Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Unsolved Murder Of Beverly Lynn Smith’ On Prime Video, Where The Man Accused Of A 1974 Murder Maintains His Innocence

The Unsolved Murder Of Beverly Lynn Smith is a four-part docuseries, directed by Nathalie Bibeau, that examines Smith’s 1974 murder and the extent that the Ontario Provincial Police took to catch the longtime prime suspect, Alan Smith (unrelated), close to 40 years later. However, the director also interviews a seemingly-free Alan Smith. How is that possible? The docuseries endeavors to tell us why.

THE UNSOLVED MURDER OF BEVERLY LYNN SMITH: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A woman walks down a street in Oshawa, Ontario. The woman, Barbara Brown, explains what she was doing on the day her twin sister, Beverly Lynn Smith was murdered.

The Gist: Unlike many docuseries that start with the murder and go forward, the first episode, entitled “The Catch”, examines Alan Smith’s checkered life and how the OPP managed to squeeze an admission out of him. A man who was a bit of a loner was on top of the world when he met a new fishing buddy he met on a fishing trip he won in a contest. The new buddy, Danny, offered him some quick chances to make money, holding weed for a “big boss” type named Jack.

As Jack trusted Alan and Danny more, he gave them more dangerous assignments. In one, they were tasked with robbing one of his customers for the post Jack just sold him for $90k. The robbery is successful, but then Jack tells him that the customer attacked him and “he’s no longer here.” When the two of them take a harrowing trip to dump the body, Jack orders them to give him dirt so they don’t hang this killing over his head. This is when Alan admits that “I was a part of” Beverly Lynn Smith’s murder.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The Unsolved Murder Of Beverly Lynn Smith has shades of Making A Murderer to it, especially the idea that the man at the center of the series may or may not have done the crime.

Our Take: By starting on how Alan Smith was finally arrested for Beverly Smith’s murder, Bibeau finds a more compelling start to her docuseries than we normally get. Most of the time, docuseries about a cold case murder like this start with the murder itself, with interviewees detailing where they were, what they did, and what they found. The victim is profiled, as are the people in her immediate circle.

But here, we concentrate on Alan Smith, including an extensive interview with him. There’s lots of wiretap recordings of the interactions that got Smith arrested. And Bibeau manages to structure the story in such a way that you hang on its every word and aren’t quite ready when the twist comes. We did wonder during the episode’s first half why the story was concentrating on Alan’s time with his new friend Danny and his “big boss” Jack. But once Alan Smith confessed to Jack, the connection became clear.

From there, Bibeau will go back to the murder and find out about Beverly Smith from her sister Barbara and others that knew her and speculate on what other suspects besides Alan Smith there might be. But the OPP’s methods of obtaining Alex’s admission will also come into question, given that its “Mr. Big” stings are deemed illegal in many questions, including the U.S. and England.

By the end of that first episode, we appreciated Bibeau’s approach to the story. It shook up our expectations and had us watching with lots of interest to find out what happened next.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: A scene of a road at dusk. We hear a recording of Alan Smith saying he shot Beverly Smith in the back of the head, “And I’ve played stupid after that ever since.”

Sleeper Star: Despite being the main focus of the episode, Alan Smith is still the sleeper, because he comes off a whole heck of a lot smarter than his history and reputation would indicate. Yet, he was still scammed

Most Pilot-y Line: Daniel tells Alan that Jack is a straight shooter. “Just tell the fuckin’ truth.” In hindsight, that’s one of the more loaded statements of the episode.

Our Call: STREAM IT. By turning the true-crime formula on its head, The Unsolved Murder Of Beverly Lynn Smith sucks the viewer in almost right away and tells a very compelling story in its first episode.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.