"Before" Review: A Promising Start Derails into Disappointment
by Justine Norton-Kertson
When Apple TV+ announced Before, starring Billy Crystal and Rosie Perez, expectations soared. A psychological thriller with a supernatural twist, led by seasoned actors, and it’s not even a remake. Seemed like a recipe for success. I, for one, was excited about the show, enough so that I binged it in one sitting yesterday. Yet, as the series unfolded, what started with intriguing potential unraveled into a shallow, uninspired disappointment.
The show’s premise is undeniably compelling: Dr. Eli Adler (Crystal), a grieving child psychiatrist, encounters a mysterious boy, Noah (Jacobi Jupe), whose presence triggers eerie coincidences and unsettling visions tied to Eli’s late wife, Lynn (Judith Light). Rosie Perez as Denise, Noah's frazzled guardian, adds to the promise of complex character dynamics. Unfortunately, the execution fails to live up to the concept.
The first couple of episodes offer glimmers of hope. The eerie cinematography, horror vibe set lighting, and disjointed pacing create an effective sense of unease, suggesting deeper mysteries beneath the surface. Noah’s hallucinations of leaking inky water and monstrous creatures could have provided a rich canvas for exploring trauma and the boundaries of reality. But instead of peeling back layers to reveal compelling truths, Before settles for repetitive scare tactics, overused dream sequences, and melodramatic outbursts that border on silly.
Billy Crystal, a celebrated comedic actor, struggles to find his footing in this dark, somber role. His portrayal of Eli feels stilted, as though the script left him with little to work with. Eli’s journey into grief and supernatural paranoia should have been the emotional anchor of the series, but the character is frustratingly one-dimensional. Perez and Hope Davis, as Eli’s concerned colleague Jane, are equally wasted on a script that reduces them to reactionary roles, existing only to nudge Eli along the story’s contrived path.
What’s worse, the narrative becomes increasingly bogged down by its own lack of direction. The show teases grand themes—grief, trauma, the interplay between science and spirituality—but never explores them meaningfully. Dialogue like “Trauma is a vortex” and “We’re connected!” attempts profundity but instead highlights the story’s hollowness. The trauma plot, often a crutch in contemporary storytelling, is mishandled here, serving only as a flimsy excuse for the characters’ erratic behavior and nonsensical decisions.
The supernatural elements, too, fall flat. Instead of building a cohesive mythology or heightening tension, the show leans on gimmicky twists and scenes that seem lifted from better psychological thrillers. The supposed mysteries surrounding Noah, Lynn’s ghostly presence, and an old farmhouse connect in a way that feels more convoluted than satisfying.
Despite the evident budget and high production values, Before struggles to find its identity. Is it a supernatural drama, a character study, or a chilling thriller? The show doesn’t seem to know, and its inability to commit to any of these genres leaves viewers adrift. By the time the finale rolls around, the stakes feel inconsequential, and the revelations, underwhelming.
Apple TV+ has become known for giving creative freedom to big names, a strategy that has produced hits like Severance but also misses like Mr. Corman. Unfortunately, Before falls firmly into the latter category, a passion project that sounds intriguing on paper but fails in execution.
In the end, Before is a series that had all the right ingredients but couldn’t put them together effectively. Its squandered potential and lack of coherence leave viewers with little more than frustration and the sense that they’ve seen it all before—and done better.
