The dreadful stench of finals week snuck its way into the atmosphere before we all had a chance to clamp our noses. Our fashion choices for this last week of classes might largely resemble what we usually wear to bed. For many of us, there is no mercy. Exams, presentations, essays, or last minute pleas for extra credit are congesting planners across campus. For the lucky ones, freedom is on the horizon.
Once everything is turned in, you need a plan to escape boredom while your friends drown in the misery of finals. Or if you’re on the unlucky boat with me, a temporary escape and chance to refuel.
Forget Netflix, try Hulu. More specifically, binge watch ABC’s new series “The Family.” And do it with no regrets.
After suffering from the sudden disappearance of youngest son and sibling, Adam (Liam James), the Warren family found ways to cope. Alcoholism. Vindictiveness. Politics. Infidelity. Just to name a few.
But 10 years later, the presumedly dead Adam walks into a police station, asks for the lead detective on his kidnapping case, and identifies himself as the boy in the poster.
Pause. How does Adam even know who the lead detective is? How did he get to the station? Lucky for us, the last 10 episodes used their 40 minutes wisely and answered the most basic and unexpected questions, which is the perfect reason to tune in now.
With only two episodes until the season finale on May 15, viewers won’t have to suffer through the distress of waiting for a new episode. Unlike me, you won’t have to refresh your Hulu page 25 times hoping to finally find out who the kidnapper is, where Adam was kept, or why the lead detective is so obsessed with this case, and the list goes on. Nope. You get to breeze through and learn the details of the day Adam disappeared and the course every character took leading up to his reappearance.
Spoiler alert: Adam disappears from his mother’s rally for City Council while under the watch of older brother, Danny Warren (Zach Gilford). Danny passes off the responsibility to middle sibling Willa Warren (Allison Pill) for an alleyway make out session with high-school sweetheart, Bridey Cruz (Floriana Lima). Bridey’s character isn’t brushed under the rug. She pops up again as a journalist hungry for the scoop when her suspicions about if Adam is really Adam are sparked.
Viewers don’t get the satisfaction of knowing the truth right away. And while this may make you grind your teeth and yell at the screen, like I did, the character development and reveal of their darkest secrets help ease the pain. A man wrongfully accused. A pregnant woman married to a monster. An imposter with good intentions. A sister trying to piece a family back together. A mother blinded by grief and unconditional love and a father finding comfort in the most forbidden of places.
Get it all with the deeply disturbed, intensely exciting characters of “The Family.”