is a brutal watch. Centered on the , the Hulu series is based upon Rebecca Godfrey’s book of the same name. After the murders happened, none of the teens accused of contributing to Reena’s death would talk to reporters.
But then Godfrey entered the scene. Youthful and patient with a dark streak, the twenty-something writer was able to gain the trust of the defendants and the surrounding community. The book she wrote about the incident and the ensuing trial was applauded for its evocative prose, probing tone, and vivid character studies.
steps into Rebecca’s shoes in the adaptation. Fresh off her Emmy nomination for her work as the eponymous Daisy Jones in Amazon Prime’s , Keough delivers an understated, thoughtful performance as a woman returning to her old hometown to find source material for a new book. Godfrey did not make herself a character in her own book, but she developed the material alongside showrunner Quinn Shephard for more than two years before her untimely passing in 2022.
And one of her wishes was for Keough to play her. The Rebecca we see onscreen has been fictionalized, and she finds a partner in crime in Cam Bentland ( ), a cop character created whole cloth for the series. But the other relationships she engages in have varying levels of truth to them.
Keough has a dangerous, searching quality to her as she befriends the teens connected with the murder. Rebecca’s connection with the group of suspects is palpable as Keough’s scenes with them are .