Drama
Crew Girl
Netflix’s ‘Crew Girl’ is yet another teen love triangle drama filled with coarse language, underage drinking and way too many underdressed teenagers.
For the past 11 years, Ian Ridley has been living every parent’s worst nightmare: His 3-year-old daughter, Maggie, went missing while he and his now ex-wife, Deb, were out, leaving her in the care of her big brother, Dean.
While this tragedy irreversibly shook up the lives of the Ridley family (and presumably split it apart), it would seem Ian hasn’t even begun to try to move forward with his life. As far as we initially see, his closest companions are a woman from work—a subordinate who he’s having physical relations with—and a bottle of gin that he has avoided drinking in the hope of reaching six months’ sobriety.
Being a former police officer and current emergency hotline operative, Ian knows a thing or two about investigations into the deepest tragedies that families can face. He knows the chances of finding Maggie alive are slim. But any hope Ian might have had of moving on and wrestling with the deep-seated unknown of why such a tragic event would happen to such a loving family is dashed when the bones of a long-deceased child are discovered in the woods following a brutal storm.
Police claim that the remains belong to a child aged 3 or 4 who died around a decade prior. The facts line up with sweet little Maggie’s disappearance. But something about the whole thing still feels off.
Is it Ian’s refusal to accept that what happened to Maggie was a random, devastating act of meaningless violence that keeps him from moving on? Or, deep down, does he know that there might be more to his daughter’s tragic story?
If you skimmed a synopsis of Apple TV’s Last Seen, it would appear that this miniseries falls into the endless ranks of crime series streaming right now. However, Last Seen takes familiar material and deepens it.
In some ways, this should be read as a positive. Patrick Brammall (who plays Ian) gives a genuinely haunting performance as a broken man—but one not beyond redemption. Ian tells characters that this tragic event forced him to reject any semblance of a higher power working in his life, but it doesn’t seem that he fully believes what he’s saying. This series is far from your run-of-the-mill catch-the-killer romp, and while Ian’s nihilistic mindset permeates the bleak tone of the first episode, it would seem the series plans to give him some relief by the end of its run—both in answers of what happened to Maggie and in a more hopeful outlook on life.
That said, Last Seen may not be a series worth the emotional turmoil. Given the subject matter at hand, violence is obviously the main content culprit here. In addition to that dismal subject matter, the series boasts frequent strong profanities from its characters. There’re also some sensual scenes with lots of skin on display.
But the talent both in front of and behind the camera makes this series feel palpably real—and that may actually be the biggest detractor for discerning viewers:
A scene in the first episode showcases an emergency call center worker eating lunch as she listens to a tragic situation unfold on the other end of the phone—a moment that confronts the audience with the notion that hearing excessive tragedy might dull one’s response to it. Moments like this may cause audiences to wonder if consuming series like Last Seen on a regular basis may be numbing their reaction to dreary content as well.
The series opens with a mudslide that ravages everything in its path and inadvertently reveals the remains of a deceased child. These establishing shots do more than just set up an inciting incident for our characters, though: They let the audience in on what they can expect emotionally. An unrelenting sense of grief washes away the morals of what would likely be well-intentioned people, and the search for answers plunges our characters into some dark, murky places spiritually.
While the storm eventually ends and the sun shines again on a beautiful, ravaged forest landscape, viewers may be left wondering if the answers this series will provide are worth the flood of content it’ll take to get them—and whether their emotions will be left in shambles in the process.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at letters@pluggedin.com, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
Old wounds that never healed are reopened as Ian Ridley and his ex-wife, Deb, are informed that the remains of a child were found in the woods—and the description matches that of their young daughter who went missing 11 years prior.
We see the bones of the deceased little one several times. (We also see her pajamas sealed in plastic bags for evidence.) Viewers overhear a few call-center conversations, one of which involves domestic violence between a man and a woman with her child.
We are told that a man breeds dogs for illegal fights. Characters get into fistfights. One ends with a man’s arm almost getting broken; another results in someone’s face getting badly bruised and bloodied. A little kid cries out in pain when he is forcefully grabbed. We hear a description of a drunk driver “ruining a woman’s life.”
While nothing pivotal is shown, the aftermath of Ian’s sexual relations is on display in a scene. He and his partner both sleep shirtless in bed. Although blankets cover up the woman’s chest, her bare back and underwear are visible. The two share a couple of kisses as well.
Harsh language is frequent, with around 35 uses of the f-word and six uses of the s-word. We also hear a couple uses of “pr–k,” “p—y,” “a–,” “bloody,” “h—” and “p-ss.” God’s name is misused three times as well.
Ian’s worldview starts in a bad place. A friend of Ian’s claims that everyone needs a “higher power” to center them, and that his is the ocean. Ian responds that it doesn’t matter to him if God exists or not: Either way, his daughter is gone, and if there is a God, God did nothing to remedy that. A Christian radio program features a line about God being with His people in their darkest moments.
Jonah Parker’s first interaction with Plugged In came when he was just five years old, after his parents read a review for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and deemed the content too intense for him. What started out as a contentious relationship between Jonah and a staff of reviewers who knew not of his existence would later turn into an appreciation for the site’s ability to present media content in a way that was accurate and fair. Jonah enjoys analyzing how our entertainment echoes the creativity of our Creator while finding glimpses of Biblical truths within every genre. He believes that Robert Pattinson’s Batmobile is the perfect mix of cool and practical.
Netflix’s ‘Crew Girl’ is yet another teen love triangle drama filled with coarse language, underage drinking and way too many underdressed teenagers.
‘Dang!’ is Netflix’s newest in a long line of raunchy comedies—a series that, once again, forgets the punchline as it’s telling the joke.
This sequel to The Office features the same setup, crisp writing and cringe-worthy jokes of its forbear. But The Paper’s content issues can be significantly worse.
A young noble inherits his father’s estate—along with its illegal marijuana operation. Alas, this show grows its own crop of problems.