The first scene of “Crime of a Dynasty: Murdaugh Affair” is bloody. The series really has a lot of violence. However, brutality is not always explicitly manifested. It is toxic relationships, corruption, machismo, a society of privileges, the arrogance of the powerful, cruelty and emotional indifference masked as tenderness that mark the plot available on Disney+.
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This true detective series has eight episodes of almost an hour. It is a format that has become widespread in streaming. This fits perfectly into the plans of those who want to marathon everything in one weekend. To improve, the production is led by a first-rate casting which gives the charge of emotion which makes the result exciting.
We are introduced to the Murdaughs in the shocking death sequence I mentioned at the beginning of this text. We see Alex (Jason Clarke) looking at two people lying on the ground, dejected. One is his wife, Maggie (Patricia Arquette); the other, his son Paul (Johnny Berchtold). They are at home, in a rural area. Alex calls the police and asks for help in a desperate tone. The story therefore goes back two years to delve into the events which led to the misfortune. Patricia Arquette and Jason Clarke look stunning.
Don’t expect subtlety. “Crime of a Dynasty” reflects the rotten morals that guide the actions of its characters. Forget this multi-faceted anti-hero carpentry. Alex is macho, unscrupulous, eager to please his father (Gerald McRaney). His marriage to Maggie has long since cooled. She tolerates lies big and small to keep up appearances. She swallowed a recent betrayal and became complicit in his prescription drug addiction. The couple has two adult children, both spoiled. Paul neither studies nor works. He has a habit of driving drunk and gets into a lot of trouble. Buster (Will Harrison) is accepted into law school and treated with great promise for the future. But no. The word “impunity” is at the top of the family lexicon and at the center of the plot.
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One evening, during a party organized by Paul, an 18-year-old girl dies (I won’t detail it to avoid spoilers). This event breaks the barrier that has protected the Murdaughs from the law for generations. Mandy Matney (Brittany Snow), an intrepid local reporter, wants to investigate what happened. This tragic story involved a family of lawyers from Hampton, South Carolina. It occupied all the police news in the USA in 2021 (the most curious viewer can delve into Google searches to make the necessary comparisons and find out the result). Here, this has gone more or less unnoticed, which is an advantage for the viewer.
The term “dynasty” in the title is a clear indication of the drama. But the fact that it is a true story functions as a sort of safe conduct to legitimize what can appear as pure serial fiction. It’s worth checking out.
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