We often don’t understand the purpose of scripted retellings of recent true crime cases, given how much media coverage these cases have gotten. This includes myriad docuseries that examine all sides of the case. If there’s any case that has gotten exhausted by media coverage and various docuseries, it’s the one against Alex Murdaugh, who is the subject of a new scripted series streaming on Hulu.
Opening Shot: “June 7, 2021. 10:06 PM. Hampton, South Carolina.” A shot of the Murdaugh family home.
The Gist: On that date, prominent South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh (Jason Clark) found his wife Maggie (Patricia Arquette) and younger son Paul (Johnny Berchtold), shot to death. We hear him call 911 in a panic.
We then go back about two-and-a-half years, to February 22, 2019. Maggie is getting the house prepared for a party to celebrate Alex’s father, Randolph (Gerald McRaney) getting one of the state’s highest awards, the Order of the Palmetto. In the meantime, Alex is out shooting with two buddies, with money on the line; one finds out that Alex might have modified the rifle he was given. “It’s only cheating… if you get caught,” Alex says while counting his winnings.
Paul comes home after being out all night, with a tree branch sticking out of the tire well of his SUV. It’s not the first time he’s gone out all night, gotten drunk, and either hit something or gotten snagged for a DUI.
Alex is representing a man who became paralyzed after a car accident. He thinks he has a pretty good case to get a judgement for his client, but both Randolph and Alex’s older brother Randy (Noah Emmerich) think it’s a better idea to settle. But Alex is adamant that the trial goes to the jury.
His private law work isn’t the only thing Alex has going on, though; he is a assistant solicitor, meaning he occasionally prosecutes cases for the state. He also has a jellyfish farming business that is running afoul of a county environmental inspector, who cites him for not having a permit.
The night before the party, Maggie asks their housekeeper Gloria (Kathleen Wilhoite) to be on the lookout for Alex’s “medicine;” he’s addicted to oxycodone, but claims he’s clean when he’s not.
The night of the party, Alex finds out that his father is retiring, but there’s as much of a chance of Randy becoming managing partner of the firm than he will. And Randolph demands that his son take the offer on the table for the lawsuit. Paul, jealous of his older brother Buster (Will Harrison) getting into law school, goes off with friends and gets drunk after getting into a scuffle with Buster. He and his friends have a wild ride on Paul’s boat that ends in an accident, which results in his friend Mallory Beach (Madeline Popovich) going missing.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Created by Michael D. Fuller and Erin Lee Carr and based on Mandy Matney’s podcast Murdaugh Murders Podcast (Brittany Snow plays Matney in later episodes of the season), Murdaugh: Murder In The Family is reminiscent of many other true crime scripted series, the most recent example being The Twisted Tale Of Amanda Knox.
Our Take: Alex Murdaugh is currently serving two life sentences for the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, which he’s currently appealing, and true crime devotees still have an appetite for more facts to be dug up in this case. We just don’t think that Murdaugh: Murder In The Family is going to give them any satisfaction there.
We do appreciate the performances of the excellent cast and how Fuller and Carr presented the story. It’s always best to take a story like this head on instead of getting cute with narration or timelines, and it seems like the multi-layered Murdaugh story is being told in a straightforward manner. And it feels like Arquette has started to corner the market on playing key figures in true crime scripted series; she does her typical compelling performance as Murdaugh’s dutiful and doomed wife Maggie.
We are just not sure what purpose the show serves. Is it yet another example of showing that privileged people are entitled jerks? Is it a treatise on how addiction and debt can drive someone to murder? Just what is this show really trying to say, other than “Here’s what happened before and after Alex Murdaugh killed his wife and son”? We really have no idea.
Sex and Skin: Nothing in the first episode.
Parting Shot: A drunk Paul Murdaugh is visited in the ER by Alex and Randolph; Paul yells “Where is Mallory?”
Sleeper Star: We always like seeing Gerald McRaney, and when we see him as Randolph Murdaugh reading a poem called “The Man In The Glass” at his party, he really gets behind the message in the text. Also, J. Smith-Cameron plays Maggie’s sister Marian Proctor, and we’re still not sure why such a well-known actor is in that role.
Most Pilot-y Line: Every time Alex starts to get romantic with Maggie, he gets a phone call or someone calls him aside. We get it; he loved his work and connections more than his marriage. We didn’t need more than one example of that.
Our Call: SKIP IT. We don’t think Murdaugh: Murder In The Family will add anything new to the copious amount of material already out there about the Alex Murdaugh case, despite the fine performances and uncluttered storytelling.
If you’re new to Hulu, you can get started with a 30-day free trial on the streamer’s basic (with ads) plan. After the trial period, you’ll pay $9.99/month. If you want to upgrade to Hulu ad-free, it costs $18.99/month.
If you want to stream even more and save a few bucks a month while you’re at it, we recommend subscribing to one of the Disney+ Bundles, all of which include Hulu. These bundles start at $10.99/month for ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu and goes up to $29.99/month for Disney+, Hulu, and Max, all ad-free.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.