Before ‘The Last of Us,’ Kaitlyn Dever Gave the Performance of a Lifetime in This Harrowing Crime Drama
Warning: The following article contains discussions of sexual assault and rape.Out of all of Netflix’s series based on real-life crimes, Unbelievable continues to be its most haunting (and, frankly, infuriating), centered on a massive miscarriage of justice in the face of violence against women. It’s as timely as ever, anchored in the devastating and revolutionary performance delivered by Kaitlyn Dever. Based upon the Colorado-Washington serial rapist case, Dever plays a real-life survivor who went by the pseudonym, Marie Adler. Adler was not believed by police when she reported the sexual assault back in 2008 and was even charged with making a false crime report. Unbelievable debuted on Netflix back in 2019, and is a disturbing look into how female victims are often silenced by law enforcement, and not taken seriously in their pain.
The show was created by Susannah Grant, Ayelet Waldman, and Michael Chabon, and points out glaring issues about how sexual assault cases are mishandled. It’s all anchored in Dever’s rousing performance as a victim of not one, but two crimes. Her take on Adler’s tragic story of a woman who is not believed is what makes the series essential viewing, as well as a powerful outcry. Toni Collette and Merritt Weaver star alongside Dever, whose characters are inspired by the real-life detectives who spearheaded the investigation into the serial attacker. Collette and Weaver are fantastic, but Dever remains a revelation in her embodiment of a real-life survivor who was failed by everyone around her. As she makes her debut as the new cast member, Abby, in Season 2 of The Last of Us, her performance in Unbelievable is a must-watch.
What Is ‘Unbelievable’ About?
Dever stars as teenager Marie Adler, a former foster child living on her own for the first time in Washington, who is sexually assaulted in her home one night by a masked intruder. Reporting it right away, she gives her statement to detectives and police, under the supervision of her former foster mom, Judith (Elizabeth Marvel). Traumatized by the event, Marie recalls things differently in various statements and responds to the trauma by pushing it under the rug. This leads Judith to believe she is lying for attention and informs the unsympathetic Detective Parker (Eric Lange) of her suspicions.
Detective Parker and the police department then force Marie to give a statement that she made the entire thing up. They go so far as to charge her with false reporting of a crime, and Marie lives in constant ridicule for several years, while the serial rapist continues to strike. Years later in 2011, two Colorado detectives, Grace Rasmussen (Colette) and Karen DuVall (Weaver), are both dealing with similar rape cases in their respective precincts. When the two discover they are searching for the same assailant, they merge their cases to hunt him down.
Kaitlyn Dever Plays a Real-life Sexual Assault Survivor in a Devastating Performance
The first few episodes of Unbelievable belong to Dever. Without her, the series would not be as powerful as it is. Adler’s story is devastating, and Dever handles the character with a sensitivity and fierceness that forms the backbone of the entire show. The series begins with Marie recounting the attack to the police. Dever delivers a devastating monologue of what happened with a barely contained panic that will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Her voice is calm, but her eyes are wide and petrified, storing her unspeakable trauma. Through Dever’s delivery, she’s able to bring a fragility and strength to Marie that makes her leap off the screen as a harrowing victim and survivor all in one. It’s one thing to be attacked, but another thing to walk a stranger through the graphic story. Every deep breath Dever takes through her account to law enforcement feels like a desperate plea for air and drives home how hard it is for victims to relive that pain.
The male detective working the case, Parker (Lange), proceeds to convince Marie that she made the assault up despite evidence, at the behest of his boss, Detective Pruitt (Bill Fagerbakke). Dever’s monumental scene in her performance of Marie Adler comes when she is accused of lying, and it’s gut-wrenching. Dever’s terror is palpable as the two angry detectives tower over her small stature in a secluded interrogation room. She stutters, cries, and retreats in her shock, and it’s genuinely terrifying to watch as she realizes she’s in danger, yet again. Dever performs the scene like a deer in headlights, ready for the next onslaught of violence. The scene itself is violent too, but just with its words, as the detectives yell and scold Marie relentlessly.
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Dever flinches towards everything being hurled at her and plays the scene like she’s being assaulted once more with her clenched fists, cowering body, and tears. She’s emphasizing, through her scared physicality, that not being believed by these men hurts just as much as the actual attack. Her big brown eyes welling with tears as she’s forced to write the statement that she lied, is an image burned into the series. Her frightened performance in this scene is crucial and drives home a much bigger issue that Unbelievable delivers. Women’s voices are silenced to fit an easier narrative, and the emotional violence that comes from that can be an even bigger trauma than the assault itself. So, by the time Toni Collette’s and Merritt Weaver’s detectives arrive to handle the multiple assault cases with the gravitas they deserve, it’s a massive relief. Discussing what it’s like to play a real-life victim to Deadline, Dever said:
“I really do mean it when I say it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I was feeling a lot of anger, but at the same time, my heart was breaking for Marie and all of the other survivors that are talked about in the article and in our show. It’s just such a tragic, tragic story. All those emotions coupled with the fact I was really putting so much pressure on myself, because I felt like this kind of opportunity doesn’t come around that often… It was really, really tough but it definitely felt like we were all coming together to make something really, really important, and that felt worth it.”
‘Unbelievable’ Is a Thrilling Detective Mystery Series, Led by Toni Collette and Merritt Weaver
Unbelievable is based upon the 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning news article, “An Unbelievable Story of Rape,” written by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong, in addition to their 2018 non-fiction novel, False Report. The show’s fuming duo, Toni Collette and Merritt Weaver, are tremendous as detectives inspired by the real-life women, Det. Edna Henderspot and Det. Stacy Galbraith. Grace and Karen are True Detective worthy as the unlikely pair coming together to finally listen to the women who’ve been assaulted, and most importantly, believe them. Part of what makes it so satisfying to finally see two detectives determined to catch the serial rapist is thanks to Dever’s heartbreaking performance. She walked the audiences through an ugly assault and the trauma it caused Marie so that we could understand exactly what was at stake in catching the monster at large in the series’ raging first half.
Collette has a barely contained anger as Grace, who is frustrated by the system and its failures to protect women. She plays her with a satisfying rage and gets into shouting matches with anyone she deems not angered enough by what’s happening. Weaver balances Grace out with her calming persona and cunning intelligence as Karen, which makes them the perfect pair for the complicated case. Both women are excellent in their fury towards a broken system that they so desperately want to fix. Unbelievable takes aim and fires at that system across eight episodes by bringing the injustice of Marie’s story to the forefront, ultimately giving a voice to the voiceless. It won multiple accolades, including a Peabody award, and received Emmy nominations for Outstanding Limited Series, and Best Supporting Actress for Collette. It’s an essential viewing for any true-crime fan, or lover of prestige television, and remains one of Dever’s most best performances to date.
