Good American Family Series Premiere Successfully Adds More Perspectives to the Natalia Grace Story

The Good American Family two-episode series premiere dives deep into the Natalia Grace story and the increased focus on Kristine is stellar.

The post Good American Family Series Premiere Successfully Adds More Perspectives to the Natalia Grace Story appeared first on TV Fanatic.

When it comes to true crime dramas, I typically walk away feeling like I’ve wasted my time because they add too many perspectives and what-ifs to a sensitive situation.

The result is usually an over-stuffed affair that doesn’t do the story justice.

Thankfully, Good American Family zeroes in on parts of the Natalia Grace story that we haven’t heard much about, including Kristine Barnett’s perspective.

All we know about Kristine is how the media portrayed her, and, of course, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, which didn’t show her in the best light or even include her side.

Ellen Pompeo did the bulk of the heavy lifting in the first two episodes, showcasing Kristine as this warm mother figure who slowly realizes something is amiss with the young girl she brought into her family on a whim.

At the beginning of the premiere, Kristine and her husband, Michael, were in a terrible place in their marriage, to the point that they weren’t even sleeping in the same bed.

There was marital strife, and even though they tried to cover it up, it was obvious to anyone looking in that they weren’t the happily married family they wanted everyone to believe they were.

Good American Family Shines a Light on Kristine and Michael Barnett

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Their lack of communication is more common than you’d think because many people become complacent in their relationships and don’t want to imagine what the grass is like on the other side.

So, it’s not surprising that they both saw Natalia as the missing piece of the puzzle to repair their family and bring them closer together again.

The most fascinating aspect of the first two episodes is how Ellen channels these different facets of Kristine’s personality.

In some respects, Kristine struck me as this fake, it-’til-you-make-it kind of person. The series showcased this motherly and caring side while slowly peeling away at the self-serving side we’ve heard so much about.

But the reality is that she’s smart as hell and should have had more questions and consideration when traveling halfway across the country with her family to welcome this young woman into their lives.

What happened in the adoption center should have been enough to alert everyone that something was amiss and that there should have been more time to make a firm decision of this caliber.

Kristine and Michael knew not knowing anything about Natalia was a big issue. Yet, they proceeded to pay the clearly falsified medical fees to leave the center with her and become her parents.

If that didn’t happen in real life, I’d be slamming the show for being unbelievable, but there we go.

They knew nothing about Natalia and brought her into their home with their three sons. It was like they had blinders on because they never considered the ramifications such a decision could have on their family.

It’s Wild That Most of This Story Actually Happened

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The adoption center did a remarkable job of forcing their hand by implying Natalia’s life would be so much worse without them.

Given their previous issues with adoptions, Kristine and Michael were well aware of the process and how these deals could fall apart, so why didn’t they question how Natalia wound up in their care?

The series wants to portray Natalia as this cunning young woman who will do whatever it takes to get her own way, but I can’t shake the feeling that some aspects of Kristine’s perspective have been heightened a little too much for the sake of drama.

Instead of playing out as an adaptation of the story that was oversaturated in the media for years, elements of Orphan have been thrown to make the series play out like more of a thriller.

From a dramatization standpoint, it works very well, but this story should be presented more straightforwardly because it doesn’t need any more drama.

Then again, it is being told from multiple perspectives, which means the creatives had to make a choice that worked for the narrative they wanted to tell.

Good American Family’s portrayal of Michael is far more subdued than that of the real-life person who inspired him, which surprised me.

Mark Duplass is a great actor with even greater comedy timing, so it’s surprising he didn’t play into Michael’s more eccentric side.

Perhaps that’s on the agenda as Good American Family progresses, but the second episode, showcasing him years after his relationship with Kristine flat-lined, showcased him in pretty much the same light.

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The main issue with Michael is that he is open to undermining Kristine’s parenting. At no point in these two episodes did he sit her down to understand where she was coming from.

He assumed she blamed everything on Natalia, but the youngster played him like a fiddle, and whether he wanted to admit it or not, he was making some big errors in judgment.

One of the wildest moments was how Natalia lied about his promotion to get involved in an argument between her new-found parents. That should have been the straw that broke the camel’s back for Michael to think, “You know, maybe my wife, who I’ve been with for years, has a point.”

Kristine May Have a Skewed Opinion of Natalia

Kristine’s big revelation about Natalia’s age will surely turn the mystery on its head as we dive into Good American Family Season 1 Episode 3.

Kristine is poised to continue doing morally questionable things to ensure that Natalia isn’t the monster her mind wants to believe she is.

We’ve barely scratched the surface of the broader story and the bombshells that will happen later, but Good American Family has me curious about what it has in store for the rest of the season.

Over to you, Good American Family Fanatics! What are your thoughts on Kristine’s perspective so far?

Do you think the series is doing a great job so far, or does the heightened drama do a disservice to the story?

Hit the comments.

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