This is going to include spoilers, as I can’t see how to write this up properly without them. If you haven’t yet watched this but want to, read on at your peril.
‘The Cry’ is a 2018 four-part drama series set in Australia and Scotland, portraying the story of a couple whose 4-month-old baby goes missing shortly after their arrival in Australia to visit family. Through the series, more facts about what happened are gradually revealed to the viewer, through dialogue and flashbacks. The main framing has Joanne, the mother, going to court to be tried, although the details are not clear until the final episode.
The central characters are Joanne (Jenna Coleman) and Alastair (Ewen Leslie), along with Alastair’s ex-wife Alex, teenage daughter Cleo, and mother.
Joanne is first portrayed as a young woman struggling to cope with a difficult baby, so of course when Noah goes missing, the viewer suspects her involvement. She comes across as very calm and almost cold, so it’s easy to imagine her being overwhelmed and doing something reckless in a moment of desperation. However, as the series continues, we see that there is far more to her than this; she is truly devastated by the loss of her son, and is heartbroken about what has happened. When it is revealed that she had found Noah dead in his car seat, it is clear that although she knows what has happened to him, she is not guilty of harming him, and is so traumatised that she allows Alastair to make the decisions about how to handle the situation.
Alex is a rather ambiguous character for the first half of the series at least. It is clear that after her marriage to Alastair broke down, the relationship between them became very negative - particularly after she moved back to Australia with Cleo, without warning him in advance. Early on, she reaches out to Jo, while Jo and Alastair are still in Scotland, to ask for her support in the custody case over Cleo; it becomes obvious that she is also cautiously warning Jo about Alastair, and may even be offering help if needed. some of the flashbacks have shown Jo with a black eye, suggesting that she may have been the victim of possible domestic violence.
She naturally becomes a prime suspect in the missing baby case, and indeed does appear to be cagey under questioning. Flashbacks show her acting strangely around the property that Jo and Alastair would be staying in, and it feels plausible that she might have wanted to get revenge for the threat of Cleo being taken from her if Alastair won the custody case. However, once the key evidence against her is explained by Cleo, she becomes a more sympathetic character and later on actually offers real support and advice to Jo.
From very early on, Alastair seems less than entirely honest, and more doubt is cast on his character when it becomes clear that he cheated on Alex, and that she doesn’t trust him at all. He is determined in his pursuit of his own goals, and although he appears supportive of Jo, it’s clear there is more to him than meets the eye. His desire to manipulate the press (and indeed Jo’s behaviour in press conferences and in public) to ensure the best coverage of the case hints at a less savoury side to his character, and it becomes clear that he knows more than he is letting on. He also is revealed as rather controlling of Jo, hiding information from her such as where Noah is buried and overruling her wishes, all while claiming to be acting in her best interests.
As Jo starts to see how little control she has, and how much Alastair is directing events and even courting publicity, she yearns to regain some control and self-determination. Once she realises how deeply Alastair has betrayed her with his lies, she reaches the point of no return. Having been encouraged to think that Noah died due to her mistake, she understands that actually she was not at fault, and everything that they have done since his death was purely to protect Alastair. Once she has clarity about the depths of his selfish dishonesty and manipulation, she does indeed take control of the consequences, deliberately driving the car off the road in order to hurt or kill him - and possibly herself. In her interviews with the psychiatrist it is clear that she is aware of her actions and their consequences - although up until the final episode it is assumed that these conversations are in the context of being tried for Noah’s murder.
I’m not sure the show has a particular overarching message - maybe just a reminder that any version of events reported is only one facet of the truth - at best, and that bias, hidden agendas, and lies can all impact on the news we here and how it’s presented to us.
I enjoyed this far more than I expected to and found it much more compelling than I anticipated. It's not something I'd usually have chosen, as I generally steer clear of descriptors like 'psychological' and 'thriller', but I would definitely like to watch it again, as I suspect that knowing the end will change what I notice as it goes through. Strongly recommended.
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