Truth Be Told Review: Graveyard Love (Season 1 Episode 5)
The strength of Truth Be Told Season 1 Episode 5, “Graveyard Love,” is in its back half — so let’s start there.
Warren and Jackson’s relationship has always been an interesting one. There’s just nothing to say about a man’s relationship with a dog when you’re reviewing a crime drama until there isn’t much else to talk about.
Jackson isn’t the only living being Warren loves. The scene with Melanie where he tries to get her to seek experimental treatments and then gives up pretty quickly to ask about her garden is sweet. But the dog probably is the second being he loves.
His empathy and vulnerability with the dog is intriguing. He’s in prison. Letting down his stone-cold facade is always a risk. But Warren has never been anything except kind and even loving to Jackson.
The truth behind Chuck Buhrman’s murder could still go many ways. But the way Warren treats that dog is a small reason why I don’t think he is responsible.
He understands that cages turn anyone vicious — not just dogs.
More striking than that is the part of the speech where he says Jackson only attacked because he thought someone he loved was in danger, and Warren’s own father wouldn’t do anything close to that for him.
I don’t know why we would, but I hope we see Jackson again. At the very least I really do hope he gets placed in a nice home, and I’m glad Warren’s speech saves his life.
As for the main mystery on the episode, the payoff of the Angel’s Halo mystery isn’t very engaging, if I’m being honest.
Owen being Chuck’s murderer is an obvious red herring from the beginning of Truth Be Told. It’s very sad that the truth is that he’s actually responsible for a young man’s vegetative state.
But a secret like that has been done before on other shows. It’s actually more shocking to learn about an incident like that in someone’s past on a medical drama like Grey’s Anatomy than it is on this show.
Owen’s suicide isn’t even shocking as much as it is disturbing.
Poppy uses great journalistic instinct to try and save her own life when she thinks it’s in danger. She tells Owen that listeners need to hear the whole story. It’s an attempt to get the truth, but there is also a decent chance it gives Owen something to live for.
Owen is a jerk, but being the creator of a podcast that is the catalyst for someone’s suicide — especially when they are not guilty of the crime you are accusing them of — is a lot to have on your conscience. I’m worried for Poppy more than ever now.
But it’s actually Melanie who is closer to getting the truth from Owen when he comes to visit and makes what we now know are final amends.
He expresses the only regret we hear from him for putting his son in prison when he says,
I was so focused on work, trying to make chief. I ignored you, I drove you to Chuck, and then I put our only son in prison. Who does that, Melanie? I just couldn’t keep my fucking mouth shut. I was so noble, so rightous. And all that time, I…
Melanie then immediately says, “What? All that time what?”
She’s clearly not a journalist because a basic rule of interviewing is that silence is your friend. If you don’t fill the awkward silence immediately, chances are your subject will and it often results in some of the best material.
In this case, Melanie misses her one shot at the truth.
The episode is predictable but watchable. Truth Be Told‘s weakness is its stories, not the performances.
Each storyline is interesting for its own reasons sometimes. But it’s rare that everyone holds my attention at once.
Shreve’s illness, the twins, and even Poppy and Ingram’s stories just fill time until we get to the last 15 minutes of the episode.
I still believe Warren is innocent and I want to know who the priest is in that last scene. Considering Poppy’s voiceover, Owen is the type of guy who gives up when he’s backed into a corner.
We see the priest show up when she’s talking about the man in the corner with nothing to lose. Did a priest kill Chuck?
We’ll find out eventually. But it’s a far more exciting to wonder about that than what will happen if Lanie talks to Josie/Vivianne’s husband.
What did you think of this episode of Truth Be Told? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Truth Be Told airs Fridays on Apple TV+
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Esme Mazzeo
Esme Mazzeo is a lifestyle and entertainment journalist from Long Island. When she's not writing for work, she's writing for fun, or searching for something to satisfy her sweet tooth. She thinks rainy days are the best kind of days. Certified night owl.
2 comments
The priest was coming to tell Warren that his father had died. That’s what happens when they have to tell a prisoner that a close family member has passed (not have it come from some guard/to offer them some comfort if wanted). All prisoners know what it means if a priest comes to you. Warren however, was scared/upset upon seeing the priest, because he assumed the priest was coming to tell him that his mother had passed due to her cancer.
Thank you for telling me my mistake so respectfully, yes. That should’ve been obvious and was…but the voiceover threw me off.
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