Long Bright River Review

In March 2025, I finished Long Bright River on Peacock—and somehow completely forgot to write about it. If you’re drawn to moody, neighborhood-noir dramas in the vein of Mare of Easttown, this series is absolutely worth your time. Just know going in: this is not an easy or comforting watch. Here's my review of the series. 

Set in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood, Long Bright River stars Amanda Seyfried as Mickey Fitzpatrick, a patrol officer walking the same rain-soaked streets where she and her sister, Kacey, grew up. Kensington is ground zero for the opioid crisis, and while Mickey became the “responsible” sister—a cop and a single mother—Kacey (Ashleigh Cummings) spiraled into addiction and eventually disappeared.

When women in the neighborhood begin turning up dead, each killed by lethal insulin injections, Mickey becomes convinced her missing sister is next. What follows is a slow-burning investigation that steadily peels back layers of family secrets while inching toward the truth behind the murders.

Long Bright River thrives on mistrust and emotional devastation. Nearly every relationship in Mickey’s life carries a painful reveal: she learns her grandfather lied about her father’s death, hiding the fact that he was sober and living nearby. The most shattering twist is that Thomas, the child Mickey has been raising, is actually Kacey’s biological son, conceived through a disturbing relationship with a predatory police officer. While suspicion circles familiar faces, the true villain is ultimately revealed to be Mickey’s current partner, Eddie Lafferty, who exploits and murders vulnerable women to protect himself.

The finale resists a tidy, procedural resolution. Instead, the community takes justice into its own hands, and Mickey makes a morally complex decision to shield them. It’s an ending that feels bleak, unsettling, and painfully appropriate for the world the series inhabits.

Long Bright River isn’t an easy binge, but it is a deeply affecting one. At its core, the series is about sisterhood, systemic failure, and the brutal cost of survival in a society that routinely looks away from its most vulnerable. Amanda Seyfried delivers a remarkable performance, quiet, exhausted, and emotionally scarred, allowing viewers to feel the weight of Mickey’s guilt and grief in every scene. The show also deserves credit for treating its victims with dignity, never reducing them to statistics or plot devices.

That said, the eight-episode season does drag at times. Repeated flashbacks,  those focused on Mickey’s childhood as a lonely clarinet student, are beautifully shot but occasionally feel redundant, slowing the momentum of the central mystery. Overall, I give the series an 8/10.

A painful, atmospheric drama anchored by a powerhouse performance from Amanda Seyfried.

Have you seen Long Bright River? Did you see the Eddie reveal coming, or were you suspicious of Gee from the start?

Long Bright River is streaming now on Peacock.