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Black Bird

Black Bird season 1

Credits

Cast

Network

Reviewer

Paul Asay

TV Series Review

Larry Hall is guilty of something. Almost everyone agrees on that—sometimes even Larry Hall.

By 1997, he was in prison—convicted of kidnapping and killing 15-year-old Jessica Roach. He confessed, too (just as he’d confessed to other murders). Indiana detective Brian Miller is convinced Larry killed the girl. FBI agent Lauren McCauley believes he might’ve killed more than a dozen others.

But Larry recanted his confession later (just as he’d always recanted). His lawyers would argue that his confessions was, and always had been, been coerced. They pointed to his quiet demeanor, his low IQ, his pathological desire to please people. He’d say anything, they said, to make a friend or feel important. Even confess to murder. So while Larry will admit to having vivid, violent dreams, he’d never do anything so heinous in real life.

And, without a body, without any physical evidence to link Larry to the crime, those confessions didn’t mean much. Why, even that the Roach conviction was on shaky ground, liable to be overturned when Larry had his next day in court.

What would keep this suspected serial killer behind bars? A body, of course. A body only Larry would know was buried.

That’s where James Keene waltzes in.

Feigned Sympathy for the Devil

James pled guilty to selling narcotics. The one-time high-school football star with the winning smile is serving a 10-year sentence.

Or he was, before FBI agent McCauley dangled a “get out of jail free” card in front of his face.

But to get that card, James must switch prisons, ingratiate himself to Larry Hall and extract information from him: confessions to murder, yes; but more importantly, locations of graves. Anything and everything that might solve some of the country’s most heinous cold cases. Anything that would keep a killer behind bars.

“No body, no release,” McCauley tells him.

It’s a terrible deal, and James knows it. The prison where Larry’s being kept is a maximum-security joint in Springfield, Missouri—a prison that specializes in the criminally insane.

But James’ father—an ex-cop himself—is sick. If James serves out his sentence (and there’s no possibility of early release), he’ll never see his dad alive again.

A deal with the devil, he reasons, is better than no deal at all.

Guilty as Charged

Black Bird is based on a true story—one that the real James Keene documented in his autobiographical novel In With the Devil: A Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption (written with help from Hillel Levin). Sporting a 100% “freshness” rating on Rotten Tomatoes and starring Taron Egerton, Paul Walter Hauser and the late Ray Liotta, the miniseries is yet another critically acclaimed offering from Apple TV+.

Too bad the show itself is also as dark and problematic as Larry Hall’s nightmares.

The show paints Keene as something of a lady’s man. And even though the story takes place mainly behind bars, we still see a surprising number of sex scenes. Larry’s own sexual urges and inclinations claim a good bit of the spotlight as well—in addition to their own (alleged) violent, brutal and terminal conclusions. While we hear more about Larry’s alleged crimes than we see them, the descriptions themselves are harrowing and horrific.

Language can be a big issue as well, with the f-word making regular appearances in the dialogue (along with plenty of other foul nouns, verbs and adjectives, too).

Some speculate that the real Larry Hall might’ve killed more than 40 women. This Apple TV+ show won’t kill anyone. But it could hurt some viewers in unexpected ways.

Episode Reviews

Jul. 8, 2022 – S1, Ep1: “Pilot”

The story unspools on two different timelines. In the first—which begins in 1996—James Keene is arrested for selling cocaine, adding a few illegal weapons charges to his criminal Yahtzee game. He cops a plea, assuming he’ll get five years in prison. Instead, the judge slaps him with 10. Seven months later, an FBI agent approaches him with a deal: Cozy up to Larry Hall, a man whom the Fed believes could be behind 14 murders, maybe more. If James can extract a confession, he’ll be allowed to go free.

In the second timeline, Detective Brian Miller begins investigating the murder of Jessica Roach. Evidence seems to point to Larry, even though other law enforcement officials believe the guy is only guilty of being weird.

Miller finds Jessica’s decomposing body in the middle of a cornfield: We see the victim’s gray feet, legs and face (with half-open eyes). Larry confesses to having lurid dreams in which he kills women. “But they’re just dreams,” he says. We learn that his van has come up in a number of complaints—mainly from women and girls who allege that Larry has pulled up next to them and made lewd remarks.

James introduces himself to a waitress at a restaurant. Later that evening, apparently, the two have sex. We see them engaged in the act, both completely naked and with James’ rear exposed to the camera. In prison, he runs a hustle wherein he rents porn mags to prisoners for 30 minutes at a time. (We see some skin-filled pictures in the mag, but no actual nudity that I could see.)

Larry is referred to as a “demon” and the prison he’s in as a sort of hell. James and another drug dealer get into a serious altercation when it’s discovered that one of James’ friends has been cheating the other guy. (James’ friend has obviously been badly beaten.) The guy fires a modified shotgun at the cheater—first pelting him with painful beanbags and then firing off real shells above his head.

We see bricks of cocaine. A shirtless James is violently jostled during his arrest. Characters say the f-word two-dozen times, frequently paired with the word “mother”. We also hear the s-word, “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” “h—” and “p-ssed.” Jesus’ name is abused twice.

Jul. 8, 2022 – S1, Ep2: “We Are Coming, Father Abraham”

After having agreed to go undercover to extract confessions from Larry Hall, James discovers he’s not the only candidate for the job. In a series of interviews, he tries to prove he’s the right guy to do it. Meanwhile, on an earlier timeline, Det. Brian Miller continues his investigation of Larry.

Larry confesses to killing Jessica Roach, saying that she was “real sad” when he put her in his van. Later, he describes the aftermath: “Didn’t have time to bury her so I had to drive past a few times,” he says. “Normally, I bury all of them.”

He soon recants his confession, and when Brian takes him to the scene, Larry sings “We Are Coming Father Abraham” to keep from talking. But he also seems to get upset when he hears that another apparent killer has taken credit for one of his murders—describing in detail what he did with the victim’s clothes. He also talks about another victim, whom he forced to “breathe starter fluid,” after which he had sex with the unconscious woman.

James and FBI Agent Lauren McCauley have a frank discussion about what James likes about women: Later, when James wins the job, Lauren tells him that she’ll visit him in the guise of his girlfriend and invites him to “cop a feel” and squeeze her rear to complete their cover. We hear that James’ mother cheated on his father and subsequently got a divorce. He asks Lauren how Jessica dies but receives only a partial answer.

Characters drink wine and whiskey. James strips before heading into a new prison, and the guard asks him to expose his anus. (He does so, but everything below the waist is obscured.) We hear 22 f-words (sometimes paired with the word “mother”) and 13 s-words. “A–,” “p-ss”, “t-ts” and “p-ssy” are also heard, along with two misuses of God’s name.

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Paul Asay

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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