And then, there’s the way “Interrogation” chooses to wrap up in its final episode. Aside from the physical challenges, the story itself is asking its audience to think about how they receive information and question whether their background and experiences color how they interpret the facts.

Eric, entangled in a deadly prison feud, faces a tough decision and must decide where his loyalties lie. Eric Fisher (Kyle Gallner), a 17-year-old kid with addiction issues, is taken into custody after his mother is brutally murdered in her San Fernando Valley home in 1983. Otherwise, the introductions of characters we’ve already seen established into this world often feel like knowingly clever easter eggs. Photo Credits: Ursula Coyote, CBS; NBC, Virginia Sherwood/NBC; CBS All Access; JoJo Whilden, Hulu; Casey Crafford, Hulu. (Disclosure: TV Guide is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of ViacomCBS.). The idea of watching something “as intended” has long been elusive for curious audiences. The series, which is based on a true story (though the character names have been changed), allows the viewer to see the first nine episodes in any order they choose before watching the conclusive finale. Sgt. After the events of the opening episode, which document Eric going through his version of events of the day in question while talking to an LAPD detective (Peter Sarsgaard), those closing credits give way to a unique on-screen mandate to follow the case as any other investigator would.

If anything, it shows how the need to keep the middle order flexible actually narrowed the list of relevant details. As it stands, these are a collection of effectively-made episodes with only the slightest bit of textual signals to make the next episode selection anything other than a random shot.

Giving the audience the illusion of active participation has its merits, but hopping around quickly lays bare the issues that any interactive piece of programming has had (or will have) as this corner of entertainment goes through its growing pains.

Each episode is structured around an interrogation that either led to Eric being arrested or helped his subsequent appeal as the evidence around his conviction started to come apart. Download the TV Guide app for iPhone, iPad and Android! This Article is related to: Television and tagged CBS All Access, Interrogation, Kyle Gallner, Peter Sarsgaard.

Even in the midst of this crazy experiment, “Interrogation” is still trying to preserve the sanctity of the episode, telling significant, self-contained thematic chunks of this story upwards of 45 minutes at a time. Interrogation is described as "an original concept based on a true story that spanned more than 30 years, in which a young man was charged and convicted of brutally murdering his mother. In 1983, Eric Fisher (Kyle Gallner) discovers his mother stabbed and dying in the living room of her Sherman Oaks house, only to be accused of murdering her and sent to prison as a result. Premise. because everything changed so much," Gallner told TV Guide at the Television Critics Association winter press tour. Both of those roles — along with D’Onofrio, Strathairn, and Kodi Smit-McPhee as another key player in Eric’s case — eventually benefit from seeing the strain brought on by the passage of time. Interviews with leading film and TV creators about their process and craft. Russell is an ethically murky character, but Sarsgaard truly crackles in the show’s verbal sparring sessions. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. The interview tapes and 9-1-1 calls and testimonies that are designed to connect viewers across decades still play out like a one-way street.

But when the season’s closing installment starts with a chronological “Previously on” montage, it’s hard not to watch that and believe that’s “Interrogation” in its most potent form. Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. The reason Eric ends up in jail is in large part because Detective David Russell (Peter Sarsgaard) makes the decision that he's guilty early on, and his interrogation tactics follow that decision.