“Bodies” is a slow-burn crime drama about bodies buried beneath a suburban lawn, and it knows exactly how to make that premise linger. The 2023 series, created by Patrick Misner and starring Jake Lacy, follows a man who discovers human remains in his backyard and finds himself pulled into a decades-old mystery involving a missing person case. The show leans heavily on atmosphere over action, and that approach works for stretches but eventually starts to feel like a deliberate pace rather than a masterful one.
Trailer, via Netflix.
The Setup
The series opens with a discovery that changes everything. A man digs into his lawn and unearths something he never expected. The police are involved, but the show refuses to rush toward answers. Instead, it spends episode after episode circling the same handful of suspects, each with their own secrets and motives. The pacing is deliberate, almost to a fault, but the tension holds through the first half of the season.
Lacy carries the show with a performance that mixes anxiety and determination. He is believable as a man who cannot simply walk away from what he found. The supporting cast, including Jennifer Carpenter and Michael Rispoli, fills out the local community with quiet menace and small-town warmth in equal measure. The show knows exactly what it wants to say about grief, memory, and the weight of the past.
The Middle Stretch
The middle episodes are where “Bodies” starts to lose momentum. The mystery doesn’t deepen so much as circle back on itself, and the show’s refusal to resolve plot threads begins to feel less like patience and more like hesitation. Some viewers will find the slow burn rewarding; others will find it frustrating. The series is clearly building toward a payoff, but the path there feels unnecessarily long.
The show’s strengths are its visuals and its tone. The cinematography captures the claustrophobic feeling of a small town hiding big secrets. The score supports the dread without overwhelming it. These elements work together to create a consistent sense of unease, even when the story stalls.
The Payoff
The final episodes attempt to tie everything together, and they mostly succeed. The show’s central mystery gets resolved, though not in the way some viewers might expect. The resolution is bittersweet, fitting for a series that spent so much time dwelling on loss. The ending lands as a genuine emotional moment, even if the journey to get there felt uneven.
“Bodies” is at its best when it trusts its audience to sit with ambiguity. Its worst moments come when it feels the need to explain everything. The show is smarter than its occasional excesses suggest, and its core idea remains compelling enough to justify a second watch.
Key Facts
- Title: Bodies
- Creator: Patrick Misner
- Starring: Jake Lacy
- Year: 2023
- Score: 6.5/10
“Bodies” is a solid, atmospheric crime series that occasionally loses sight of its own pacing. It is worth watching for its performances and its visual style, but it asks for patience that not every viewer will be willing to give. The final stretch earns its conclusion, but the road there is bumpier than it needs to be.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
