Disclaimer, the seven-episode series starring Cate Blanchett and directed by Alfonso Cuarón, completed by a cast of award-winning stars, could never be anything less than a resounding success, but with only two episodes released on Apple TV Plus, critics have already come down hard on it, calling the series superficial, confusing and even pretentious. It’s not partly their fault.

The series is an adaptation of the 2015 book of the same name, written by journalist-writer Renée Knight. At the time, compared to Gone Girl, the book was already harshly criticized and therefore it is curious that it was Cuarón’s choice for his TV debut, but, on the other hand, there are things of lesser quality that find greater empathy. In the first two episodes, there are “curious” choices, such as having a narrator for the characters’ thoughts, which is a strange choice, but otherwise, it’s fine.

Before getting into the plot and the performances, and also revealing the story’s SPOILER – necessary to defend Blanchett – let’s remember this choice of narration. Martin Scorsese did the same thing in The Age of Innocence. Some phrases and descriptions would be lost if he couldn’t translate them into dialogue, and this alternative ‘saves’ them, but in the case of Disclaimer, whose original text is weak, it ends up highlighting the narrative flaw. That’s why it’s important to reveal the story’s big SPOILER.

Let’s look at what we know so far: Catherine Ravenscroft (Blanchett) is a successful documentary filmmaker who finds a mysterious book in her house, realizing that the story told in it is about her. The book reveals a secret that Catherine kept for many years about an incident that occurred while she was on vacation in Italy with her son, Nicholas.

During this vacation, Catherine had a date with Jonathan Brigstocke (Louis Partridge), a 19-year-old young man, which ended tragically. Jonathan died, and Catherine was the only witness to what really happened. She always believed that no one else knew the truth about what really happened that day. However, the publication of the book reveals that someone is aware of her secret, and this threatens to destroy her current life.

The book, written by Jonathan’s father, Stephen Brigstocke (Kevin Kline), suggests that Catherine was responsible for Jonathan’s death. Stephen writes the book as a form of revenge, believing that Catherine ruined his son’s life and, by extension, his own as well. After so many years, Catherine will have to face the consequences of the past that she tried to bury.

Cate Blanchett navigates the drama without disappointing us. The drama of Disclaimer has been in her career more than once – a woman dismantling before our eyes – but not for what we think it is: the shame of a furtive romance.

Contact in the present with flashback scenes, in the first two episodes, thanks to Catherine still wanting to keep the secret, we receive truncated information that leads us to judge her poorly. Her relationship with her son is now in tatters, the marriage is cold and only work gets the best of her, even so, she tries hard to keep up appearances.

Leslie Manville, who plays Jonathan’s mother, has the most remarkable role in the series so far. Convinced that Catherine is involved in his death, she confronts the documentary filmmaker who, just as she was questioned by her husband, insists that nothing was as it seems, but doesn’t elaborate. And this irritates us as it irritates everyone, leading us to believe that she is to blame for an extra-marital affair.

And here is the Achilles heel of much of the suspense genre, which is the need for a surprising twist. Disclaimer, which in Brazil was published as The Confession, used information that was kept hidden until much of the story, to create the “wow” effect that it loses precisely by dragging it out. That’s why it’s impossible to understand the drama, but if you don’t know the truth, you can follow along and it will come to light. Obviously, “it’s not what it seems”, as Catherine says.

By the way, can I say? Knowing what it is, I have to praise Cate Blanchett’s reaction even more when confronted with the photos. The book – she knows – would only be the beginning of rekindling wounds that she would rather hide, but the photos are a distortion of the facts.

From this point on, we’ll go to the SPOILER and yes, you can lose interest in waiting for the next five episodes.

Catherine’s burden is really heavier, but apparently somewhat unexplained for today if we think that a woman doesn’t have the right to live the trauma as she sees fit. She carries a secret that she knew would be questioned and distorted, something that unfortunately always happens when the crime is rape. That’s right, Jonathan – the cute and beloved young man that the parents idolize – raped Catherine in the past.

With this information, the fact that he photographed the moment and made it seem like she was participating voluntarily makes the secret “shocking”, but essential to the discussion. Catherine, we know, had problems with her husband and from what we can see in the script, she flirted with Jonathan when they were alone in Italy. How from then on he became a predator is the turning point of the series, one that I really want to see how it will be handled.

In the first two episodes, the signs of the truth were there: Catherine’s shame and visceral reaction when confronted with the photos and the – incorrect – account of what happened. Nicholas, now withdrawn and aggressive with her, repeated several times to his father that “he doesn’t remember the trip”. And Jonathan, we also know, died in Italy.

When Catherine sees the photos, she is asked by her husband “How could she have had an affair in front of her son”, and she, unable to speak, assures him that “he didn’t see anything”. We are irritated with Catherine for not being able to explain what happened and this shows our lack of empathy with what we immediately blame on a woman.

There is something to discover about the reason for Catherine’s guilt, something common among victims who always suffer believing that they could have avoided the violence somehow. Catherine does not want to destroy Jonathan’s image in front of his mother, after all, he has already “paid” by dying soon after, but what seems to prevent her from telling her husband is exactly what he throws in her face: he always believed that she married for money and was a manipulative woman. And Nicholas? He witnessed everything, which is why he has also had problems with his mother ever since. And SHE does not know this secret.

Jonathan will drown trying to save Nicholas, so there is still room for the mystery of the young man’s involvement and “the real secret”. But when we get there, we will already be a little bored with the plot that was supposed to be resolved in four episodes but will end up in seven.

I hope that by revealing what is really behind the suspense, I have ‘saved’ the unfair criticism of Cate Blanchett, who is sublime.

And can we end with the ultimate irony of seeing Kevin Kline accurately playing an Englishman? After having won an Oscar for A Fish Called Wanda playing an American who hates the British, this can only be an intentional joke. And yes, he is also great.

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