Murdaugh: Death in the Family Review: Jason Clarke and Patricia Arquette Turn a Southern Scandal Into Must-Watch True Crime

Hulu has jumped into the latest real-life scandal with Murdaugh: Death in the Family, a slick, well-cast dramatization of the wildly public downfall of South Carolina’s most powerful legal dynasty. It fits the current pipeline perfectly: podcast to doc to glossy series. The hook here is simple and ugly: a family used to getting its way collides with a tragedy it can’t control, and every secret spills out.

What you’re watching

The show zeroes in on the Murdaughs, who live large and wield influence across the Lowcountry. Maggie and Alex enjoy the perks of a dynasty, until their youngest son Paul is tied to a fatal boat crash. From there, everything unravels. By the time we land on Alex phoning 911 after finding Maggie and Paul shot, the story has already started to snake backward and forward through years of bad choices, cover-ups, and old ghosts the family couldn’t keep buried.

How the show plays it

The series spans 2019 through 2023 and treats the case like a puzzle you’re always a step behind on. It opens on that 911 call, then flips back to show Alex’s pill addiction and embezzlement from his own firm, the brutal boat crash that killed Mallory Beach, and the long shadow of the family’s courthouse connections. Paul’s mess becomes front-page news right as Alex’s secrets start to surface, and the fallout splinters the family. Eldest son Buster is left trying to scrub the family name while the ground is still shifting under him. The show even threads in patriarch Randolph Murdaugh, a reminder of just how long this family’s reach has been.

The podcast lens (and why it mostly works)

This is based on Mandy Matney’s Murdaugh Murders Podcast, and the series turns the journalist herself into a character, played by Brittany Snow. It’s a neat bit of storytelling reflecting how this case blew up in real time online. Think the amateur-sleuth energy of a podcast-driven mystery, but without the winks. The framing adds momentum, even if it’s a device we’ve seen a lot lately.

The vibe: prestige pulp

Tonally, it swings between moody prestige crime and pulpy tabloid burn. Some scenes have the chilly dread of Ozark or the slow-burn panic of a suburban-crime saga; other stretches feel like a glossy TV movie airing at 9 p.m. That inconsistency might bug you, but the acting keeps it grounded. Jason Clarke digs into Alex’s slipperiness, right down to a physical transformation that makes you do a double take. Patricia Arquette brings nuance to Maggie, letting the show play with your assumptions instead of just wallowing in the headlines. The supporting cast leans into the Lowcountry setting without turning everyone into caricature.

Who is steering this ship

• Leads: Jason Clarke as Alex Murdaugh; Patricia Arquette as Maggie Murdaugh
• Key players: Johnny Berchtold as Paul; Will Harrison as Buster; Brittany Snow as reporter Mandy Matney; Gerald McRaney as Randolph Murdaugh
• Supporting cast: Jim O'Heir, Mark Pellegrino, Noah Emmerich, J. Smith-Cameron, Gerald McRaney
• Based on: Mandy Matney’s Murdaugh Murders Podcast
• Producer: Nick Antosca, who also backed The Act, Candy, and A Friend of the Family, and worked on Hannibal and Channel Zero
• Creators/Producers: Michael D. Fuller (Locke & Key) and Erin Lee Carr (Stormy)
• Writers: Anna Fishko, David Gabriel, Tika Peterson, Alana B. Lytle, Bashir Gavriel, Gabrielle Costa
• Directors: Steven Piet (three episodes), Ingrid Jungermann, Kat Candler, Erin Lee Carr, Jennifer Lynch
• Release: 8 episodes; 6 are out now; new episodes drop Wednesdays on Hulu
• Timeline: The story runs from 2019 through 2023, brushing right up against the pre/post-COVID period

The good, the bad, the familiar

Is it new? Not really. Between the flood of true-crime dramas and the public saturation of this case, some of this inevitably feels familiar. The series occasionally plays things safe, and you can feel the machine whirring: respected producers, name directors, podcast backbone. The pandemic-adjacent timeline even gives it a slightly dated air, which is oddly fascinating to watch in a story this recent.

But even when the beats are predictable, the execution is sharp. Clarke and Arquette are locked in, and the show knows when to let scenes breathe so you can sit with how monstrous the choices were. It is not easier to stomach just because actors are saying the lines. If you followed the trial live, you will still find plenty to chew on; if you didn’t, the week-to-week rollout actually plays well with the twists.

Bottom line

Murdaugh: Death in the Family is a solid, watchable dramatization of a case that already felt too wild to be real. It is polished more than groundbreaking, but the performances and the what-happens-next pacing do the job.

Score: 7/10 — Good.