"The Family": Not Worth the Watch

By Maggie Borgen

Warning: This article contains many spoilers
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ABC’s new show, The Family, premiered in early March 2016, and I confess I didn’t watch it when it aired, but instead waited to watch it recently on demand. The show follows the story of a family whose son/brother, Adam, was kidnapped at the age of nine, and then returned ten years later. It looked interesting at first, but I was scared off by the idea of kidnapping. I mustered up the courage to finally watch the pilot, and I can say it is not worth the watch. The show is filmed well and the plot is intense, but I found it depressing and hard to watch -- not something I’d like to watch on a Sunday evening when it first airs. I found the characters to be unlikable, especially the mother, played by Joan Allen, who seems to care more about campaigning for a higher government office than for her family (even though the show is named after the idea of family). And her husband is no better. It seems he has been having affairs during this ordeal. Their older son (the one who was not kidnapped) is a drunk who sleeps with women all the time. The only character I felt connected to in the least bit was their daughter, who is emotional, shady, and always picks her mother’s side in family disagreements. She was very attached to the crime of her missing brother, which made her seem humane.

But their drunk son is the only sane one in the family, and he realizes that when Adam came back he was different -- too different -- like another person. This idea was dismissed by the mother very quickly. The show does make you feel Adam’s pain, as he describes his abuse in detail, but he seems too distant to start loving him as a character. The main detective of this case is very smart and witty, and has been there for the family (in some cases too much). But you also see the flaws of this character.  When I saw her gulping down a bottle of wine, the writers seemed to throw away the idea of a strong, female detective, since I was hoping the character would be the strong one in the story, but was not.

Overall, while the pilot of The Family was intense, with good fast-paced plotting, the show was too depressing to continue watching and was not enjoyable in the least. My stomach was in a knot during the whole show. And while some people like the thrill of such shows, the writers do not seem to understand that some people want to enjoy watching television. I confess I might watch a couple more episodes to see where the plot goes from here, but I certainly do not think this is a show to try out.  Once you’re sucked into the plot, you can’t return, and unseeable events occur in The Family. The show is inappropriate, dark, depressing, and the characters are largely unlikable (I find it sad that the most likable character is the drunk son who sleeps with women). Although the show reveals realistic flaws of a family going through hardship, there are just too many flaws to enjoy the characters or the show; even if the characters build and progress -- the pilot showed some signs of growth -- it was not enough to keep me coming back to watch more. I do not recommend spending your time watching this show. Instead, I’m going to stick to shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., an ABC hit that actually keeps viewers on the edge of their seat, while keeping viewers entertained.
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