EXPLORING PARALLELS

LONG BRIGHT RIVER

I recently finished watching LONG BRIGHT RIVER on Peacock. It is a crime drama miniseries based on Liz Moore’s book, starring Amanda Seyfried. Liz Moore and Nikki Toscano created the miniseries. I loved so many aspects of this series, including how the childhood wounds paralleled the crime, the character's flaws, the dynamics and contrasts between the sisters, the little boy Thomas, and the numerous twists and turns in the crime and personal narratives. I felt emotionally engaged from the start and remained deeply connected until the end, thanks to the unexpected developments in both the personal and crime stories.

It begins when we see a young woman with pink hair, Kacey, waking up in a tent on the street and getting in a red truck, only to find the door locked and unable to leave. We sense her fear and frustration. It takes place in Philadelphia, where we see sex workers living on the street during the opioid epidemic.

We meet the lead character, Mickey, a disciplined policewoman with a mysterious past, an ex-husband, and a son, Thomas. Mickey is an incredible single mother. Her conversations with Thomas are grown-up conversations with a boy who appears to have an old soul and a deep connection with Mickey. We learn more about her past through her dynamic with her new police partner, Eddie. In the crime story, there is a series of deaths of prostitutes from overdoses that don’t appear to make sense—Mickey’s why seems to be haunting her from a prior wound. Mickey freezes at the crime scene for a moment with Eddie. Mickey has a deep compassion for these women. We feel the mirror between what happened to them and what happened to her sister. We discover Mickey’s motivation comes from her search for her sister. Mickey helps plant the seeds of the discovery that these women are not overdosing; someone is murdering them. But who and why?

Before we enter the story, there is also a trigger event involving Mickey’s former partner, Truman. Mickey feels a sense of guilt for why Truman had to take a leave of absence due to an injury.

Regarding structure, it feels more like Mickey's personal arc, which Involves finding her sister, Kacey, dominating the crime arc. We learn that what transpired with Kacey is heavily intertwined with Mickey’s desire to solve the crimes. When they were children, Mickey and her sister experienced trauma with a loss that bonded them for life despite their different personalities, paths, and ways of dealing with the void. Mickey’s trauma led her to join the Philadelphia police force, while her sister appeared to have developed an addiction and went to the street. Mickey felt disappointed with her sister because she believed it came down to making choices. We see Mickey’s conviction with the weight of choices in her talks with Thomas. This conflicted familial relationship between Mickey and Kacey draws us in. When two characters share the same wound involving severe trauma, it creates depth and a multi-dimension for the audience to care about the cases, as well as Mickey’s search for her sister.

I found this series riveting because of the depth of the character dynamics, conflicted familial relationships, and dialogue as they paralleled the wound and the crime.

Do you want to understand more about how you can add parallels to your stories?