What’s it rated? TV-MA
When? 2022
Where’s it showing? Apple TV Plus
Created by novelist Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone, Shutter Island), Black Bird is based on the amazing true story of Jimmy Keene (Taron Egerton), a drug dealer sentenced to a decade in minimum-security prison, who’s recruited by the FBI to transfer to a maximum-security prison to befriend suspected serial killer Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser) in the hopes that he’ll confess and reveal body locations.
Jimmy’s slick as snot, the son of a dirty cop, Big Jim Keene (Ray Liotta), who’s terminally ill. Jimmy’s desperate to get out before he dies, so he reluctantly agrees to enter a living hell. Larry seems like a loser and a bumpkin, but he’s managed to fool the cops into thinking he’s a “serial confessor” … until evidence suggests he’s guilty. The former grave digger and janitor, however, is great at covering his tracks.
It’s an incredible story, and the acting—especially from Hauser and Liotta—is superb. Joe Williamson also turns in a pivotal performance in the essential supporting role of Correctional Officer Carter, who befriends Jimmy and seems like a good friend to have inside but who isn’t as magnanimous as he appears. Very bingeable! (six approximately one-hour episodes) ∆
This article appears in Feb 2-12, 2023.