Bird Watching

I've never read a novel by Dennis Lehane, but thanks to the many high-profile movie adaptations of his books, I'm very much aware of his style. Mystic River, Shutter Island, Gone Baby Gone -- unless you're a movie-watcher who avoids drama completely, chances are you've seen at least one. And it's Gone Baby Gone in particular (I thought it was excellent) that made me take interest the newest Lehane project.

Black Bird is a six-episode Apple TV+ mini-series starring Taron Egerton, Paul Walter Hauser, Sepideh Moafi, Greg Kinnear, and Ray Liotta. It's adapted from the real-life story of Jimmy Keene, a cocky young narcotics dealer recently sent to prison. When his father's health begins to decline sharply, he grows desperate to get out, and agrees to assist an FBI investigation. Brutal child serial killer Larry Hall is currently in prison, but on the basis of a confession his lawyers are now arguing was coerced. Without more evidence against Hall, the FBI fears he will be freed... and it's up to Jimmy to transfer into Hall's maximum security facility, buddy up to the killer, and elicit actionable information to use against him.

Much of the focus of those previous Lehane film adaptations were on the high-profile directors -- Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, and Ben Affleck. But the similarity of tone in those movies makes clear that no auteur was bending Lehane's voice to his will. With Black Bird, Lehane is the show creator and head writer, ostensibly freed to tell the story "his way," given the power that writer-producers wield in the medium of television. There's very little difference here. Put simply: if you've liked anything by Dennis Lehane, you're going to like this.

There are good performances throughout the series. Paul Walter Hauser gets the showiest role as killer Larry Hall. He doesn't ooze danger in every frame like most film/TV serial killers, but he's creepy and "off" at every turn. Adopting a high, lilting voice (and the real Hall's distinct physical appearance), Hauser is the appropriately chilling foil for the hero of this story. That hero, Taron Egerton, is quite good too... though his work is far more subtle. His character Jimmy is on a real arc here, and you can see all the steps. Ray Liotta's role here is very much secondary, but there's a subtlety there too that stands in contrast to his most famous, showy performances; that this sadly serves as one of his final performances before his death will in time serve as a testament to a range greater than he was often allowed to show.

However, despite being only six episodes long, Black Bird is a little slow at times. The promise of the show is quite suspenseful: that Jimmy is in real danger in this "worst of the worst" prison, but he can't move too quickly against Hall without risk of tipping him off. The show introduces several vectors of jeopardy along these lines. But ultimately, the culmination of them feels less than you imagine beforehand. I got the impression that Lehane was less willing to take liberty with real-world facts than many other writers might have been. Where the story could have been "heightened," Black Bird generally opts to keep things on a much tighter leash. A lot of what you might call "the action" is deferred to the final episode... and that episode doesn't quite qualify in my mind as a "grand finale."

Black Bird is not bad -- and it bears repeating: if you've liked any of Dennis Lehane's other work, you will like this. Still, I wouldn't call it essential. I'd give it a B. I've made a point of calling out reasons you should subscribe to Apple TV+. Black Bird doesn't make that list. It's more "another thing you could watch once you get Apple TV+ for one of those other things."