I am fortunately not foolish enough to believe that anyone is specifically looking for my takes and tracking my reviews on here, but if you were, you'd see that I diligently wrote individual episode reviews for the first six episodes and then gave up on the show for three months, before finally watching the last four the other night. Let me tell you why . . .

When the mutilated body of a young boy is found on the outskirts of a small American town. It appears to be an open and shut case for Detective Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn). Several eye witnesses place the local youth baseball coach Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman) at the scene, covered in blood. Forensic testimony and CCTV also show Maitland and his actions following the crime. Emotions are high in the town, and only heightened when Anderson has Maitland arrested during a little league game. However, conflicting TV footage emerges that shows Maitland out of state at a conference at exactly the same time.

The initial couple of episodes, directed by Bateman, are really good. They're an atmospheric crime thriller with some horror movie undertones and lay some decent foundations. The last couple of episode are OK again too as (without spoilers) the show reaches a natural and satisfactory climax. The trouble is the episodes in between, and the very specific problem that the show tells us as the audience more about what's going on than the investigators know. This leads to frustration as the detectives struggle to find out what's going on, then to accept the truth and finally what to do about it.

I appreciate everyone wants to do make prestige TV at the moment, and like so many other series the performances here are great from some outstanding world class actors. The composition and art direction are exemplary too. It's just that this is another excellent two hour movie stretched so thin that at times it comes apart.