'Truth Be Told' Season 1 Episode 1 review: The Apple TV show's premiere sets the stage for a gripping crime drama
SPOILER ALERT
Apple TV+ has rolled out a slew of new TV shows, and while most of them have seemingly impressed the viewers, we believe the best one is yet to premiere. Starring Octavia Spencer and Aaron Paul – two powerhouse performers - ‘Truth Be Told’ has everything going for it, starting with a strong storyline embellished with nuanced storylines and beautifully etched characters.
The best characteristic of the show, however, is its ability to jump into the story right at the beginning. Unlike most other shows thriller or crime shows, ‘Truth Be Told’ wastes no time in setting up the story and yet, is able to give us enough context to understand what is going on. The story, which is set in the present, starts off with a court scene where a case from 19 years ago is being revisited, and we know right away that everything we need to know about that story from the past will be unfolded organically with each passing episode.
The biggest selling points of the show, however, is Spencer and Paul, who play Poppy and Warren Cave, two people who aren’t particularly fond of each other but are forced to work with each other for self-serving purposes. As you may have already seen in the trailers and the first looks, Poppy is a journalist turned podcaster, whose ground-breaking stories ensured that Warren was tried as a “monster” rather than a 17-year-old for a murder trial that he potentially did not commit.
Without as much as going into details about Poppy’s life, even though the story is told from her perspective, we learn through the people she interacts with – her family, her co-workers and even Warren and his mother Melanie (Elizabeth Perkins), that while she wants to do the right thing, it is her shades of grey that are too dark to ignore.
Her pursuit of finding the truth about Warren and if he was an innocent man who was sentenced to prison for so long partially because of her, is not entirely selfless. However, we do not spend too much time peeling the various personality traits of Poppy, the show instead establishes that this is who she is and moves on.
In the very first episode, it is established that she is not perfect, nor is she trying to be, but at least for the moment, we can empathize with her willingness to make her wrong right. However, we have to wait for a while before we know what Warren is all about, the boy he used to be and the man he became, and how much he truly trusts Poppy. For now, all we know is that the story is gripping right from the beginning and we are excited to go on this journey of discovering the truth with Poppy.
Season 1 Episode 1 of ‘Truth Be Told’ premieres on Apple TV + on Friday, December 6.