Truth Be Told Review: Not Buried, Planted (Season 1 Episode 6)
Truth Be Told Season 1 Episode 6, “Not Buried, Planted,” is not exciting TV.
All respect to victims of incest or molestation at the hands of a family member, nothing about this episode of TV is surprising or innovative.
That doesn’t mean it’s uninteresting.
I’m interested in everyone on the show. I’m happy Poppy is talking to her family. It’s intriguing to watch what the podcast is doing to her marriage to Ingram.
The twins’ dynamic is as fascinating as the show gets. While it’s obvious that Lanie wants Josie to herself and not surprising that she outs her sister’s false identity to her partner Caleb, it is surprising that she lies about Josie being the one who tried to take her life.
They have a sick relationship, but part of their twin bond involves loyalty that I thought would at least have Lanie staying out of Josie’s relationship. The joke’s on me, though, because I don’t have much evidence to support that.
Speaking of evidence, it’s leaning on the side of a Buhrman being guilty. If we are going to get a real answer about who is guilty this season, there isn’t much time for another red herring.
But I’m not desperate to know who the actual murderer is.
The secret code in Lanie’s diary is not a mystery that I as a viewer am dying to decipher and use to read Lanie’s letter to Warren, for example. They crack the code, but Poppy says it too quickly for me to understand what it is.
No one is inspiring fierce, firey loyalty or disdain in my soul and Truth Be Told should strive for that.
A kind reader even informed me that I was creating a dramatic storyline that didn’t exist for the priest on Truth Be Told Season 1 Episode 5, “Graveyard Love,” who was simply there to inform Warren of his father’s death.
It’s confusing as a viewer to want to care so much more than you actually do. I can’t even get there for Ron Cephas Jones, an actor whom I respect.
Perhaps that’s because his characters are usually easier to love and Shreve is….not. But even Poppy’s past as an “informal” foster child left by her father in the care of a family friend only inspires mild interest.
The quick flashback of the Halloween party from the night of the murder is probably what leaves me wanting the most on the episode.
The fact that the flashbacks are literal flashes that last only seconds is frustrating. It’s very hard to care about how a murder 20 years ago affected the lives of the characters when we don’t really know who they were before this.
That might be the key to why this series is falling short. The acting is good. But we haven’t been given many reasons at all to sympathize with the characters as they were before the murders.
Poppy is included in this. Who was she as a journalist before Warren Cave’s case brought her fame? How was she misled? What evidence did she ignore?
We have been told some of these answers but shown nothing. The show is missing out on making the maximum impact possible by showing instead of telling.
It’s a shame. I want to care.
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.