I Know This Much Is True Review: Season 1 Episode 1

Many people know that when Mark Ruffalo’s name is attached to a project it is going to be great. I Know This Much Is True Season 1 Episode 1, is definitely a force and it’s only the beginning of this HBO miniseries.

Right out of the gate this series manages to grab our attention by focusing on a voice chanting a religious prayer in what looks like the middle of a library. We don’t even see Thomas Birdsey, we just hear him — and that is enough to reel us in and take hold.

The duality of Thomas’ mental state versus Dominick’s lack of understanding or patience for his brother is a strong image from the beginning. With Dominick narrating everything we only get to see this story from his point of view.

This is a complicated story to tell and to only have Dominick’s perspective feels like we are missing a big part of what drives the story — Thomas. Dominick’s inability to fully understand his brother’s mental illness is glaringly present for the first half of the episode.

It isn’t until the last fifteen minutes that we really see him shift towards a more open-minded, compassionate version of himself. This slow change in view for Dominick is an emotional ride to go on for the audience and Ruffalo masters it almost perfectly.

There is a common thread in many of Ruffalo’s roles, and that is the majority of his characters have an emotional rant moment at least once. Knowing this show is an emotional rollercoaster I spend the whole episode anticipating something.

Ruffalo is extremely talented at making the emotions stick deep in our consciousness for any role he does. Dominick and Thomas Birdsey is a masterpiece beyond anything he’s done before.

So, when Dominick loses his composure completely in defense of his brother — who has been blindsided by the police — there is a visceral reaction from the audience. We find ourselves wanting to add our outraged voices to the fray of confusion.

Dominick: You didn’t hear him. It was the first time in twenty years he’s been in charge of something.

Thomas Birdsey has paranoid schizophrenia and it seems that no one truly understands what changing his place of residence or routine will do to him. Nor do these officials — who are sworn to protect him — realize how harmless he actually is.

Yes, Thomas cut off his hand, but he didn’t harm anyone else. He merely felt the need to sacrifice a part of himself to God — which we can assume is because a voice in his head told him so.

While this whole scene with Dominick and the admin team plays out we miss out on crucial moments of truly seeing how Thomas is affected. We can hear his cries of confusion and frustration, but without seeing his face we miss out on a crucial element that would make this scene much more compelling.

And yet our hearts still break for both brothers — one being forced into a new living situation and treated as a criminal while the other is left to helplessly watch it all transpire. There is a difficult journey ahead and we know it just from the emotionality of this one scene.

As the scene fades to black with Dominick reassuring Thomas that he will fix things in the morning we are left wondering just where this story is headed. How is Dominick going to fix this? How far will Dominick have to go to save his brother?

Throughout the episode, we are taken back and forth between present-day and the last year of their mother’s life. We get to see just how strong of a bond Dominick has to his mother and why he is suddenly stepping up to the plate for his brother.

Unfortunately, we get to hear Ray — their step-father — mention that their mother always coddled Thomas but are not privileged to see any of that transpire. It feels like a disservice and makes that statement seem untrue. 

It’s clear that their mother loves Thomas, she says as much as she lays dying, but without the clear evidence of it, we are left out on a limb with no support. We get to see clear as day how much their mother loves Dominick which is helpful to understand his motivations but still feels empty to a point.

Dominick’s love and devotion to his mother are what drives him to get his grandfather’s manuscript translated from Italian into English. This part of the Birdsey history is extremely muddled at this point in the narrative and leaves us wondering if our suspicions are correct or if we will even find out.

Based on how Dominick tells the story it is clear that people who have a substantial impact on his life make it into the narrative. Therefore, we can hazard to guess that Nedra while a flawed situation, profoundly impacted Dominick’s journey.

I find Nedra’s instability and flakiness to be one of the most compelling parts of this first episode. I am desperate to know more about her and the now missing manuscript. 

She is the one who implies heavily that Dominick’s grandfather is a perverted man who she wouldn’t trust around her own children — if she had any.

That’s not even the strangest part about her section of the narrative.

It’s the moment she shows up at Dominick’s house to tell him something she could’ve easily told him over the phone. He just lets her into his home and gives in to each of her suggestions. 

This part makes the least sense of the whole episode and deserves the most clarification. Do we ever find out why Nedra freaked out on him or then disappeared?

Most importantly, does Dominick ever get his manuscript back?

Nedra: If I had children I wouldn’t let this man anywhere near them.

It’s clear that what she read in the manuscript was disturbing, but what’s even more disturbing is that she finds Dominick’s house and just shows up and manages to make her way into his home.

Aside from Ruffalo, Juliette Lewis’ performance during Nedra’s meltdown is the best of the entire episode. She and Ruffalo deserve to be recognized for their complex approach to these emotionally messy characters. 

Nedra could easily slip into the category of annoyingly unhinged but thanks to Lewis she comes across as sympathetic and intriguing. It’ll be interesting to see if she comes back up throughout the rest of the narrative.

Dominick’s life is very complicated and at first, doesn’t seem to yield itself to many — if any — romantic entanglements. However, when he meets Nedra there is a bit of chemistry present between them.

This is why it’s surprising that her interaction with him at his home doesn’t end in a romantic moment for the two of them. However, it doesn’t help that Dominick mentions he only just split up from his wife. 

There’s an air to that which implies his ex-wife, Dessa, isn’t just a passing mention. Sure enough moments later — in present-day — she goes to the hospital to visit Thomas after his violent outburst. 

Her interaction with Dominick about it lightly implies that Dominick still isn’t over her even though she now only views him as a friend. There is so much unknown history between them that we are driven to stick around just to find out more.

All in all, I Know This Much Is True has a strong start. It weaves the story so delicately that we are fully invested in learning more about Dominick and Thomas’s relationship and how it will develop and change as we go along. 

With a truly masterful performance from Mark Ruffalo, these brothers jump off the screen and feel as though they are members of our own family. We need and want to know more.

What did you think of this episode of I Know This Much Is True? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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I Know This Much Is True airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.

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