The 6 episode series I Am The Night, directed by Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman) and starring the ever attractive Chris Pine is a thrilling crime series inspired by true events as seen through the eyes of Fauna Hodel.
Raised in Nevada as Pat the series follows Fauna Hodel (India Eisley) who was given up at birth by her mother Tamar Hodel. She was raised as a biracial girl by Jimmie Lee Greenwade, until one day she found her birth certificate leading her to raise questions about her true origin. After Jimmie Lee denies her the truth Fauna does some investigating and finds out who her grandfather is. She finds a number for a Dr. George Hodel, she calls him and he tells her to come visit him in LA, she agrees.
After getting into an argument with Jimmie Lee she gets on a bus to Los Angeles in hopes to find her birth mom, little did she know things where about to get crazy. She arrives in a LA disturbed by the race riots, when she tries to reach her grandfather at his home she gets no answer, she then tries her step-grandmother, Corinna Hodel (Connie Nielsen) who warns her that her grandfather is a bad man and to stay away from him, yet this only makes Fauna more interested in finding out the truth. That same night Jimmie Lee calls reporter Jay Singletary (Chris Pine) who had written articles of Dr. Hodel’s trails, these articles ended up ruining his career, but like Fauna he is also desperate for the truth.
Throughout the rest of the series we see Jay and Fauna embark on a dangerous mission to uncover the truth about Fauna’s dark origin and how she is the missing link to one of Hollywood’s most infamous unsolved crimes.
If you’re like me and love crime dramas this show is for you. It takes a different view on the ‘Black Dahlia’ murder and focuses on George Hodel’s “moral” crimes. The series is also accompained by a podcast, Root of Evil, that tells the story of the Hodel family through Fuana’s daughters and her uncle Steve (the son of George Hodel) who is conviced his dad actually killed Elizabeth Short aka the ‘Black Dahlia’ and got away with it because of his connections with the LAPD and court judges.
Overall, I would rate this series a 7/10 mainly because it dragged out the reveal of Fauan’s mother until the second to the last episode and most of the exciting scenes happen at the end of the episode leaving us hanging. Chris Pine’s performance as a disgraced reporter suffering from PTSD and drug addiction while desperatly searching for the truth is different and more serious than any other role he’s played before. India Eisley also delivered a strong performace as a young girl just trying to find who she really is.
I Am The Night is currently on demand on TNT and the podcast, Root of Evil is avalible wherever you get hear your podcasts