A Friend of the Family Rating: Solid drama, but the shrewd true crime series has taken its toll

Berchtold is played with eerie menace by Jake Lacy, last seen as the titular Honeymooner in White Lotus. Lacy’s smiling, square-jawed good-naturedness gives him a sinister edge, while his troubling catchphrase is “Who do you love best but your mom and dad?”, to which Broberg’s kids chorus, “You, Brother B!”.

Hanks and Anna Paquin humanize the gullible Brobergs, while young Hendrix Yancey is eerily vulnerable as Jan. It’s a slow-build domestic horror with shadowy silhouettes lurking in bedroom windows. The sunny music of all-American pop-rock (The Monkees, The Mamas & the Papas, Glen Campbell) adds to the exciting atmosphere.

As if to banish accusations of exploitation, the series begins with the real Jan Broberg, now 60, speaking directly to the camera. She tells viewers that she wanted to dramatize her experience because “so many people think that something like this could never happen to them — especially in the hands of someone they know and trust. But it happened to my family. It happened to me .

However, this is too niche to really be a cautionary tale. The narrative involves time jumps, a frustrating structural device that plagues far too many series these days, while the nine episodes feel unnecessarily bloated. Strong performances, a sensitive tone and high production values ​​mean that Family Friend is a solid drama. It still feels like a story that didn’t need to be repeated.