“Suspicion” is an 8-episode series on Apple TV, with each episode lasting around 40 minutes. In the whole time we spent watching the series, the defining feeling we had for it was the absolute lack of it. But let’s talk about the good parts. The dialogues were fine, the characters consistent, and the performances flawless. To sum it up, this would have been a great series in 2012. In 2022, it falls slightly below average. And the reason is very simple: it doesn’t make us care, not one bit.
‘Suspicion’ Season 1: Plot Summary – What Is The Series About?
The series begins with a man, Leo Newman, being kidnapped and stuffed into a suitcase by people wearing masks. This is caught on camera, and the video goes viral in a matter of hours. The next day, the police arrest three suspects-Aadesh Chopra, who is a genius computer hacker living with his wife’s parents and trying to make something of himself, Natalie Thompson, who is getting married that day, and Tara McAllister, who is a junior research assistant at a university. The three suspects were in New York at the hotel where the kidnapping took place, and all of them had very vague connections to Katherine Newman’s company, who is the mother of Leo Newman.
From then onwards, we see how this investigation affects their lives. An unknown person spreads the news that Leo Newman has been kidnapped to force Katherine Newman to reveal the truth. As the idea catches the imagination of the general public, we see that it becomes harder and harder for the suspects to prove their innocence because, now, this is seen as an act of revolution, a stand against the powerful for greater justice.
Throughout this, there is another player in this game by the name of Sean Tilson. While it is not exactly clear what he does, we see that he is wanted by the British government, and we can assume that he is a killer. He goes to meet his grandfather, and he seems to be the only one Sean cares for.
As the story progresses, Aadesh, Natalie, and Tara are kidnapped along with Monique, who is Tara’s sister, who happened to be with her at the time, and Eddie Walker, who is a new suspect in the case. They are taken to a secluded place and threatened to reveal the whereabouts of Leo Newman; when they fail to do so, they are about to be shot. This is when Sean enters the scene to save them and take them away. In the shootout that ensues, Monique is shot by accident, which makes Natalie realize that she now has nothing to lose as her mother is never going to forgive her for this, which means she has lost all of her family.
A little investigation with the help of Aadesh’s computer skills reveals that Martin Coleman, Katherine Newman’s partner, might be the one to have framed them. The gang then sets out for New York to confront him and clear their name.
When the six of them are making their plans, we come to see some of Katherine Newman’s past, which gives us an idea as to what the truth could be that the world is demanding she reveal. As we reach the ending of “Suspicion,” we know that we can’t wait for this to be over.
Major Spoilers Ahead
‘Suspicion’ Season 1: Ending Explained: Do The Suspects Prove Their Innocence?
In a simple word, no. They don’t. At the beginning of the “Suspicion” episode, we see that Natalie has shot Martina, and now everyone is on the run. As the events escalate, the truth is revealed that Leo has faked his kidnapping from the beginning with the help of Tara, and they have set up the others to take the fall for it, though it was not all intentional. Tara’s motivation for this was to force Katherine to come clean about the damage she had done to Eric Cresswell’s reputation years ago, to defend her own company. This had resulted in Tara growing up without her father, who happens to be Eric. In another scene, she leaves a video recording for her daughter Daisy, explaining what she has done and why.
Tara wants them all to admit that they are, in fact, the kidnappers because now the public wants them to be. This accusation against them is seen as a necessary evil, executed for the greater good, and the actual truth would completely damage the movement that has started. There is an element of hypocrisy exhibited by Tara here because she is choosing to create an alternate reality for selfish purposes, the very thing she wants to punish Katherine Newman for.
As the gang gradually starts seeing her point, they agree with her, and just when they are planning their next step, Sean shoots Eddie and abandons them there. This is followed by Tara, Natalie, and Aadesh leaving the building, making their escape. Though Natalie is caught, the other two manage to escape. Leo Newman is found in a subway station as soon as Katherine makes a public statement revealing the entire truth. Eddie manages to survive.
In the final few minutes, when it is all wrapping up, Sean has escaped when he receives a notification that a huge amount of money has been transferred to him. We have to assume that it comes from Katherine as she was the only one who was capable of shelling out such an amount. But it is not clear if she had employed him from the beginning or later on in the story.
Katherine has figured out that Leo staged his own kidnapping, and she takes him in front of the cameras as soon as she meets him, probably as a sign that she is beginning to work on hiding the truth. And that’s what she tells him that it’s easy to hide the truth; it’s only difficult to live with it. And that’s probably the cue for “Suspicion” Season 2. Taking the liberty to go on a tangent of personal feelings here, we don’t want to see it. The loose ends weren’t so interesting that we would want to see them tied up in a whole new season.
Conclusion
“Suspicion” is adapted from the award-winning Israeli series “False Flag.” Of course, we haven’t seen it, so we can’t say how true the series is to its source material. Our criticism is for “Suspicion” alone.
When it comes to the actors, they did their jobs well. It’s amazing how Kunal Nayyar had us convinced for over a decade that he could only be the extremely awkward Rajesh Koothrapalli, especially when he has such a strong screen presence. Uma Thurman should have been given more to do in this series. And to sum it up, we can say that the rest of the cast understood the assignment.
The dialogues were alright. They fit the scene, though there’s not a single quotable moment. The script itself had potential. They had the opportunity to comment on social psychology, climate change, and just the revolutionary spirit of the new generation, and they chose not to. We are not one to comment on the lack of “wokeness” in any piece of content, but “Suspicion” needed it. Without that, it was unclear whether it was about the truth, the suspects’ clearing their names, or about climate change, and this confusion made it even more lackluster than it was, to begin with.
“False Flag” came out in 2015 and had 18 episodes. “Suspicion” came out in 2022 and had eight episodes. To be able to deliver a good product, any adaptation needs to consider the time it is set in and the format it is taking. We don’t need to have seen “False Flag” to understand why “Suspicion” was such a poor recreation of an award-winning series.
It’s time to stop making content just for the sake of it and focus on quality instead. Because when excellence becomes the new average, you really can’t afford to be regular average anymore.
“Suspicion” is a 2022 Drama Thriller series created by Rob Williams.
