APPLES NEVER FALL -- A Family Drama Just as Dysfunctional as Its Family

Review by Tatiana Miranda

To non-bookish individuals, Apples Never Fall might seem like just another mystery drama series similar to Little Fires Everywhere or Sharp Objects. However, those familiar with the series' source material know it comes from the same author. Like author Liane Moriarty's previous book-to-series adaptations, the upcoming Peacock original series features a stacked ensemble cast, with Sam Neill and Annette Bening in lead roles. They are joined by Jake Lacy, Alison Brie, Essie Randles, and Conor Merrigan Turner, who portray the dysfunctional, tennis-obsessed Delaney family. ​

The series quickly jumps into the story's central conflict, alluding to the matriarch Joy Delaney's disappearance before the audience can even get a sense of the family's history and dynamics. It does try to give backstory through flashbacks, but the time jumps happen too much and too inconsistently throughout the seven-episode series to work as intended, leaving several of the main characters' motives unwarranted and unrealistic family dynamics. A majority of the time jumps are to about half a year before Joy's disappearance when a mysterious woman named Savannah comes into the older couple's life, but there is also a flashback to the children's youth in episode five that feels out of place and unnecessary. 

While the cast is incredibly star-studded, most of the characters feel like one-dimensional dysfunctional family member tropes. Alison Brie as Amy is the most notable example of this. Her character is meant to be the spiritually-minded disappointment of the family who dropped out of college and is pursuing a career as a life coach. Although the series attempts to give her some depth and reveals how being the family disappointment has affected her, it is a small aspect of the story that doesn't carry a lot of emotional weight.

Other characters, such as Jake Lacy's rich womanizer Troy and Annette Bening's overly kind and overlooked Joy, are equally as flat. Even the father, Stan Delaney, who is meant to be complex due to his trauma and suspicious behavior, is ultimately an uninteresting and lackluster portrayal of a typical absent and overcritical patriarch. His character is almost like the poor man's Logan Roy from Succession, with older son Troy as a pseudo-Kendall Roy character as well. ​

Since the characters are lacking, the mystery aspect of the series takes center stage. The mystery does keep you constantly wondering what happened to Joy and questioning each family member. Yet, the reveal of what truly happened and the aftermath of the revelation feels too silly to be taken seriously for what is supposed to be a dramatic series.

Ultimately, when compared to Liane Moriarty's other series adaptations, Apples Never Fall is nowhere near as captivating as Big Little Lies and is more forgettable like Nine Perfect Strangers. Even with a stellar cast, the characters are too uninteresting and the plot is too unoriginal to make the series a worthwhile watch.

Apples Never Fall premiers on Peacock on March 14. All seven episodes reviewed. 

Rating: 2/5