Truth Be Told Review: Is One Clear Conscience Worth All of the Consequences?

The dilemma that drives Truth Be Told is one that every writer can empathize with, if not relate to. 

We all remember certain pieces, especially the ones that launch our careers to new levels.

I’m not an investigative crime journalist like Poppy Parnell (Octavia Spencer), but if I were and my career skyrocketed because of a possible false conviction that my writing series supported, I’d be haunted by the case, too. 

So, it’s understandable now that she’s back in the Bay Area hosting a true-crime podcast after about 19 years writing for The New York Times, that she’d pursue the Warren Cave case again when new evidence is presented that she can’t ignore. 

What Poppy doesn’t seem to realize is that after so much time, life goes on for the people involved in the case. It couldn’t pause while she got popular on the east coast. 

So, when she begins investigating the case again, the twins whose father was murdered have run from their secrets. The rules of the streets that Poppy’s father still has influence on have changed. The boy she helped convict is a very different man, and even his mother has had to slow down her pursuit of justice for her son. 

Of course, there is a murder mystery at the center of it all, but watching Poppy deal with all of these changes is more interesting than anything else. 

When I got the chance to screen the first three episodes of the series, I was struck by the fact that the questions I most wanted answers to aren’t the most obvious ones. 

It doesn’t matter 19 years later that Poppy knew that a tape of Lanie Buhrman saying she isn’t sure who jumped her fence existed. The tape doesn’t hold up in court. 

I also don’t really care who killed Chuck Buhrman if not Warren Cave (Aaron Paul). That might be because I’ve only seen the first three episodes and right now the answer seems obvious to me. 

It doesn’t even matter that the main dilemma could be considered the B plot. That isn’t necessarily a criticism. 

The cast is stellar and the pacing and directorial choices are engaging. Truth Be Told is never slow, though it rarely had me on the edge of my seat.

The question of who killed a man 19 years ago is just less exciting than figuring out what the hell happened to the Buhrman twins (Lizzy Kaplan) during that time, whether Poppy and Ingram’s (Michael Beach) marriage will survive her working with Markus (Mekhi Phifer), or if the show will ever address the huge flaw in the investigation that put Warren behind bars in the first place. 

The Scoville family relationships are also fascinating to watch — particularly because Poppy is just returning to the Bay Area and has little regard for her family’s lifestyle especially when it comes to the consequences her mission will undoubtedly cause for them. 

She loves them — that much is clear. But she’s forgotten the rules of the motorcycle club and the streets, and she may or may not care that having money doesn’t always give you permission to break them.

One of my favorite quotes of the first episode is in a note from Poppy’s momma that she reads in her prayer room. It says, “P, Your heart will always tell you what’s right. Listen to it. -Momma”

Innocent men shouldn’t be in prison. But Warren Cave isn’t exactly a man who is easy to root for. 

Poppy should fix her mistakes. But if she cares about her family at all, she needs to recognize when she’s following her ego instead of her heart.

Truth Be Told has moments of undeniable intensity. When Melanie Cave (Elizabeth Perkins) and Poppy lock eyes at the hearing where the new evidence is presented, it’s chilling.

There are also several stalking situations you won’t be able to take your eyes off of. 

The show stumbles only slightly because it relies on a few predictable plots mixed in with the unexpected ones. Phifer and Spencer have good chemistry, but “coming back home and working with an ex” has been done on many a TV movie.

No spoilers, but the ailing parents on the show are surprisingly hard to root for, just because so many of them exist in TV world. 

Truth Be Told is worth our attention, even just because of the talent in the cast. But there’s no need to lie about the fact that the show has work to do in order to keep it. After all, the truth shall set us free… right? 

Are you excited to watch Truth Be Told? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Truth Be Told is available to stream December 6 on Apple TV+.

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