Scene from “The Cry”
How does a 4-month-old baby vanish without a trace? We got the shocking answer in the screeners sent to us by AMC Networks’ SundanceTV, which began airing the chilling four-part mystery drama series “The Cry” last Wednesday.
The last time we sat through a Sundance Now title, by way of the true-crime docuseries “No One Saw a Thing,” we were mesmerized by the production’s bleak portrait of a small-town bully who gets his comeuppance when his victims turn the table on him.
For the 60 or so people who saw Ken Rex McElroy get shot in broad daylight but refused to talk about it, taking the law into their own hands was the only option they thought they had when the wheels of justice couldn’t turn fast enough for them to feel safe in their own homes.
“The Cry,” on the other hand, presents a polarizing dilemma for protagonist Joanna Lyndsey (Jenna Coleman), a primary schoolteacher in Belfast who ends up biting more than she can chew when she falls in love with Australian expat Alistair Robertson (Ewen Leslie).
Jenna Coleman (left) and Ewen Leslie in “The Cry”
Alistair is an image consultant for a political party in Scotland who uses his charm and convincing skills to manipulate everything and everyone around him.
Ali’s scheming nature wreaks more havoc when he decides to take a trip to Melbourne four months after his fiancée gives birth to their son, Noah (Noah and Oliver Rennie).
But Alistair and Joanna’s ideal life is turned upside down when their baby goes missing outside a convenience store during a drive from Melbourne to a seaside town called Wilde Bay.
Noah’s inexplicably mind-boggling disappearance unravels dark secrets that not even the smartest spin doctor can easily sweep under a rug.
The four-part series makes for compelling viewing, always shifting the “blame” for the crime from one parent to another—from an exhausted mother who can’t come to grips with her poor nurturing skills, to a self-serving father who insists to do everything his way. It keeps viewers guessing, to say the least.
Is Joanna truly the careless and irresponsible mother she initially seems? It certainly looks that way as we see the exasperation and resignation in her eyes, especially after she couldn’t get her 4-month-old son to stop crying on their daylong flight to Australia.
Coleman plays protagonist Joanna Lyndsey
Joanna isn’t the only one with issues and scores to settle: Ali’s real intention for the trip is to convince his defiant ex-wife Alexandra (Asher Keddie) to let their 14-year-old daughter Chloe (Markella Kavenagh) relocate and live with him in Belfast.
But something about the couple’s relationship begins to come undone when, under a lot of pressure and a huge amount of stress, Ali begins coaching Joanna how to “act” in front of the public.
And this is when the “freak show” begins—the outcome of a bad decision that leads to horrendous repercussions.
For instance, before an interview with an inquisitive talk show host, Ali asks Joanna, “Do you think you might cry?”
Ali’s question leaves Joanna looking strangely stoic and speechless, making viewers wonder if she’s just a good mother crushed, not a bad mother hardened by unspeakable tragedy.