Those who have been following my coverage of the Harlan Coben adaptations coming out of the garbage chute of Netflix are probably aware of how much I hate the writer and the streaming platform. For those who don’t, here’s a primer: I hate Coben and everything of his that’s been commissioned by Netflix. I hate the readers who have made his books famous. I also hate the people who watch these serialized adaptations so that more of Coben’s nonsensical books can be turned into shows. The only people I do not hate are the cast and crew who are in charge of turning Coben’s trash into something digestible. I know that their hearts aren’t in it. It’s pretty apparent that they are doing it because there’s an audience for this, which Netflix is going to milk until their enthusiasm runs dry, and they are getting the job done to pay the bills. And I can kind of relate to them because I am sort of doing the same thing by covering Fool Me Once, Missing You, Just One Look, and now Caught; I mean, I don’t want to do it, but it’s what is keeping the lights on for now.
Miguel Cohan and Hernan Goldfrid’s Caught, which has been adapted by Ana and Miguel Cohan from Harlan Coben’s novel of the same name, tells the story of Ema Garay, a Bariloche-based investigative journalist who runs a program that is similar to To Catch a Predator. Ema is a single mother to Bruno, as she lost her husband to a drunk driver. She has been having a tough time finding a balance between her personal and professional life as she feels like she hasn’t been giving Bruno enough attention and her search for a serial sex offender is going nowhere. To make things worse, she ends up getting romantically involved with an alleged pedophile, Leo Mercer, and a budding violinist named Martina winds up dead in the woods after attending a party organized by Bruno. Although Ema is advised by her co-workers, Diego and Vicky, to stay away from this case because she is too close to it, she dives headfirst into it. And the closer she gets to the truth, the more she realizes that a sensitive issue such as grooming has been used to cover up a massive conspiracy that involves land acquisition.
Even though I have watched quite a few stories that have sprung from the mind of Harlan Coben, I still fail to make a confident assumption about the intent behind his narratives. So, when it comes to Caught, I want to think that it’s about the current state of adolescent love amongst the youth of Argentina and how teenage girls are gravitating towards adult men because teenage boys are too immature and hormonal to handle. Hence, this worrying trend is leading to an uptick in grooming and the rise of sexual predators. That seems somewhat interesting. But then Coben wants to talk about generational wealth, family rivalry, land acquisition, and something about Nazis? And as if that’s not a handful, he tries to channel all of these topics through the lens of journalism and single motherhood. Therefore, by the time things wrap up, I am just confused about the point of this whole ordeal. Like, what’s my takeaway from all this supposed to be? I don’t know, and I have a feeling that Coben doesn’t either. His ideas probably emerge from a genuine place of intrigue about some relevant topic, like kids losing their way, and then he layers it with so many red herrings that by the time he starts unpacking the final few twists, the story has lost any semblance of impact.
Another thing that confuses me when it comes to Harlan Coben adaptations is their production quality. Is there some kind of clause in the contract between Coben and Netflix where one or both of them have demanded that the shows based on the writer’s books should not have any sense of pacing, passionate direction, or even the basics of visual storytelling? I seriously want to know because how is it possible for four shows made by four different sets of artists, with the only common factors being Coben and Netflix, to have such a lack of creativity and energy? I doubt that the people behind Fool Me Once, Missing You, Just One Look, and Caught got together somewhere and collectively conspired to make poor adaptations of Coben’s books so that Netflix stops pouring money into the man’s backyard. So, the absence of flair, tension, drama, and intrigue has to be the result of a mandate imposed upon the showrunners by the powers that be, or maybe Coben’s writing is so bad that it sucks every ounce of innovation out of the souls of the creators. If that sounds like a stretch, here’s an experiment: try pausing anywhere during the show and asking yourself if it looks cinematic, and then share it in the comments section below. I can bet you that student films that cost one-tenth the budget of a Netflix production have better shot compositions than this uber-expensive waste of time.
Coming to the cast of Caught, they are all just fine. Soledad Villamil is alright, and she perfectly portrays Ema’s sense of paranoia, confusion, and determination. Alberto Ammann doesn’t have a lot of screentime, despite being very pivotal to the plot, but he makes the most of the scenes that he has so as to make a lasting impact on the viewers’ minds. Juan Minujin is great at showcasing greed, deceit, and the hollow sense of love that Marcos has for his family. Matias Recalt, Martina Schulz, Camila, and the rest of the youngsters in the show are pretty good. Recalt and Schulz’s roles are quite complex, but both of them show a surprising level of maturity and ensure that the commentary on the plight of the teens of Argentina isn’t lost in the mess. Victoria Almeida, Patricio Aramburu, Tania Casciani, German de Silva, Alian Devetac, Barbara Masso, Fernan Miras, and the entire supporting cast are effective. That said, it’s Mike Amigorena who steals the show with his chilling depiction of an affluent pedophile who isn’t afraid of the consequences of his actions because he is just that rich. Every time he enters the frame, he will make your skin crawl. It’s unfortunate that the show around him isn’t as good as the performance that he is giving.
I know that it’s unfair to compare Adolescence to Caught, but I feel that if this very narrative about sex offenders and teenagers would’ve been in better hands, the show would’ve been quite relevant. I mean, that miniseries created by Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne and directed by Philip Barantini covers a lot of ground within 4 hours, but its unwavering focus on the examination of what’s corrupting the minds of young boys in the UK is what makes it so compelling. Similarly, this Harlan Coben adaptation sheds some light on the deterioration of youngsters in Argentina due to social media and how it’s affecting girls and boys in very different ways. However, instead of using all the secondary and tertiary elements to amplify that topic, the Cohans water it down, thereby robbing such an important topic of all its potential. At this stage, it’s pointless to expect anything from Harlan Coben, his fans, and his Netflix adaptations. They are not going to improve. They’ll probably get worse. And as long as Netflix keeps commissioning these shows and people keep watching them, I’ll be here covering them. This is a seemingly never-ending toxic cycle, but as long as we are all making money, we should thank Coben for his contribution to the world of literature and entertainment.
