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APPLES NEVER FALL – Review by Susan Granger

Susan Granger , , , , , , ,
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Based on a bestseller by Australian author Liana Moriarty (Big Little Lies), Apples Never Fall is a seven-episode limited series that’s ready for binging.

The family drama begins with the sudden disappearance of recently retired Joy Delaney (Annette Bening), who spent decades running a prestigious tennis academy in West Palm Beach with her husband Stan (Sam Neill), a highly competitive former player who became a respected coach, having launched the career of Grand Slam winner Harry Haddad (Giles Matthey).

Stunned that their mother inexplicably vanished are their four adult children. Once a top-tier contender, Troy (Jake Lacy) has channeled his competitive energy into venture capital. Acerbic Brooke (Essie Randles) has opened a physical therapy clinic and is engaged to Gina (Paul Andrea Placido).

Arty, alarmist, aimless Amy (Alison Brie) is an emotional mess, bunking in with a younger, empathetic landlord (Nate Mann). And marine manager Logan (Connor Merrigan-Turner) finds it’s easier to break up with his fiancée than move from his houseboat and cut close family ties.

Then Joy’s blood-splattered bicycle is found on the roadside. Complicating matters is short-tempered Stan’s history of emotional neglect, making him a prime suspect, along with Savannah (Georgia Flood), an enigmatic grifter who appeared on the Delany’s doorstep one night, begging for shelter from an abusive boy-friend, and deliberately proceeds to ingratiate herself with Joy.

Following her Oscar-nominated performance in Nyad, Annette Bening is warm and compelling as an aging ‘helicopter mom’ coping with an ‘empty nest,’ while Sam Neill adds depth to a volatile performance.

Showrunner Melanie Marnich with directors Chris Sweeney and Dawn Shadforth interweave ‘Now’ and ‘Then’ chronological episodes, geared to presenting each family member’s perspective, keeping the ‘whodunit’ tension taut, throwing in structured snippets of mistrust, deception and infidelity.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, Apples Never Fall is a seductively suspenseful 7 – with all episodes

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Susan Granger

Susan Granger is a product of Hollywood. Her natural father, S. Sylvan Simon, was a director and producer at R.K.O., M.G.M. and Columbia Pictures; her adoptive father, Armand Deutsch, produced movies at M.G.M. As a child, Susan appeared in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Margaret O'Brien and Lassie. She attended Mills College in California, studying journalism with Pierre Salinger, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. During her adult life, Susan has been on radio and television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic. Her newspaper reviews have been syndicated around the world, and she has appeared on American Movie Classics cable television. In addition, her celebrity interviews and articles have been published in REDBOOK, PLAYBOY, FAMILY CIRCLE, COSMOPOLITAN, WORKING WOMAN and THE NEW YORK TIMES, as well as in PARIS MATCH, ELLE, HELLO, CARIBBEAN WORLD, ISLAND LIFE, MACO DESTINATIONS, NEWS LIMITED NEWSPAPERS (Australia), UK DAILY MAIL, UK SUNDAY MIRROR, DS (France), LA REPUBBLICA (Italy), BUNTE (Germany), VIP TRAVELLER (Krisworld) and many other international publications through SSG Syndicate. Susan also lectures on the "Magic and Mythology of Hollywood" and "Don't Take It Personally: Conquering Criticism and other Survival Skills," originally published on tape by Dove Audio.