Unbelievable: A Must Watch

Netflix's new eight-part limited drama series is an adaptation of a Pulitzer-winning article. It is about a young woman in Lynwood, Washington who claimed she was tied up and raped and continued to change her story until she denied that the attack took place at all. The series starts out with the story of 18-year-old Marie Adler (Kaitlyn Dever) who details her attack to the police and after a serious of questioning from the police decides to say it never happened to avoid going through the details once more after being pressured by the authority. This frustrating routine shows that many people believe rape is like any crime and that the victim can easily recall the details during the event. Adler was so shaken up about the attack and was given no comfort or room to breath instead she was constantly questioned and treated like she was the one in the wrong. Three years later we are introduced to two female detectives played by Toni Colette and Merritt Wever who start to piece together the puzzles of many similar situations in Colorado.

The most frustrating scenes of the serious are the questioning scenes. The police interact with Adler through heavy questioning and assumptions. This has been seen in a lot of other Netflix shows where the victim is the one put on trial by the police. The repetition of these scenes emphasizes the nightmare that follows reporting the event, from multiple doctor tests to have to write and speak their story. Adler is most likely put through this because of her troubled past and social standing.

The chemistry between Colette and Wever is amazing. The scenes of them piecing together something they can't understand has the elements of a true-crime series. There is a strong sense of feminism in how they handle the attacks in sharp contrast to how the male cops handled Adler's. They fight for women. They work for the survivors and eventually catch and arrest their guy.

This series is not about finding out the truth of Adler. It's about who gets their story heard and investigated and who doesn't. The investigations conducted by the female and male officers are drastically different, Adler's attack was seen as attention-seeking while the college students were taken more seriously and more time was taken for the more privileged. The most shocking thing about the series is how often this happens in real life and that administrative nightmare seen with Adler is the reason so many people don't report these events occurring. The victim should never be made to feel like the culprit by the criminal justice system and these investigations need to be conducted more thoroughly.
Unbelievable is not an easy watch but it must be watched and discussed on all platforms. This is an important story that needed to be told and there are probably many more just like this that we haven't heard about. The series is raw and emotional and causes viewers to have a response and feel many emotions as they watch.