A Painful & Honest Crime Show

Long Bright River has a crime narrative like many others — a possible serial killer, a smart cop with problems at home and a personal vendetta of sorts — but God is in the details (and the devil is, too). Many of the characters are authentic and memorable, and wonderfully portrayed. The setting (Kensington in Philadelphia) is fleshed out with the kind of thoughtfulness and honesty that you notice. And above all, the weight of human suffering is captured with extraordinary compassion.

Amanda Seyfried Swims Upstream in ‘Long Bright River’

Long Bright River is a suspense thriller series that tells the story of Mickey (Amanda Seyfried), a police officer who patrols a Philadelphia neighborhood hard-hit by the opioid crisis. When a series of murders begins in the neighborhood, Mickey realizes that her personal history might be related to the case.

At first glance, Amanda Seyfried may not be the first actor who comes to mind when you think about a Philadelphia patrol officer and single mother. She’s a bit too glamorous, too traditionally beautiful. But with a tight ponytail and a uniform, in the graffitied streets of Kensington, she slowly becomes Mickey Fitzpatrick. That’s thanks to a reserved performance that’s intelligent and emotionally intuitive, and rarely melodramatic. Her interactions with other officers are matter-of-fact; her home life with her son and grandfather are worn-in and quietly beautiful. And her panic attacks feel entirely real.

The first panic attack — which are more like moments of existential paralysis at the thought of all the loss, guilt, suffering, and evil in the world — comes when Mickey and her partner arrive at the scene of a dead woman, one of many recent overdose deaths in the area. The lifeless girl has dyed red-pink hair, which jolts the otherwise tough Mickey and, well, freezes her. It’s perhaps a little unrealistic to have this police officer frozen in terror while others arrive at the scene. Before long, though, we learn that Mickey’s pink-haired sister, Kacey, hasn’t been seen in about a month. She lives on the streets, too, and has been a substance user in and out of jail for a while.

Haunted by the People We Love

There’s blackened blood in the mouth of the dead woman on the streets. She’s the third woman to be found dead of a supposed overdose. The police of most cities won’t spend their time looking into that — nobody is hounding them to help any unhoused and poverty-stricken drug users (especially if they aren’t white); there is no known family waiting desperately for an update; there is no nation tuning into the six o’clock news to find out information. Some “law and order” voters might even be happy that there will be fewer people on the streets.

Mickey doesn’t adopt this attitude, and becomes like a salmon swimming upstream in a raging river of indifference. She’s walked these streets, not as a sex worker or drug user, but as one of those rare cops who learn the names of people without privilege. She’s aware of this community. That’s partially because her sister is a part of it, but also because she was trained that way by another good cop, her former patrol partner, Truman Dawes (played by a particularly soulful Nicholas Pinnock, who makes a great pair with Seyfried).

After Mickey sneaks into the morgue and presses the pathologist to look further into the three dead unhoused women, her suspicions are confirmed. They didn’t die of a fentanyl or heroin overdose — they died of an insulin overdose, and none of them are diabetic. Someone out there is preying upon vulnerable women, and Mickey’s sister is out there, too. Meanwhile, her current patrol partner seems utterly useless, and she’s being followed by someone who might just be her ex. Mickey’s sister may not be the only one in the family who’s in danger.

Long Bright River releases all eight episodes on March 13, 2025. You can watch it then through the link below:

Watch on Peacock