Black Bird (miniseries)

Plot

James "Jimmy" Keene, once a promising football star, became involved in dealing narcotics and was arrested in a sting called "Operation Snowplow." He accepted a plea deal he believed would be two years with parole, but the prosecution added charges for illegal firearms, and he was sentenced to ten years without parole. Federal authorities then offered him a fully commuted sentence with a clean record, leveraging his charming and charismatic personality for a dangerous deal.

Production

Dennis Lehane developed the series from the 2010 autobiographical novel In with the Devil: a Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption by James Keene with Hillel Levin. After earlier attempts by Paramount Pictures and HBO to adapt the story, Apple acquired the rights and announced the series in January 2021, with Taron Egerton and Paul Walter Hauser cast. Ray Liotta joined in March, and Greg Kinnear and Sepideh Moafi in April. Production began in New Orleans in April 2021.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes reported a 98% approval rating with an average rating of 8.2/10, based on 80 critic reviews, with the consensus stating: "Dennis Lehane's penchant for authentic grit is on full display in Black Bird, an absorbing prison drama distinguished by its moral complexity and elevated by an outstanding ensemble." Metacritic assigned a score of 80 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Mike Hale of The New York Times wrote that the series is "mostly engaging" and praised the fourth episode directed by Jim McKay, noting that "Egerton is more relaxed, and Hauser even sharper than usual."

Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com gave the series three and a half stars out of four, commenting that it "reminded me more of rich, character-driven material like The Night Of than so many of the 'ripped from the headlines' mini-series of late." Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter noted that "Black Bird gains a tremendous amount of gravity from one of Liotta's last screen appearances" and described the series as "methodical ... in a way that gains power as the show goes along."