Comedy
Dead Boy Detectives
Dead Boy Detectives targets teens in style and story. But it comes with very adult, problematic content.
There’s absolutely no way Robert Berchtold would hurt 12-year-old Jan Broberg. At least that’s what Jan’s parents, Bob and Mary Ann, and Robert’s wife, Gail, believe.
Sure, they’ve been gone longer than expected. But Robert (affectionately called ‘B’) must have just decided to show Jan the motor home he’s been fixing up. Or maybe he took her to the circus and forgot to call. Or maybe they got a flat tire—or even got into an accident. But there’s certainly no way he kidnapped her.
If only that were true…
Peacock’s limited series A Friend of the Family is based on the true story of Jan Broberg, who was kidnapped not just once but twice in the 1970s by Robert Berchtold, the titular friend of the family.
Because of their friendship with B and his manic depression diagnosis, Bob, Mary Ann and Gail delayed calling the police when B and Jan failed to return from a horseback riding lesson. They were convinced B would show up with Jan or call to explain if they just waited.
Unfortunately, B doesn’t show up, and he doesn’t call. And pretty soon, the FBI gets involved. It turns out that B’s psychiatrist also believes he might be a pedophile—a relatively new and unknown term in 1975. And when B demands the ransom of the Broberg’s blessing to marry their 12-year-old daughter, their worst fears are confirmed.
But B must have known he’d get caught. So, while moving Jan down to Mexico to evade authorities, he brainwashes her.
He tricks Jan into believing that they are both victims of an alien abduction. Jan was chosen, she’s told, because she’s part alien. And it’s her mission to save her planet from destruction by having a child with B, another half-alien.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, B also convinces Jan that if she tells anyone about the mission or fails to complete it, the aliens will kill her parents, blind one of her sisters and have her other sister take Jan’s place as the “female companion” of B.
The real Jan Broberg and her mother published a book about their experience in 2003, entitled Stolen Innocence: The Jan Broberg Story. Netflix also released a documentary covering the events of Jan’s life called Abducted in Plain Sight.
But now, Jan has produced this miniseries to help others. “I want to tell my family story today, because so many seem to think something like this could never happen to them, especially at the hands of someone they know and trust,” she says.
Jan and her family were groomed and manipulated by B. Jan was drugged and brainwashed by him. Her parents, devoted members of the Mormon church, were blackmailed for their compliance since they had both had sexual relations with B. Jan was also raped by B multiple times during her kidnappings at age 12 and again at age 14.
Given that the series aims to help victims of sexual assault and alert families to the dangers of grooming, it seems unlikely that Peacock will depict anything that happened specifically between Jan and B—though that remains to be seen. But so far, it hasn’t held back on the sexual encounters between the adults of the series, including a scene involving Bob and B. (We don’t see nudity, but we see enough to know exactly what’s happening just off camera.)
The f-word isn’t in every episode, but it and other profanities are sprinkled throughout the series.
It’s also important to note that Jan and her family are Mormon, something that B (a fellow Mormon) manipulates.
So while the premise of this series may be to help families—to help them recognize child predators and how easy it can be to be fooled by them—it may not be helpful or healthy for families to watch so much as to just familiarize themselves with the facts of Jan’s story.
After becoming close with the Berchtold family over the course of two years, the Brobergs are shocked when Jan is kidnapped by B.
The opening scene, which takes place a few years after the events of this episode, shows a silhouette spying on Jan through her bedroom window.
Although the two families initially get on well, we begin to see a disconnect between the patriarchs. Bob grows increasingly frustrated with B undermining his authority regarding his own family’s whereabouts and activities. And we see the beginnings of an affair between B and Mary Ann.
We see signs of B’s obsession with Jan early on. He frequently stares at her, and the pair spends an abnormal amount of one-on-one time together. (He talks about neglecting his own sons to keep promises to her.)
After Jan and B fail to return from horseback riding and suspicions rise, Gail defends her husband, stating it must be a misunderstanding. She garners sympathy from the Brobergs by telling them about B’s manic depression and how she and B were unable to adopt a little girl because the girl’s mother changed her mind.
B swaps an allergy pill with another drug to make Jan pass out. When Jan wakes, she finds herself handcuffed and tied to the bed of a motorhome. We see B’s car abandoned with a broken and bloody window.
Gail recounts a story of when her father allegedly spotted a UFO. Jan sees an article about UFO sightings in the newspaper. When B kidnaps Jan, he plays an otherworldly voice through a radio to convince her she’s been abducted by aliens.
We see people praying and attending the Mormon church. Jan talks about taking sacrament.
People lie. A man keeps a hidden gun. There is a single use of “d–n.”
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
Dead Boy Detectives targets teens in style and story. But it comes with very adult, problematic content.
An elf mage contemplates on connection and regret as she watches her human friends grow old and pass away.
