Trigger warning: This post contains references to suicide and violent imagery.
Based on the 1991 film of the same name, which was inspired by the book The Executioners by John D. MacDonald, the limited series Cape Fear has arrived on Apple TV to scare up some good summer television. Amy Adams and Javier Bardem star in the series that's sure to become the next psychological thriller obsession, and it begins with a two-episode premiere.
Cape Fear season 1 episode 1 immediately begins with ominous music and unsettling negative color effect before settling back into reality. It's the 4th of July in Savannah, Georgia and Anna Bowden (Amy Adams) is working as her family has a barbecue by the pool. Later that night, a thunderstorm rolls in and a woman cries while fervently writing a suicide note and shooting herself.
She's in a room with newspaper clippings about Max Cady's arrest and when her phone begins to vibrate on the table, she suddenly awakens to answer. The person on the other end of the call instructs her to "just do it," which means once again shooting herself in the head. Speaking of Max Cady, he's released from prison, but so far, he's only shown from the back of his head.
Anna and Tom's son goes missing after Max is released from prison
Anna and her husband Tom (Patrick Wilson) partake in a photoshoot and interview, but Tom excuses himself from the interview portion despite the reporter's interest in two married lawyers. She speaks about her pride for getting clients out of prison, especially ones who were wrongly incarcerated. When the interviewer asks about Max Cady, Anna declines answering.
The interviewer begins to reveal another shoe that's going to drop in the Max Cady case when the camera man notices Natalie (Lily Collias) pulling four dead skunks out of the pool. On the phone, Anna seems to ask Noa Toussaint (CCH Pounder) to look into the tip the interviewer gave her about Max. Tom talks to Zack (Joe Anders) about possibly changing schools and Zack slaps himself in the face. Needless to say, Zack doesn't want to go and father and son don't have a great relationship.
Tom slips away into a room that's under construction but gets interrupted twice before he can take some sort of mystery substance. Anna picks up Byron French (Jullian Dulce Vida), a client she got released from prison, and his mother for a gathering at the SJLP. Noa pulls Anna and Tom into her office and informs them that Max Cady's mistress left a suicide note that included a confession that she killed his wife, not Max. She also left the murder weapon behind.
It's become clear that Max was imprisoned for 17 years for a murder he didn't commit. The reveal that he's already been released from prison hits Anna like a ton of bricks. Noa proposes using Max and his story to their advantage, but the Bowdens excuse themselves from her office. Back at home, their fear is palpable. Natalie enters the house and hears a noise, but it's just Zack raiding the fridge. While Anna and Tom share the news with their kids, the camera pans upstairs to an open door.
In the middle of their conversation, the house's security alarm begins blaring. Tom turns it off and steps outside to look around. There's no immediate concern, but Anna wonders if the family of dead skunks were a warning. As soon as the news breaks the next day, Anna's phone blows up. The television news places blames on Anna, Max's lawyer, who then married his prosecutor, Tom.
Tom breaks into Zack's locked room and finds that he's been gone since five in the morning according to security footage. It's a search for Zack, and now Anna learns that Byron's missing, too. As Natalie walks to Zack's friend's house to see if he's there, a car follows closely behind her and parks a short distance away. The car follows her again on the way back to her house, but it's just a podcaster named Louis Pilgrim looking to talk about the Max Cady mess.
Max makes his first act of revenge against the Bowdens
Anna's trying to track down Byron, but Noa informs her that they just might have Max Cady for he SJLP event instead. He called the office and a worker named Hope informed Max that Anna would be at the event at the museum. She's terrified of the possibility of being confronted by him. Zack's still missing, but we catch a glimpse of him. He's not with a girl he met online. He appears to be in a basement sitting on a yellow couch. Adam Cady, the nonexistent son of Max, is in the room, too.
During dinner at the event, Anna's on edge before going on stage to speak. In the middle of her speech, we once again see Max walking from behind. He's at the museum and enters the room while Anna addresses the crowd. When Max (Javier Bardem) steps out of the shadows, Anna's stunned to silence. He slowly crosses the room to approach Anna on stage. Now face to face, he greets Anna and asks her for the microphone.
She hands it over and he begins speaking to the room, addressing Tom directly by saying he has no hard feelings. But he gets into his real feelings about his life sentence and the 6,222 days he served behind bars. He claims that he doesn't blame Tom or even Anna for getting him to plead guilty. Before she can leave, Noa calls her over to take a picture with Max. While taking the picture, he crushes his wine glass in his hand and pulls Anna out of the room.
Anna helps him wrap his injured hand in the museum as Tom approaches. He explains that a brain injury causes him to glitch, which could be why the flash startled him to break the glass. Anna asks why he came to the event and he says he just wanted to see them. Max shares that he spent six weeks in a coma and saw his wife and son, but his son was the age he would have been today. He also seems inclined to accept Noa's offer to work with Anna at the SJLP.
Anna and Max share a secret
In the car, Natalie asks her mom if Max had to plead guilty. Anna doesn't directly answer the question but explains how she fell in love with Tom when he joined her at the hospital after going into labor with Natalie in the courtroom. Back to home, they still can't find Zack and the alarm goes off once again. The family goes outside by the pool and happens upon a mountain lion. The big cat only looks at them before walking away.
Their next surprise is Max returning Anna's purse. He attempts to pull on their heartstrings by laying on guilt that his visit was innocent. He begins to walk away, prompting Tom to offer an apology. When Max asks about their son, they're instantly on edge and wondering how he knows about Zack. Max explains he saw him out front and, right on cue, Zack walks into the backyard. He doesn't speak when his parents ask if he's okay and rushes inside to drink milk and eat.
Max claims that Zack appears to be on some kind of substance, which Tom inquires about to no avail. Anna and Max continue their conversation outside, and Max shares parting words that leave Anna looking like she saw he ghost. He says that he never said a word about what happened and he wouldn't start now. While checking on Zack, they discover his toe his been cut off, just like Max had been talking about at the event. Clearly, Max will be a problem for Anna.
Cape Fear releases new episodes Fridays on Apple TV.
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