As the first episode of Black Bird begins, we hear someone talking about a butterfly flapping its wings in Africa leading to a hurricane in Miami. It means things that you don’t think are connected actually are. Jimmy Keene (Taron Egerton) claims he never knew this girl. He begins talking about the life he knew as we jump to Chicago, Illinois in November 1996. Jimmy hangs out with his friends as they watch an old football game. Although you wouldn’t think so, it is all connected. They tell Jimmy that he was really something since he became recognized as the pride and joy of Kankakee. Jimmy prepares to leave while telling his friends to lock up before they go. He asks about Danny, but nobody has heard from him. He leaves with a bag in one hand and a pillow in the other. As he enters an old building with a bunch of cars inside, he says this is where things started going sideways for him.

He meets with Roger Nevins (Lee Tergesen) who tells him to get on the golf cart after asking about the pillow. Jimmy says it stopped the cricks he had in his neck and it’ll work for Roger too. He puts the pillow over the shotgun on the back of the cart before they ride away. Roger tells him that the shotgun was decked out with a weird color so it’d be used for beanbags during protests. Roger is so touched that Jimmy decided to come deal with this personally. He apologizes for the last shipment even though Jimmy says these things happen. Roger says he has never been light as much as a gram with anyone ever before. When Jimmy questions why he’d say he got shorted, Roger says it is hard to know a man’s heart. Roger grabs the shotgun and takes the bag as they walk away from the golf cart.

Roger asks how he knew the shortage was on his end. Jimmy knows because his guy told him. He trusts Danny because they grew up together. Roger calls that adorable. When they enter the room, Jimmy sees Danny tied to a chair and he has been beaten. Roger begins demanding that he tell Jimmy what he did. Danny confesses he stole a key because he had to get right with Bern’s people. Jimmy promises that he knew nothing about it. Roger shoots Danny in the chest with a beanbag. Jimmy tries to give Roger two kilos to smooth things over, but Roger still doesn’t seem satisfied. He gives him one more although Roger says this isn’t all about the money. As Roger begins loading the shotgun, Jimmy attempts to talk him out of killing Danny. Roger seems to think he should have the whole bag.

Jimmy admits that Danny’s life is only worth three kilos to him. Roger only asks for the authentic self of the people he does business with. He agrees to Jimmy’s deal and tells him he can use the golf cart to get Danny out of here. Later that night, Jimmy goes to a restaurant where Rochelle (Cecilia Leal) comes over to his table to serve him. He ends up sleeping with her. In the morning, his house is raided by the DEA while he is drinking a shake. A female officer asks him about Rochelle who is still on the couch. As guns and drugs are found, Lauren talks to him about the AK-47 and how it’ll hurt his case. At the prison, Jim gets a visit from his father Big Jim (Ray Liotta). Jimmy admits his mom hasn’t visited yet because she is still mad that he got Tim mixed up in something a while back.

Big Jim says his brother is going to walk. The prosecutor Beaumont is trying to prove something with him though. He wants to prove he isn’t a part of the machine since Big Jim was and his family was. He admits to his son that there is no quick way out of this. Jimmy is going to give five years and possibly four with good behavior. According to the sentencing guidelines, he could get two years by pleading guilty, but he won’t because of the guns he had. He was a cop for 23 years and asked around to find out that his son will have to do midrange of the sentencing guidelines. Big Jim tells his son that he wanted him to have a wife, kids, and a different life. Jimmy says he knows although he never mentioned it before. Big Jim instructs him to take the deal and plead out. During the hearing, the judge mentions that Jimmy was generous to certain local charities.

However, he is pleading guilty to the sale and trafficking of narcotics, the possession of paraphernalia, and the possession of multiple illegal firearms. Once he pleads guilty, the judge tells him that was the smart thing to do. Then, he is sentenced to 120 months or 10 years. Big Jim and Jimmy are stunned. As Jimmy is led out of the courtroom, he yells that Beaumont lied to him. Seven months later, Jimmy is taken to a private meeting with Lauren McCauley (Sepideh Moafi) and Beaumont. They discuss Jimmy’s stint in prison so far and the fact he is okay with the dominant gangs. He has a sideline and spends the money on fresh vegetables and lean cuts of meat. She knows that he has been renting porno magazines to the other inmates.

Lauren goes on about how he gets along with everyone in here. At some point, he sits back and lets them run their mouths. Eventually, Lauren explains that they’d like him to move to another prison, befriend someone, and illicit a confession. Beaumont says they need the precise location of a dead body. They believe the man could have killed 14 women although they’ve only tied him to two murders. They only have one body. The prison is in Springfield, Missouri and it is a maximum-security prison specializing in the criminally insane. Jimmy laughs at the idea until he is offered freedom and a complete commutation of his sentence. He’ll need to transfer and help them get the location of Tricia Reitler’s body. When Jimmy says no, Lauren warns him that the man’s conviction is on appeal so he could win and walk free.

She encourages him to look at the file before deciding. Before they go, Lauren tells him that his attorney has their contact info. Late one night, Jimmy decides to look through the file about Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser). The show jumps back to Georgetown, Illinois on September 10, 1993 or four years earlier. A young Brooke Miller catches the football and begins running in the wrong direction as her parents cheer her on. A police officer approaches them and says he won’t be home for dinner because they’ve found Jessica Roach. Brian Miller (Greg Kinnear) leaves with the officer. In Perrysville, Indiana, Brian inspects Jessica’s body which is lying in a cornfield. Then, they talk to a man who saw someone step out from the field.

The man can only tell them that the guy was white. The man got into a van that could’ve been gray, brown, green, or black. It was dark so he didn’t get a good look at him. The witness knows it was a Dodge though because he is a mechanic. In October 1994 or 13 months later, Brian calls Len to ask him about a possible 647 at Whittier that he filed a report for not too long ago. Len says it was 2 14-year-old girls riding their bikes and said a pervert in a van kept passing them. He also told them he liked their boobies. He offered to take them for a ride in his gray van. Although they got the plate number, Len never ran it because the man drove off and they never saw him again. Brian tells Sheriff Hartshorne (Robert Diago DoQui) that the van has been called in three times in the last year.

It was reported once in Indianola, once in Olivet, and once near the Dauphin Reserve. The report always involves harassment. The van is registered to a man named Larry D. Hall from Wabash, Indiana. Big Jim visits his son as they talk about his mom and Sammy who makes him happy. Jimmy admits he has been thinking about the deal. Big Jim warns him that the Springfield prison is the type of place they send subhumans to. He also worries that he might have to defend himself and they’ll tack on more time to his sentence. Big Jim tells him to stay put because they will find a way. While working on his window, Brian gets a call from Chris Drysdale with the Wabash Police Department. Chris confirms he knows Larry since he grew up with him. He wonders if Larry was up there doing Civil War reenactments since he likes that stuff.

Chris says he has mutton chop sideburns too. Brian is told to see if there was a reenactment going on since that might explain it. Jimmy goes through the motions while renting out the porno magazines as usual. Brian calls to see what he can find out about Civil War reenactments, but there is no record of a reenactment in the last three years. The woman on the phone says there was a Revolutionary War one though last summer at Forest Glen Park. It took place on July 19. Brian finds that odd since the victim disappeared on July 20th. Sammy (Robyn Malcolm) visits Jimmy at the prison. She says his dad came in talking funny last week and missed the chair when he tried to sit down. The side of his face went droopy. Although he has a stroke and went to the hospital, he is out now.

Big Jim told her to say that he is fine even though he isn’t. He can’t talk right and walks to the side. Sammy confesses that he isn’t good at all. It happened last Wednesday, but she couldn’t tell him because Big Jim is like a baby right now and she needed someone to watch him. Sammy reveals the doctor said it was stress that caused it. She thinks it was primarily caused by Jimmy’s arrest and imprisonment since it is the only thing he talks about. He blames himself for his son being in here although Sammy says nobody made him sell that crap. Jimmy slams the phone down before picking it back up to ask if she is finished. Sammy asks him about the way he has to get out of prison sooner.

He doesn’t have ten years. If Jimmy stays in prison, he won’t have three years. Brian calls Detective Drysdale who says Larry was a harmless weirdo. He is a weirdo because of the sideburns and he grew up with an odd mother and father. Larry grew up on a graveyard. Regardless, Drysdale believes he is harmless. He often got beat up at school and such. Drysdale knows about the college girl that Larry confessed to, but he didn’t do it. Marion PD cleared him and said he was a serial confessor. That is who Larry is since he is always trying to make himself look bigger than he is. Drysdale hangs up so he can call Brian using his landline phone. When he calls back, Brian tells him that they had a girl turn up dead and they aren’t sure if Larry had anything to do with it. They know that his van was in the area and he was creeping out girls on more than one occasion.

Chris doesn’t think Larry could have anything to do with a dead girl and just likes to talk. They got the guy who did it and it wasn’t Larry. Chris says he’ll call Larry to come in and set up a room for them. Jimmy tells Lauren that he’ll accept the transfer, befriend this sick puppy, and get what they want. Lauren is glad he is making himself available, but they’re looking at other applicants too. She tells him to keep doing his homework since he doesn’t want to blow the job interview. In the morning, Brian meets with Chris who tells him Larry is across the street in a conference room with the Marion detectives because they want to question him on the Reitler case. He spent a whole day riding around with the Marion guys once so he is pretty relaxed with them.

He claimed he could take them to Tricia’s body, but he couldn’t since he didn’t do it. Moments later, Brian is introduced to Detective Russ Aborn. Derek is talking to him now. Russ tells Brian that they wasted a day with this guy on the Reitler case. He doubts Larry did Brian’s murder since the guy just likes confessing to cops. Brian joins Larry and Derek. He immediately compliments Larry’s burnsides and begins talking about General Ambrose Burnside. Brian introduces himself after asking Larry if he does Civil War and Revolutionary War reenactments. When Larry mentions that he is from the Vermilion County Sheriff’s Office in Georgetown, Larry says he has never heard of it. Larry can’t remember if he attended a Revolutionary War reenactment in Illinois last summer. He only says maybe.

Russ interrupts to say this is what Larry kept saying when they questioned him. Brian stops him because it is his turn to question Larry. He shows Larry where Georgetown and Forest Glen Park are located. After Brian mentions McHenry Township, Larry says he has been there. Larry believes there was a Hardee’s around there. He tries to show Brian on the map. He touches his finger and quickly apologizes although Brian says it is okay. Larry claims he had a sandwich and French fries when he was driving around trying to find a guy who had a Charger.

He goes on to say he has an ’82 Dodge Van and some of the parts are interchangeable. Larry doesn’t think he ever found the guy. He says he likes Mopar parts so he finds rusted vans that are parked under trees or behind people’s houses. He sells some of those parts to body shops. Larry admits it is a lot of driving around although he likes driving around. When asked about talking to two girls, Larry says he asked for directions and they were very rude because they told him to go screw himself. He exchanged words with them, but it was all in fun. Chris brings up the misunderstanding with the jogger. They had words and she accused Larry of stalking her even though he immediately denies it. He can’t help if he drives home where some girl runs every day and she smiled at him.

He calls her Abby the jogger. When Brian mentions the two girls in his town, Larry says he was just joking around with them. He would never dream of hurting two girls. Brian learns that Larry has vivid dreams. He admits he kills women in his dreams, but they’re just dreams. Brian wants to hear more. Jimmy spends the night looking at Larry’s file.

 

Black Bird Review

After the first episode of Black Bird, there are more questions than answers and some frustrations with the show in general. The story is very interesting although it seems to be plodding forward a bit too slowly. Jimmy’s introduction was a pretty cliché way to show his charisma and success with women. Some of the characters can be a bit cringy at times while the acting is just okay, but we’re not in the deep scenes yet.

It is common for characters to just stare at the camera with nothing going on for too long. There is real potential for this to turn into a gripping drama though. After this episode, I am already interested in finding out more so that speaks volumes as to the quality of the story. The thing that irked me the most is the fact that this strayed so far from the true story so it may be better for people willing to accept it at face value.

While this is based on a book, that book is based on true events. The fact that so many liberties were taken and the way little things were tweaked hurts the overall credibility of the story. Whole characters are added or changed and little significance is placed on the fact that Larry is already locked up for life. Since Larry is willing to confess to anything and everything, it is hard to imagine Jimmy is going to have a difficult time getting a confession.

It isn’t good if viewers can Google a certain character and find that they’re nothing like the character in the series. In a way, the whole thing seems a bit overblown. It may not to those with no knowledge of the case though. Regardless, the first episode of Black Bird has me fully drawn into the story to the point that I want to know a lot more about the real case and real people. I just hope it stays grounded. The first episode scores a 7 out of 10. Recaps of Black Bird can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support us at this link.