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Series Details & Credits
| Peacock | Release Date: October 6, 2022 |
Summary:
Nick Antosca's limited series based on the true story of the Broberg family centers on how Jan Broberg (Mckenna Grace) was kidnapped multiple times over several years by family friend Robert "B" Berchtold (Jake Lacy).
Genre(s):
Drama, Movie/Mini-Series
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Recent Episodes
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S1:E9. Revelation
Air Date: November 10, 2022
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S1:E8. Outer Darkness
Air Date: November 3, 2022
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S1:E7. The Great Deceiver
Air Date: October 27, 2022
Positive:
9
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
Oct 5, 2022
Season 1 Review:
What’s fascinating about A Friend of the Family, and also what makes it different than a lot of other scripted takes on true crime, is that the series doesn’t so much try to answer the why of how this happened (psychologists have devoted their entire careers to exploring why someone would prey on a child). Instead, it looks at the how of it. ... Much of the success of this limited series can be attributed to its willingness to cast against type.
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Oct 4, 2022
Season 1 Review:
Sluggishness doesn’t do too much to take the viewer out of A Friend, thanks to the performances, as well as a cool color-grading technique that places the subjects directly in the show’s retro time period. These elements combined make for an almost unbearably uncomfortable viewing experience. And more than anything, that is the foremost indicator of true crime storytelling done right.
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IndieWire
Oct 6, 2022
Season 1 Review:
It is meticulous, to a very specific end and with a particular goal. As something that slot right into a subgenre’s content-hungry ecosystem, “A Friend of the Family” is refreshingly unsuccessful. By prizing clarity over shock, it’s an admirable adjustment for what we expect from stories like it.
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RogerEbert.com
Oct 4, 2022
Season 1 Review:
With sharp writing from the great showrunner Nick Antosca, sensitive direction from Eliza Hittman (“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”) and others, and a dedicated ensemble, this series rises above your average true crime drama. It sometimes stumbles a little bit by making Jan’s story take a back seat to the adult characters in early episodes, but everyone here navigates a tricky narrative, humanizing two parents who could easily have been ridiculed by a lesser production.
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Oct 5, 2022
Season 1 Review:
Naturally, a story so hard to comprehend can only be sold through stellar performances, and “Family” is crammed full of them. ... The writing is also strong. ... [But] Much of what makes the story inscrutable remains so, at least in the six episodes provided to critics. One piece of the puzzle, chief among the “WTF were you thinking” Broberg decisions, is folded into “Family” so subtly that the audience might not even pick up on it without prior knowledge of the events.
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Oct 4, 2022
Season 1 Review:
We wouldn’t believe it without the knowledge that it’s true. All the same, it manages to ground itself in a truth that’s much more terrifying for how mundane it is: These events have as much to do with their central bogeyman as they do with a broader culture of conservatism that fosters parental self-involvement and naïveté.
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Oct 5, 2022
Season 1 Review:
Thanks to Hittman’s light touch and the performances by Yancey, Lacy, Paquin and Tipton, A Friend of the Family has eerie, provocative menace. But it still doesn’t have six hours’ worth, much less nine. I appreciated what I appreciated, but I nevertheless have no desire to see the tale through to the end.
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Oct 7, 2022
A couple of morons let their kid get kidnapped by the same person twice. The end.
0 of 2 users found this helpful02
Jan 27, 2023
I revise my previous review. Everybody involved in in this story is a moron!
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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Seasons & Episodes
- Series Overview
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Season 1
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Season 1 Overview
Air Date: October 6, 2022
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S1:E9. Revelation
Air Date: November 10, 2022
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S1:E8. Outer Darkness
Air Date: November 3, 2022
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S1:E7. The Great Deceiver
Air Date: October 27, 2022
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S1:E6. Son of Perdition
Air Date: October 20, 2022
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S1:E5. The Bitter Cup
Air Date: October 13, 2022
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S1:E4. Articles of Faith
Air Date: October 6, 2022
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S1:E3. The Gift of Tongues
Air Date: October 6, 2022
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S1:E2. The Mission
Air Date: October 6, 2022
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S1:E1. Horseback Riding in American Falls
Air Date: October 6, 2022
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Season 1 Overview