Black Bird (Limited Series) Review

Number of Episodes: 6
Streaming Service: Apple TV+

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

*New/Alternative title = The Falcon’s Tale*

Jimmy Keene seemed to have it all a star football player when was in high school but then failed to impress at college level. This then made him turn to a life of crime instead, thinking that it was the best option to make a lot of money very quickly, dealing in narcotics until he was arrested as part of a wider sting operation which had him targeted for a quite a long time. The thing is though he wasn’t just arrested for the drug dealing, he was then charged with having illegal firearms and sentenced to ten years without the chance of parole.

His father was actually an ex-cop and this obviously made it more difficult for him to understand the choices that his son had made. Having been in prison for a little Jimmy was made a rather interesting offer. A transfer to a maximum security prison for the criminally insane to attempt to get a confession out of Larry Hall who was potentially a serial killer. The FBI had been building a case but it was not clear if Larry was cable of the crime he was in prison for, if he had actually done even more or if he was in fact a serial confessor who just wanted some attention.

This was something that Jimmy was not overly keen on to begin with but as the thought of spending the full ten years trying to keep his head down and then get out of prison to actually see his father again, who had suffered a pretty bad stroke not long after he had been locked away. This pushes his decision to take on the move, but could he even begin to imagine just how difficult it was going to be, with only a couple of people actually knowing what he was doing and a fake backstory given and a new place he had lived before.

He wasn’t going to have to only worry about the other inmates in the new prison but the guards as well, who were just as corrupt as the criminals. All of these factors really do build up a lot of suspense and make for a truly engaging and outstanding journey over the six episodes.

I was quite lucky to start watching this after all six episodes were available as it was truly binge watch worthy! All 5 hours and 47 minutes of it. I see that as a massive positive though as I just wanted to know what was going to happen next and then overall what the outcome was going to be.

The thing is though Jimmy is likeable and I feel as though that was essential to actually care about him and what he was trying to do. He had charm and charisma, don’t get me wrong though he was absolutely crazy at times as well! Seeing Larry Hall and slowly getting more of him talking, first to the detectives on the case of a murdered girl and then as Jimmy attempted to become friends with him certainly gives you so many emotions when watching.

I actually lost count of the number of times that I changed my mind that he was a serial killer or that he was just very messed up in the head and thought it was good to get attention of any kind. That was the power of the drama and everything unfolding as you don’t really know what to believe, or what did we actually want to believe? Given different reasons behind it and in that interview with the FBI where Larry admits to having dreams of girls being killed is very messed up, but what would actually come from that?

Anxiety levels are put to the test as Jimmy must deal with the abuse from other prisoners and the awful guard who finds out about him being a cops kid, which was an accidental slip from his father Jim. The frustration of when he actually gets somewhere but cannot get in touch with the governor after being flung in solitary confinement. It really is more than worth watching.

The performances were fantastic and the fact that Taron Egerton was leading it made me quickly want to watch the series. He really such a fine young actor who I enjoy watching in all different types of roles, he’s engaging throughout in Black Bird and a joy to watch! Paul Walter Hauser has a very way of becoming quite frankly bizarre characters, has he somehow been typecast to be able to do that? Ray Liotta was great as well in this smaller role, he sadly passed away before the full series had been released what an incredible role to be one of his last. Greg Kinnear and Sepideh Moafi had some really good and impressive scenes as well as the FBI agents on the case.