User Reviews

As a True Crime/Crime drama, the premise of this show - a Choose Your Own Adventure, non-linear story based around different interrogation tapes - caught my eye. What sealed the deal for me was seeing Kyle Gallner - an actor whose work I loved back in the mid-2000s - was signed on as the lead.

I had my reservations over a few things - the quality of shows on CBS All-Access, the other bodies of work done by the showr unners. But after watching the entire series (I chose chronological order of when the event happened, instead of how the episodes were listed in order), I have to say the show lived up to my hype.

Gallner is perfectly cast as Eric, particularly nailing the scenes when his character is an unstable 17-year-old junkie. It's partly a time-capsule for the roles he played early in his career, partly a show for how he has grown as an actor over the years. It's so exciting to see him graduating from guest star to series lead.

Peter Sarsgaard is always a pleasant surprise when he pops up, and he plays the misguided cop in such a subtle way. This isn't a arrogant, domineering, almost stereotypical performance of the "bad cop" we usually see. Sarsgaard brings humanity and sympathy to the character, making him hard to hate when he's clearly in the wrong and impossible not to feel sorry for when we see his personal struggles.

There are some minor criticisms though. I think there could have been more effort put into make-up to make the characters look older/younger a the series jumped across 27 year. A bit of grey hair in the wigs, or a slight belly pouch for Sarsgaard doesn't really add up to much. Thankfully, the actors knew how to fill in the gaps - Gallner portrays his 17-year-old character as jumpy and fidgetty, but injects more confidence and rigidity into his body language as the character is in his 40s.

It may have been the order I chose to watch the series, but I did call the true killer quite early. Having said that, the more I watched and the more information that came up there were still moments where I questioned myself, which is a plus for a Crime Drama fan. Good writing isn't spoon feeding your audience the answer, just like it isn't pulling something completely out of left field and calling it a "plot twist". At the very least, the writers have done their job well when it comes to unraveling the murder mystery.

But ultimately, there are a few unanswered questions at the end, which maybe the writer's left for the audience to fill in on their own. Or maybe it was just a failure to tie up all the loose ends.

The questions: why didn't police check for fingerprints on the window panes? Why did Eric ramp himself up to hysteria on the second phone call to 911? Was Chris really dead, or was Amy paranoid?

I'm not completely satisfied by these hanging questions, and it does leave the ending on an underwhelming note. But overall, the performances from Gallner, Sarsgaard and Kodi Smit McPhee (Australia represent) are compelling, the main mystery, and the social commentary on the judicial system are all aces.

First, if you are like me and want to dig deeper into the real case but haven't found results, it's because their names were changed for the series. Their real ID: Dorka Lisker (mother) RIP. Bruce Lisker (son). Andrew Monsue (detective). . As a long time reader and watcher of law enforcement dramas and true crime, and a Choose Your Own Adventure fan for several decades, the premise of Interrogation looked promising, as did the casting of Sarsgaard & D'Onofrio. And it is a relief to say it was worth watching. The performances of all the characters were top notch. I hated, pitied, liked, frightened of or was disappointed by who I was supposed to be.

The creators also did a great job of making 1983 look like it, (without going overboard on mohawk sporting teens & pastel neon signs everywhere.) And showing not just aging on the actors, but changes over 20 years to the family's home like updates of a new door and tree & ivy growth.

I followed the episodes by chronological date until the last two. It was interesting to see the message that stories and cherished memories may never have happened, like the case of the Detective and his daughter, believing he had been along with her on the fishing trip wherd a picture was taken, when it was his father behind the camera. Did the Detective desire that story and experience so strongly but wouldn't put aside his work hours? Or did he genuinely mix up another weekend when he had taken her fishing?

"Based on interrogation transcripts from a real homicide investigation. The investigation spanned over 20 years. To date, the case remains unsolved." That's the beginning of the show. In 1983, drug addict Eric Fisher (Kyle Gallner) finds her murdered mother in the family home. Det. David Russell (Peter Sarsgaard) interrogates him. His co-dependent father Henry (David Strathairn) is convinced into supporting the police which contributes to his conviction. He and his father suspect that his drug friend Chris Keller (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is the actual killer.

Eric Fisher is a difficult protagonist and his father is not much better. Eric does stupid things but of course, he's a drug addict. He's frustrating to root for and there is also the premise itself. The show keeps flipping back and forth between innocence and guilt. It's a messy show which breaks up the narrative flow. It's discombobulating. After a few episodes, I do get a feel for it and it's an intriguing watch. This is unlike most police procedurals or trial dramas. It's more like a murder mystery without an easy final reveal in the drawing room. It's messy. In a way, it is more like reality with a non clear cut case. It's a mystery and remains so. Don't expect easy.

I'm sort of a criminal tv show snob as I've been a follower of British/European crime drama for most of my life. As such, not a lot of American tv shows live up to European shows. This is an exception. Very well acted and I really like the premise. While you have the option of watching the episodes in any order after watching the first episode I chose to just let them play as is. Really shows the ability to see a crime in a variety of ways potentially committed by a number of different people. Highly recommend.

I didn't jump around - I followed a proscribed order because I had read that the story was better that way. No regrets. It's a cool idea - I'm not sure this was the right series for it. I don't understand why you would do this with a story that spans 30 years instead of a series of interrogations and forensics involving a crime that had just happened. I'm almost kind of annoyed because I actually think the idea has a lot of potential.

Interrogation had great acting, interesting multi-faceted characters, twists and turns. It was more a story of our main character - Eric - against the system, particularly against Russell, the detective who was determined to nail him for the crime - than it was a whodunnit murder mystery. The fact that it was true crime is neat and informative - but personally, I would rather have a made up murder with clear resolution. It was frustrating to reach the end and still have so many questions - particularly since there doesn't seem to be anywhere online to discuss it. But I was engaged, curious, I cared.

I watched his series primarily because Vincent D'Onofrio was in it. But the part he played was underwhelming, at best.

This series is hard to enjoy. The main character, Eric Fisher, is extremely unlikable. During the entire series I found myself hoping he would be murdered like his mother. Yes, the cover story is he's a drug addict. STILL, the chronic infantile narcissism was difficult to stomach after a while.

And, of course, since the coterie of characters are all drug addicts, every single witness account has major holes.

Peter Sarsgaard played a convincing Det. David Russell. I don't recall being given any clues as to why he fabricated evidence to convict Eric.

David Strathairn was OK, but the enabling father character that he played was maddening. It was helpful and made the story more understandable when Henry Fisher finally admitted Eric was not loved by his mother.

I agree with the reviewers who advised watching this series in the order it was produced. And I would also add the second episode is the worst. I fast-forwarded through most of it.

If it were not for Vincent D'Onofrio's presence, I probably would not have finished this series. Because the Eric character was SO repulsive.

I watched all episodes last night. I thought oh no when I saw CBS because I hadn't really watched any of their series I was wrong. Really good. They did it kind of out of order so you can watch the episodes in any order but I watched in order. I really enjoyed it. In fact I'm trying to look up the real events this was made after ut googled the kids name and nothing. Maybe because he was a juvenille? I'll keep looking. The series was done well. Acting was pretty good. Some etter than others. The lead was good. It was done interesting and there were lots of twists in whom really did the killing. Still don't know what to believe but if you like crime stuff you will like this. Abandoned the strain for this. Much better imo. And since my review is the first I won't spoil it for anyone, just watch.

Well, it is also based on real events, with interesting depiction mode (flashbacks + from each participator´s perspective), but as the solution remained as it did, I realized that all this anxiety and compassion had been "in vain"... Plus, it seems posteriourly than Episode 1 provided too evident clues, followed by confounding scenes and characters, although I had made up mind of the suspect´s guilt from the early beginning... Performances are good (especially Kyle Gallner and David Strathairn), distinct, but evidently the No. of episodes (10) was excessive, there were too many recurrences even from different perspectives. It just "twirled and whirled" and went too far from linear run, "whipping" the scenes and characters when nothing special was added to the logic and approach. Or, the triggering event itself was not that versatile.

PS As someone alreadly pointed out here: do not watch this Series in loose sequence as suggested in the beginning of each episode. At times, it is confusing enough in the "right" run... :)

I was happy with the announcement in the first 10 seconds of the first episode that there is no resolution. So i did not have to bother anymore. I imediatly deleted all the episodes I recorded. There are so many tv shows out there and so little time to wacht them all and with this one I am not going to waste my time.

Definitely advisable watch the episodes in number order.

Apparently based on the real murder of Dorka Lister. Bruce Lister is who Kyle Gallners character is based on.

Although I enjoy seeing Kyle on screen and he really is a talented actor i found this series to be quite slow and Kyle just wasn't enough to keep me glued to the screen this time.

Oh what a show. Didnt really like how it ended but that's life

Don't look up Eric Fisher if you want to find out about this case!!

Look up Bruce Lisker.