although the mystery writing, pacing, and reveal isn’t compelling. Here Mickey is searching for a young woman with pink hair, missing for the past several weeks. Who is she? What happened to her? These questions get viewers through the first few episodes. But what troubles Mickey is the disappearance and murders of even more women in the area. Is the pink-haired woman one of the victims? Why is Mickey so fixated on her? Once this is answered the rest doesn’t seem to matter as the drama and personal relationships of .
A small cast means the whodunnit is obvious or a late-breaking outsider. Mickey turns for assistance to her estranged partner on the force, Truman Dawes, played by British actor Nicholas Pinnock (Counterpart). Her current partner is a disaster in every way, played by Dash Mihok (Burn Notice). Maybe the intrusive landlady is involved–she’s played by Harriet Sansom Harris (The X-Files, Werewolf by Night, Addams Family Values). Plus Longmire’s Patch Darragh is a possibility as the angry sergeant. Maybe the pink-haired woman did it. She is played by Ashleigh Cummings, best known for her key role in Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries.
Its eight episodes could have been handily pared down into a movie. The show hails from Nikki Toscano, showrunner on the brilliant series The Offer (reviewed here). Unfortunately Long Bright River isn’t in the same league.
If you’re a fan of Amanda Seyfried, check it out. Long Bright River is now streaming on Peacock.
