Reviewer Rating: 3.7/5.0
3.7
Disclaimers are a slow process.
You’ll understand it within seconds of tuning in, as the first two parts progress so slowly that there’s a real risk that some people will check out before we get too deep into the plot.
Whether that’s their fault remains to be determined, but we have Cate Blanchett and the series is beautiful.
Disclaimer’s Identity Crisis Is Very Fascinating
Forgive my confession, but this is just a fan’s wet dream.
Remarkably, “Disclaimer” simultaneously occupies the space of a famous film adaptation for its grand stylistic choices and atmospheric execution, as well as for being a potentially cheesy popcorn thriller.
The series is interesting for its mesmerizing fusion quality alone.
Did I mention the disclaimer is beautiful?
So beautiful.
It’s easy to get lost in the gorgeous shots and framing, the variety of camera techniques and filters that illuminate the characters, plot, and conflict, and the way writer and director Alfonso Cuaron uses every inch of frame and location in an unapologetically gorgeous way middle.
Disclaimer is beautifully shot and well thought out
If this is Alfonso Cuarón’s passion project, he’s having fun with it, using the series to flex his muscles and talents, at least in terms of perspective.
It’s pretentious, no doubt, but that’s what you’d expect from some of the Apple TV+ dramas and A-list star-studded limited series types that aim to make prestigious, top-shelf television.
When so many Oscar nominees take up the same space in a project, you can expect the most important and prestigious parts.
Given that “Disclaimer” is adapted from the best-selling novel by Rene Knight, it’s very perspective-focused, so it’s appropriately meta.
The series begins with a disclaimer, followed by a host claiming that Catherine is a beacon of truth, implying that the series will take us on a ride where we can’t believe anything.
It immediately makes you nervous and prompts you to lose confidence in any next point.
If the ominous dialogue isn’t enough, the use of filters, frames, and narration certainly does.
It’s an unusual start to the series, with Jonathan having a nasty tryst in Italy with his equally nasty girlfriend.
But it also feels weird. Even though it’s ultimately known that Disclaimer used flashbacks, the series still has this creepy, timeless quality to it.
There are some authentic moments that feel like a period piece, leaving you questioning the events as they unfold.
Catherine’s meeting with Nancy, presumably some time in the past, seems likely to have occurred in the late 1950s or early 1960s, at their meeting place in a diner.
The relaxed, bright beach scenes with Katherine and Jonathan have a ’70s vibe, and not just because I associate them with Leila George and her excellent work as the young Smurf in “Animal Kingdom.”
Robert’s classic style has a distinctly ’80s feel to it, and if it weren’t for his cell phone photos, I’d swear we were in another time period entirely.
This is one of many thoughts about the premiere and the series, and because of the pace of the first few installments, it’s easy to get caught up in all these little details.
Stephen seeks revenge in Disclaimer season premiere
“To My Son Jonathan” has a lot of heavy lifting to do in laying out the foundation of the series and setting up the central plot.
At times, it’s truly painstaking as we watch successful TV reporter Catherine seem to have everything going well until the “perfect stranger” shows up in her life and threatens to blow everything up.
We see the book mentioned multiple times, but eventually, Catherine realizes it’s about her, and this moment 20 years ago may have changed her entire life.
Only now, staring at some reenactment of that time (Stephen’s to be precise), does she have to face the consequences of that moment and how it ruined her life now.
It’s a fascinating enough premise, especially since Kevin Kline’s Stephen has a tragically funny way of giving the impression that he’s about to commit the ultimate act of mischief.
It’s clear that he takes his role of avenging his son seriously.
Messy Stephen and Kevin Kline’s performances make disclaimer fun
He was almost giddy about it and had no idea how to execute anything he had in mind.
Even if other aspects of the premiere struggle to hold people’s attention, the character of Stephen is chaotic enough to be interesting.
In those moments it reads like a funny Lifetime movie where everything is extreme and overacted, but you eat it up anyway.
Cate Blanchett’s Catherine is more forthright.
Her performance brings serious drama and cachet as she expresses all the complex facets of this woman we barely know.
She spends much of the premiere working with a second-person narrator to shape the character and our perception of her.
Despite the narrative, Catherine remains a puzzle
It is difficult to say whether one understands Catherine.
She looks like a woman in a comfortable but boring marriage with an adult son who doesn’t seem to care about her and has his own problems.
Her relationship with these two men is worth exploring in depth, leaving you curious about the roots of both dynamics.
She hated that Nicholas was not close to her, was distant, but did not have a similar personality to her father.
However, once we get into “Have you ever thought about me?” we immediately see something else hinted at. When Robert thought his son was an alienated addict with no real drive and living a seemingly miserable life.
When you combine the way we see Nicholas from Catherine and Robert’s perspective, it’s easy to conclude that he may be struggling with some form of depression or something entirely different.
Nicholas’s struggles run deeper than they appear
There was a deeper reason why he became the way he was.
If that’s the case, no matter how much Catherine uses his perspective at work or Robert forces him to attend awkward dinners, it won’t make him who they think he is.
Catherine and Robert’s relationship screams on the surface, but neither of them faces up to the problem or uncovers the truth behind it.
Of course, everything has changed now.
It was bad enough that Stephen sent the book, but it was a special kind of evil that he hand-delivered explicit photos of Catherine to Stephen’s office.
However, I was amused by the audacity of developing these photos in what might have been the equivalent of a pharmacy.
His outdated attitude towards all aspects of life sparked curiosity about how he carried out his plans.
Stephen successfully throws a grenade into Catherine’s life
But he had achieved the desired effect, because there was nothing more confusing than Robert looking at these pictures and not even knowing what to do with them.
Robert’s reaction had many layers.
Remarkably, he looked at these photos of his wife and could conclude that she looked completely different from what he had seen and known her to be.
Unhinged Robert reveals Catherine’s true face and perspective
As a typical man’s self-awareness, what shocked him most was that she manifested in his eyes a desire that he had never given her, prompting her to be unfaithful.
It must have taken away some of the insecurities he had been having in their relationship.
The only thing worse than feeling insecure is the truth being leaked and exposed.
Tell us how you really feel, Robert.
The final moments of the premiere are both its most frustrating and revealing.
Robert played all his cards and spouted some of the ugliest and most concerning things about his wife and how he and his family view her.
All his resentment towards her for choosing to go back to work, his insecurities about his sex life, her lack of desire for him, and his blame for Nicholas’s performance, all come to the surface in the moment of these photos. Happy appearance.
It’s just plain ugly, and in between multiple tirades, it makes one wonder why he even married Catherine or chose to stay married.
The disclaimer raises some questions, barely
This begs the question: do you really know someone?
Because if someone you love, someone who is destined to be the love of your life, despises you so much, how terrible is that in the long run?
Robert flew into a rage as soon as he saw the pictures and hastily burned Catherine at the stake before he could even consider what her story might be.
It was one thing for him to avoid her calls and texts, but it was a fool’s errand to skip dinner, and even worse, she deliberately bought and cooked his favorite meal.
However, Robert’s way of venting his anger was by far the worst.
Robert’s question confrontation has its subtlety
He was in attack mode throughout, never pausing in his brutal tirade long enough for Catherine to properly answer the questions he posed to her.
Catherine stammered her explanation, but it was almost inaudible, for before she could finish Robert had begun a tirade.
I’ll give Catherine some slack because she’s not confident enough. Shocked by what had happened and terrified of the truth coming out, she kept silent and could barely organize her thoughts.
It’s definitely frustrating, but having someone yell at you can be overwhelming, so maybe we can blame her silence on that.
But there’s more to the story of her alleged affair, and we only have to look at her facial expressions and body language to conclude that there may not be all that is as it seems.
Over to you, disclaimer fanatics.
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You can watch Disclaimer Friday on AppleTV+.
