Blackbird is a 2022 limited true crime series developed by Dennis Lehane and based on the memoir In with the Devil: a Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption by James Keene.
Drug dealer and former college football star James "Jimmy" Keene (Taron Egerton) is arrested during a drug bust and sentenced to ten years in prison by prosecutor Edmund Beaumont (Robert Wisdom) even after taking a plea bargain at the advice of his father James "Big Jim" Keene (Ray Liotta in his final TV performance). However, Beaumont and Special Agent Lauren McCauley (Sepideh Moafi) offer Keene a deal: his sentence will be committed if he accepts a transfer to a maximum security facility and befriends possible serial killer Larry D. Hall (Paul Walter Hauser). Jimmy gradually earns Larry's trust, but finds himself gradually forced to re-examine himself as he grows to understand how depraved Hall truly is.
List of tropes applying to this series:
- Affably Evil:
- Jimmy is a friendly, charming, and seemingly easy-going guy who manages to quickly charm his way through prison. It's this quality that makes Beaumont and McCauley select him for the assignment.
- Roger Nevins. He's a violent drug dealer who is very willing to gun down anyone who steals from him, but he's cheerful and friendly to all of his friends.
- Ax-Crazy: Larry Hall. He has raped and murdered many young women, including minors.
- Based on a True Story: It's based on Jimmy Keene's memoir.
- Beauty Equals Goodness: A zig-zagged example. Jimmy is the lead, but he's definitely an Anti-Hero and an unlikable Handsome Lech. However, looks are a factor in the conventionally unattractive Larry's rapes and murders. His brother got all the brains, good looks, and athletic ability; Larry has a much harder time attracting women because of this, and so he takes it out on innocent young girls.
- Consummate Professional: McCauley tells Jimmy he should treat her like his girlfriend whenever she visits him at Springfield, so that Larry won't suspect anything. She also says that Jimmy should "do whatever it takes" in order to sell the act, including making out with her and grabbing her ass.
- Creepy Monotone: Larry talks in a flat, emotionless affect that is extremely creepy.
- Extremely Protective Child: Jimmy goes along with the FBI's plan after his father has a stroke, as he takes on board his stepmother Sammy's warning that he won't live long enough to see Jimmy to get out of prison otherwise.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Larry's Freudian Excuse is that he and his twin brother were affected by Feto-Fetal Transfusion Syndrome, and Larry got the short end of the stick. His brother turned out good-looking, smart, and athletic; on the other hand, Larry turned out unattractive and dimwitted. As a result, he's had trouble attracting women. But this is not treated as a valid excuse to rape and murder a bunch of young girls, including literal children, just because he feels like he is "owed" sex or romance. Everyone else rightfully treats Larry like a monster.
- Good Is Not Nice: McCauley and Beaumont are genuinely dedicated to locking Hall up for good, but they're also relentlessly smug and deeply enjoy making Jimmy squirm.
- Handsome Lech: Jimmy is established as one very early on. He has one conversation with a waitress and it leads to them having vigorous sex later that night. He says he's dated "every type" of woman. He also hits on McCauley, much to her annoyance.
- Jerkass:
- Jimmy, to an extent. While he's effortlessly charming, he's also fairly selfish, arrogant, and entitled.
- McCauley takes a lot of joy in taunting Jimmy, knowing full well he can't do anything about it.
- Nice Guy: Bryan Miller is humble, polite, and soft-spoken.
- Papa Wolf: Big Jim is extremely devoted to Jimmy, to the point where the stress of Jimmy's incarceration causes him to have a stroke.
- Police Are Useless: The local Wabash police are extremely inept and refuse to suspect Larry no matter how blindingly clear it is that he's a killer because they believe he's harmless.
- Robbing the Dead: Larry tells Jimmy that his father made him dig up newly buried graves in order to steal the stuff in the coffins when he was a kid. Flashbacks show him even cutting off a corpse's finger to steal a ring.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Larry is a charmless, unpleasant, apparently fairly ignorant possible Serial Killer. His twin brother is handsome, charming, intelligent, and well-respected.
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: Larry speaks in a high-pitched, gentle voice, even when relaying horrifying information about his crimes.
- Twofer Token Minority: McCauley is the only female agent we see in the FBI, and she's also a woman of color. Her actress Sepideh Moafi (who is Iranian-American) noted this fact in an interview, pointing out that this is why McCauley clearly feels the need to act extra tough.
- A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: Larry exploits this trope. Even though he literally admits to his crimes, he makes himself seem so pathetic that the people interrogating him don't believe him.Miller: What a talent. You make people believe you aren't the killer even after you say you fucking did it.
