Secrets and Lies Premiere: Who Did It?!

ABC’s Secrets and Lies premiered Sunday with a double hitter, “The Trail” and “The Father”, and things aren’t looking good for main character Ben Crawford. Lots of spoilers ahead.

Ben (Ryan Phillippe) seems to be an average guy. He’s a painter, husband, and father living in Charlotte who goes for a run early one morning in his quiet suburban neighborhood and stumbles upon the body of a young boy. The show, predominately told from Ben’s perspective, seems to suggest from the start that he is not associated with the boy’s death. However, things deteriorate quickly.

In the first two episodes alone. we learn, through the intense and very pointed investigation of Detective Cornell (Juliette Lewis), that Ben was out drinking the night before with a buddy (after fighting with his wife), doesn’t remember how he got home (and potentially lied to investigators about this), went running when he said he didn’t plan to, lost a flashlight that is the same model as the one used to kill the boy, slept with the boy’s mother, and didn’t do so well on a lie detector test.

Oh, and when he agrees to give a DNA sample to police, it reveals that he is the dead boy’s father! (He claims to not have known this).

So yeah, things aren’t looking good for Ben Crawford. Except, so much else is going on as well. Although friends and neighbors quickly turn against him, the mother of the dead boy doesn’t. In fact, she suspects someone else.

At this point in the series, it’s clear that we aren’t going to find out what happened anytime soon. So, in the meantime, let’s look at our potential suspects:

Ben Crawford

Working against him: Ben is suspect #1 because he found the body. He has the clear motive of   wanting to hide his affair from his wife (especially since his wife makes all the money for their family).

Working for him: Although there is a lot of evidence against Ben, he doesn’t act very suspicious. So far he seems genuine about being innocent and people regard him as an otherwise good guy.

Scott Murphy (the boy’s ‘father’)

Working against him: Scott seems to be pretty crazy and definitely exhibits violent behavior. He has the clear motive of being angry about his wife’s affair, and she even says that he hates her enough to murder their son. Maybe he suspected that he wasn’t the biological father and lost it. He also seems super mad at everyone.

Working for him: There isn’t actually any evidence against him at this point, aside from his general creepiness.

Jess Murphy (the boy’s mom)

Working against her: Nothing. Except for that I think it’s possible she is trying to deflect blame off of herself. She says she told the police that she suspects her husband, but the police don’t do anything about this. Maybe she is lying to lull Ben into a false sense of security?

Working for her: Pretty much everything. She’s the dead kid’s mom.

Christy Crawford (Ben’s wife)

Working against her: Now here’s a woman with motive! Her husband cheated with their neighbor and fathered a child. We later find out that this happened the weekend after she had an abortion! We also find out that Ben was not on board with this abortion. She also isn’t very supportive of Ben. She doesn’t come right out and call him a murderer, but she doesn’t not call him a murderer either.

Working for her: No evidence against her (yet!).

Other characters to keep an eye on:

• Natalie Crawford: bad attitude teen who has a weird relationship with Scott.
• Dave Lindsey: Ben’s weird friend who lives in his guesthouse and doesn’t seem to do anything ever.
• Detective Cornell: let’s not rule her out. Maybe she’s drunk with power and will do anything to move up in her career. That would be great. Someone should write that show.

All in all, was this the best show ever? No. But was it intriguing enough for me to keep watching? Definitely.

Who do you think the killer is? And what did you think of the premiere of Secrets and Lies? Let us know in the comments!

Reviewer Rating:

User Rating:

Secrets and Lies airs Sundays at 9/8c on ABC.

Amanda Coyne

Amanda is an associate editor for Tell-Tale TV. She is a writer, teacher, and pop culture enthusiast with a love for 30 Rock and The Mindy Project. She is also the proud mother of two orange cats. Follow @amandarcoyne