Plot: The series tells the story of Jonah Lynn, an ex-soldier turned homicide detective who, tired of working the tough streets of Philadelphia, moves to a small town in western Pennsylvania for a quiet life. But, as the town and his family come under attack from the diabolically cunning serial killer Jurek Walter, Jonah must protect all that he holds dear. When the desperate search for Jurek’s last missing victim forces Jonah to send his surrogate daughter, FBI Agent Saga Bauer, up against Jurek, how far will Jonah go?
Review: There are so many murder mysteries these days that they all start to blend together. In fact, where Chicago, New York, and Baltimore had once been the go-to destination for crime stories, it seems that the greater Philadelphia metropolitan area is building its own reputation. From Mare of Easttown and Task on HBO to Apple TV’s own Dope Thief, the state of Pennsylvania has had its fair share of murderers in recent years. The new series Nocturne, inspired by the novels of Lars Kepler, delivers yet another taut mystery full of suspects, heinous crimes, and personal trauma for the protagonists. Led by Liev Schreiber as the beleaguered detective alongside Stephen Graham in a terrifying villain role, Nocturne is a dreary, dark mystery that feels like it treads the same ground as countless other shows without delivering anything new, despite some impressive performances from the entire cast.
Nocturne wastes no time in showing us incarcerated serial killer Jurek Walter (Stephen Graham) using his soft-spoken charisma to entice a cellmate into killing themselves. Then, we are suddenly in the presence of someone being rescued atop a rural bridge who turns out to be a child who has been missing for three years. Kidnapped alongside his sister, the child revives a dormant investigation that was headed by former detective Jonah Lynn (Liev Schreiber), a veteran soldier who lost his family due to hunting Jurek Walter and carries the burden of never finding the missing kids. With the chance that the girl could still be alive, Jonah teams with his former boss, Chief Ellison (Bill Camp), and FBI agent Quinn (Poorna Jagannathan) to try to prove that Jurek Walter is orchestrating the crimes from behind bars. At first, we are meant to question the crimes committed and whether Jurek and Jonah have other secrets that could shed light on what really happened, but then the series pulls out some ridiculous twists.
Based on two books from Kepler’s Killer Instinct series of novels, Nocturne has a ton of interesting characters, many of whom could easily have been the focus of a whole show. While Liev Schreiber has become skilled at playing quiet men with particular sets of skills (Ray Donovan), the series also features Zazie Beetz as Saga Bauer, Jonah’s goddaughter and the child of his late partner. A skilled FBI agent herself, Saga goes undercover to try to ferret the truth out of Jurek, which puts her in grave danger. Rory Culkin also stars as hospital attendant Karl, who gets involved in the mystery in his own way, while Gary Carr plays a local cop who knows both Saga and Jonah. Everyone here is good at layering their performances to add to the mystery’s complexity, but they are also saddled with making stupid decisions that only serve to propel the narrative rather than making much sense. At times, Nocturne feels like a series of tropes and cliches cobbled together to look like a mystery even if they don’t always make a lot of sense. At times, I wondered whether parts of the books were getting lost in translation or if it was just a side effect of having seen these stories a dozen times this year alone.
Having seen only seven of the ten episodes of the first season, I was surprised multiple times, but not always in a good way. Schreiber plays the latest in a long line of military veterans-turned-investigators who are haunted by their past. While Schreiber is good as Jonah Lynn, he is the weakest character in an ensemble of intriguing players. Both Zazie Beetz and Rory Culkin are very good; Stephen Graham steals the show. A chilling performance, Graham is the complete opposite of his acclaimed role in Adolescence and far different than his memorable turns in Boiling Point, Boardwalk Empire, and A Thousand Blows. Jurek Walter is easily one of the more frightening characters behind bars, ranking close to Hannibal Lecter in eerie charisma and intensity. I only got to see the series up to where things are beginning to hit peak intensity, which hopefully bodes well for the final trio of episodes, but I am not entirely convinced that Nocturne is capable of sticking the landing.
Using the novel The Sandman and elements from Lazarus as inspiration, series creator Rowan Joffe (Ballad of a Small Player) translates much of the European details from Lars Kepler’s novels except for most of the character names. While the chilly, gray look of Stockholm has been swapped for the rural charm of western Pennsylvania, it is strange that most of the characters still have oddly Scandinavian names, with the main character, Jonah Lynn, the only one whose name is truly different, having been changed from Joona Linna. Joffe and his writing team of John Hlavin, Dorothy Fortenberry, Lee Edward Colston II, Matthew Newman, and Jenina Kibuka have built an ensemble of characters all searching for a common solution, yet each is saddled with making the worst possible decisions. Directors Tim Van Patten, Allen Coulter, and Logan Kibens do what they can to keep the story moving along, but there are so many incredulous swings that the story takes, which are meant to be shocking and get audiences talking, but just succeeded in taking me out of it. Nocturne had me shaking my head incredulously at some of these twists, and I doubt I will be the only one.
If not for the fantastic performances from Liev Schreiber, Stephen Graham, Zazie Beetz, Rory Culkin, and everyone in this cast, I would have probably given this series an even lower score. It’s tough when a series is just well-made but just not great. That makes it difficult to understand how they missed such an easy opportunity. Nocturne is not a disaster, but it doesn’t do anything with the genre that we haven’t seen time and again. There are only so many ways that somebody can commit a crime, and there are only so many ways that a detective can catch them, but there really isn’t any excuse for how silly things end up being with this series. Because there are multiple books out there to be adapted and continue the series beyond one season. I would hope that the cast might be able to return to tell more stories and take some feedback on what could be improved here. If you’re a fan of Scandinavian murder stories, you’ll probably enjoy Nocturne. As far as shows in general, this may be one of the weakest series offerings from Apple TV in quite some time.
Nocturne premieres on October 27th on Apple TV.
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