“Apples Never Fall” is a new mystery drama miniseries streaming on Peacock. Based on Liane Moriarty’s novel by the same name, it follows the Delaney family members as they try to find the missing matriarch. The 7-episode series focuses on the secrets and unfulfilled desires of these characters as they try to find her. It was developed by Melanie Marnich, and the episodes are directed by Chris Sweeney and Dawn Shadforth. Its cast includes Annette Bening, Sam Neill, Jake Lacy, Alison Brie, Essie Randles, Paula Andrea Placido, Pooja Shah, Sharon Brooks, Michaela Rodrigues, Montana Jones, Jane Hall, and Ana Maria Belo.
Spoilers Ahead
Apples Never Fall (Miniseries) Recap:
What is NBC’s ‘Apples Never Fall’ about?
“Apples Never Fall” on Peacock follows the Delaney family as they try to find their missing matriarch, Joy. This investigation leads her husband, Stan, and four adult children – Troy, Amy, Brooke & Logan on an emotional journey – to navigate their mutual history to reassess what they know about themselves. This is yet another narrative about a suburban family going through an emotional crisis that leads them to understand that things are not as good as they thought After her Oscar-nominated performance in “Nyad,” Annette Bening stars in this new miniseries. Besides her, the main cast includes Sam Neill, Jake Lacy, Alison Brie, Essie Randles, and Georgia Flood in the central roles.
Episode 1: The Delaneys
The Delaney family lives a seemingly happy life in a suburban landscape. However, one day, it suddenly takes a tragic turn when the family matriarch Joy (Annette Bening) goes missing. Her children – Troy (Jake Lacy), Amy (Alison Brie), Brooke (Essie Randles), and Logan (Conor Merrigan Turner) worry about her whereabouts, but her husband, Stan (Sam Neill) doesn’t. He doesn’t think she has gone missing and believes she will return soon. While discussing how to find their mother, the siblings recall a recent family gathering. At the time, Joy was upset at Stan because he was constantly insulting their children and ruining the mood.
Soon after, someone calls the police and informs them about Joy’s disappearance. So, Detective Elena Camacho (Jeanine Serralles) and Detective Ethan Remy (Dylan Thuraisingham) question Stan about it. Despite their genuine concern, Stan remains indifferent. During further investigation, some old emotional wounds show face in one way or the other. E.g., Troy always held a grudge against Stan for beating him up when he was a child. So, he suspects Stan has something to do with their missing mother. However, Logan believes that Joy’s disappearance has to do with the arrival of a mysterious stranger in their lives: Savannah (Georgia Flood).
A few months ago, Savannah suddenly showed up outside their family home. She was wounded and was struggling to breathe. Upon inquiry, Joy learned that Savannah suffered domestic abuse. So, she offered her shelter. Stan wasn’t on board with this decision, but Joy convinced him. What started as a help for just a day or two developed into something else. Savannah started living with Joy and Stan as if she is their fifth child. Logan found it odd then and continued to feel the same way.
Episode 2: Logan
Logan meets the detectives to tell them about Savannah. In the past, he was concerned about her increasing closeness with his parents, besides her lack of any proof of identification. He brought that to Joy’s notice. But Joy did not consider Savannah as a threat. She refused to let her leave their house. Nevertheless, she asked Logan to join Savannah at the motel she ran away from to retrieve her stuff. In the motel room, they don’t find the abusive husband she told them about. She still tricks Logan and Troy into trusting her. Another day, she joined Joy, Brooke, and Brooke’s partner, Gina (Paula Andrea Placido), for lunch. She noticed a waitress flirting with Gina and how Brooke felt bad about it.
In the present, the police find Joy’s missing bicycle being sold online. But Savannah didn’t steal it. So, it doesn’t help them in the investigation. Despite helping the police, Dulaneys does not disclose Joy’s disappearance to anyone besides their family. Their neighbour, Caro (Ana Maria Belo) suspects there is something wrong with the family. She comes to check up on Joy, but Stan pretends that Joy isn’t missing. All Dulaneys have their share of problems. Troy is in the middle of his divorce settlement with his ex-wife, Claire (Madeleine Jones). Logan learns that someone used his boat.
Amy has to contend with her much younger landlord/flatmate, Simon (Nate Mann), who learns about Joy’s disappearance and offers his help to locate her. It somehow irritates Amy. Later, Amy realizes that Joy went to Aberdeen – the same area of the motel that Savannah said she ran away from. So, all the siblings go there to check at a law firm to see whether Joy visited their office. The receptionist reveals that Joy came there seeking a divorce. While that happens, Stan ends up hurting a friend playing tennis. Back home, he gets excessively drunk and breaks a glass.
Episode 3: Amy
Cara finds Joy’s jacket in her backyard with bloodstains on it. The police check with the Dulaneys’ DNA samples to check whether it is Joy’s blood. Nevertheless, this incident forces them to go public with an announcement of Joy’s disappearance. After Stan’s brief speech to the press, Amy takes the centre stage and invites everyone to a life coaching session at her house. Before doing so, she does not ask Simon or her family members for their permission. Her siblings think she is only seeking attention through her pseudo-helpful event to help boost her life-coaching business.
Logan informs Stan that Joy recently met a divorce lawyer. But he doesn’t talk about the boat. Troy continues his affair with his boss, Monty’s (Timm Sharp) wife, Lucia (Katrina Lenk). But Monty has no idea of this. He even tells Troy to take a few days off to process his emotions. The Dulaneys join Amy for her spiritual gathering to not make people consider them as suspects. Still, it makes them recall some past events. On Joy’s recent birthday, Amy baked a cake for her. But Joy decided to celebrate with the one Savannah baked instead.
Later, Amy overheard Joy speaking with Savannah about her. It made her so emotional that she accidentally put her cake on fire. Seeing that, Joy fainted and was taken to the hospital. In the present, the local community members have started losing their trust in the Dulaneys, despite being their neighbors for decades. The police find a dead body and ask the Dulaneys to confirm her identity. They confirm that it isn’t Joy.
But after confirming this, Amy walks out of the room and reacts strangely. This makes Brooke and Troy assume Joy is dead, so Brooke gets angry at Amy’s attention-seeking behavior. Eventually, they all learn about Amy’s emotional struggles to make peace with her failures. They ask her why she didn’t speak with them about it. Amy says they never valued her feelings. In the heat of the moment, she reveals a secret—Brooke had been sleeping with Savannah.
Episode 4: Brooke
After Joy’s chaotic birthday, Brooke came to her parents’ house to help Savannah clean up the mess. Savannah started talking about Gina cheating on Brooke with a waitress. After that, one thing led to another, and Brooke ended up sleeping with Savannah. The next morning, Stan returned home. Savannah came into the kitchen, wearing only a T-shirt, which turned into an awkward moment between her and Stan. After that night, she and Brooke kept having sex now and then. Eventually, Brooke decided to move on. However, Savannah wasn’t ready for it. On the day of Brooke’s wedding, Amy overheard the two speaking about their affair. That’s how she learned about it.
In the present, the police ask Brooke about all she knows about Savannah. But like everyone else, she doesn’t know any specific details. Back home, Brooke hides her sexual affair from Gina. Instead, she calls out Gina for cheating on her. Gina reveals that the waitress flirted with her, but she didn’t flirt back or ever cheat. Later, Brooke, Amy, Logan, and Stan get together at their family home. Due to a hurricane, the family members stay stuck in their house. It makes them face their demons. Stan admits to knowing Joy cheated on him. Still, he believed she would never leave him. After all the literal and emotional chaos, Brooke tells Gina the truth about her and Savannah.
The police eventually learn more about Savannah’s aliases. Based on their research, they meet a man whom Savannah tricked in the past. He reveals that she recently showed up at his doorstep and gave him $10,000 for stealing his car. Thanks to him, the police also get hold of a box of newspaper clippings. They realize that Savannah was looking into the Dulaney family history before she infiltrated their house. Meanwhile, Troy goes to a work event and makes out with Lucia.
Episode 5: Troy
When Troy was a teenager, he used to play with Harry Haddad (Parker Little) for practice. Harry was Stan’s star pupil, who cut ties with Stan’s tennis institute after a fight with Troy. On the day of the fight, Troy pointed out that Harry was cheating. Instead of punishing Harry, Stan slapped Troy and humiliated him. Harry’s father fired Stan after this incident. So, Stan believed Harry left his mentorship because of Troy. In the present, the detectives meet Stan to inform him about their investigation into Savannah’s plans. They ask who gave her $10,000. Stan points them toward Troy even if it means implicating him.
In the past, when Savannah was staying at the Dulaney house, Stan and Brooke found a video where a woman told the same story Savannah told when she showed up at their doorstep. So, Stan told Joy about it and warned her about this stranger. He asked Joy to make Savannah leave immediately. Despite these lies, Joy blindly trusted Savannah. Since Stan’s plan didn’t work, Troy tried something else. He invited Savannah to his house, called out her lies, and offered some cash to leave his parents’ house. But it didn’t work either because Savannah blackmailed to disclose his extramarital affair.
Sometime later, the family got together at their house. Savannah brought up the topic that no one wanted to talk about – ‘the reason Harry fired Stan.’ It suddenly brought the family’s painful memories to the surface. Troy and Stan got into a heated argument over their years of undiscussed disagreements. Eventually, Joy got tired of them fighting and revealed a secret she held on to for years: Joy told Harry’s father to fire Stan because she was tired of Stan’s unhealthy obsession with Stan becoming a champion. Upon hearing that, Savannah suddenly left the house and never returned.
In the present, Troy gifts Lucia an expensive necklace. Later, Monty finds it and asks her who gave it to her. She reveals that she is having an affair. So, Monty starts throwing tantrums at the office while not knowing who she slept with. Eventually, Troy confesses to his affair with Lucia. Monty creates drama and ruins Lucia’s image in the office. Meanwhile, Logan finds video footage that insinuates Stan of a misdemeanor. He sends it to the police detectives, who decide to arrest Stan. Back at their home, Troy meets Stan and tells him what he told the police. Stan has an anxiety attack and gets hospitalized.
Episode 6: Stan
In the past, after Joy confessed to having spoken with Harry’s father about firing Stan, her kids grew resentful of her. Stan tried to make up for his years of bitterness toward Troy. But Troy didn’t let him have it that easy. Joy also tried to make up with Troy, but he wasn’t ready to forgive her. Later, she tried to have a civil conversation with Stan about their past. She didn’t want him to forgive her but to understand why she behaved the way she did. Joy asks him about the time when he left the family alone. He doesn’t reveal where he had gone back then. Instead, he calls out her affair, and they find no conclusion to it.
In the present, Stan gets hospitalized after he suffers an anxiety attack. After getting discharged, he meets the police detectives to talk about the case and his messy relationship with his children. The police mention a chain of incidents that imply that Stan is behind Joy’s disappearance. They want him to plead guilty. But he maintains his innocence and asks for his lawyer. Besides Brooke, all Stan’s children believe Stan could have hurt Joy. While Brooke and Amy go follow a lead, the police arrest Stan based on a new piece of evidence: an audio recording of an argument between Stan and Joy before her disappearance, implying Stan got violent.
Episode 7: Joy
Before Joy’s disappearance, she and Stan had a fiery argument. The police find its tape recording, which indicates Stan became violent toward Joy. Upon hearing that, the Dulaney siblings also stop trusting their father. We learn what actually went down before and after Joy’s disappearance.
Apples Never Fall (Miniseries) Ending Explained:
How did Joy go missing?
A few days before Joy’s disappearance, she had a bike accident. That’s when she hurt her legs and started bleeding. She tried to clean it up with her jacket, which her neighbor later found in her backyard. Back at home, Stan was recording his podcast. He stopped midway because Joy wanted to discuss a part from Harry Haddad’s (Giles Matthey) newly-released memoir. In this book, Harry confessed to cheating in a match against Troy. Stan admitted that he knew Harry cheated but still defended Harry and punished his son because of his obsession with Harry. That’s when the violent argument begins.
Since Stan forgot to stop his recording, the argument was recorded on the tape. Stan couldn’t stand Joy confronting him for his mistakes. He took it upon his ego and started throwing things around the room. Although he did not physically hurt Joy, he made her emotional. So, on a whim, she left her house, cut contact with her family, i.e., went missing by her own volition. Then, she called Savannah to meet her at a bar. Savannah confessed that she was a con artist who took advantage of their kind nature. After their conversation, Joy ordered Savannah to drive to her place.
Who is Savannah Pagonis in real?
After her conversation with Savannah, Joy started staying at her house. Savannah made sure that Joy couldn’t get in touch with the outside world. Later on, Joy opened up about her emotional turmoil to this stranger. In the present, the Dulaney siblings go through their old photo albums, reminiscing old memories. In a photo, they notice a girl who looks like Savannah sitting next to Harry. So, they meet Harry to check if he knows anything about her. He reveals that it is his sister, Lindsey. He hadn’t met her for a while but knew that she was living with Stan and Joy.
In the past, Harry and Lindsey’s mother had some mental health issues. Since Harry and his father stayed separately for the most part, Lindsey had to deal with her mother by herself. Later on, Harry cut communication with Lindsey because of his higher professional goals. It all took a toll on her mental health, which is why she started making threats to Harry and his family. Once, she also almost shot them with a gun. After it didn’t pan out, she distanced herself and did what she could to survive.
Why did Savannah lie to the Dulaneys?
At her house, Savannah makes sure Joy cannot contact anyone from the outside world. While she goes out, Joy finds a bag with proof of Savannah’s identity. She realizes that Savannah is Harry’s sister. By the time Joy learns this, Savannah/Lindsey returns home. Joy pretends she doesn’t know who Savannah is. But Savannah/Lindsey realizes Joy knows the truth. She takes Joy out for a drive and opens up about her past. Because of her mother’s poor mental health, Lindsey could not have a normal childhood. After staying with Joy for a short while, she experienced the warmth she sought for years. So, she kept lying to them to prolong her stay in her utopia.
Is Joy alive or dead? Do the Dulaneys find Joy? What happens to Joy in the end?
While driving with Joy, Lindsey gets emotional. Joy’s decision to call her and Harry’s father’s decision to fire Stan broke apart her family. So, Lindsey blames Joy for what happened to her. Joy tries to help her control her emotions. But somehow, they get into an accident. Afterward, Lindsey leaves the car, saying she forgives Joy for their past. Soon after, Joy returns home to meet her family. So, Joy is alive at the end of “Apples Never Fall,” and the Delaneys find her. In the end, they all open up about their differences and forgive each other. Everyone gets a happy ending for the time being.
Apples Never Fall (Miniseries) Review:
It seems like there is an epidemic in the American streaming landscape to focus on narratives of white, suburban households, where a friendly, non-threatening outsider suddenly damages their illusion of safety and security. I’m not sure why this is, but these stories are certainly becoming increasingly redundant. So, you hardly feel the ‘mystery’ in their pursuit anymore or can be emotionally invested in their emotional struggle. Just last year, we saw “Love & Death” and “A Friend of the Family” (another Jake Lacy show) following similar narratives. Maybe the ‘that could also happen to us’ feeling is attached to their overproduction, but the lack of strong, discernible distinction is turning them into unamusing affairs despite the creative talent brought together.
Peacock’s “Apples Never Fall” works with fairly similar dramatic beats. So, the air of mystery becomes thinner since the characters seem almost plastic. Often, their shifting behavioral patterns or actions make no sense. Besides that obvious flaw in the original story, its dialogues seem unbelievable and lifeless at multiple times. The performances cannot help keep the boat afloat, either. Sam Neill and Annette Bening do the most heavy lifting in this department. However, the material makes you also see them struggling to find a point in their character arc. Alison Brie’s character is of a performative nature. But that doesn’t mean her performance should have been performative as well! It worked for her role in “Community,” but that doesn’t mean it will work every time.
Jake Lacy is reliable in his douchey, grudge-holding, capital-driven man-child character, but Georgia Flood’s acting sticks out like a sore thumb. Her performance, along with her poorly-written character, often turns the show into a campy soap opera. Also, don’t get me started on the literal and figurative implicating ‘Joy vanishing’ from this household! So, Peacock’s “Apple Never Fall” ends up becoming a forgettable affair of a suburban nightmare
Read More: Apples Never Fall: Cast & Characters Explained, Release Date, Plot, Where to Watch, Episodes Listing & Schedule, Trailer & Other Details
Trailer:
Apples Never Fall (Miniseries) Links: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Wikipedia
Apples Never Fall (Miniseries) Cast: Annette Bening, Sam Neill, Jake Lacy, Alison Brie, Essie Randles, Paula Andrea Placido, Pooja Shah, Sharon Brooks, Michaela Rodrigues, Montana Jones, Jane Hall, Ana Maria Belo
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