'The Cry': Jenna Coleman Stars in an Addictive, Intelligent Thriller

The general idea behind The Cry, a BBC drama that arrives in America by way of cable network Sundance and its streaming arm Sundance Now, is every parent's worst nightmare. A foreign country. A missing child. A mystery it seems no one can solve. And a devastated couple at its center.

That in and of itself would probably be enough to sustain this four-part series, but The Cry is eager to prove that it's nothing like what you think it's going to be. This is a series that likes to play with viewer expectations - about who we should trust, which narrative we should believe, where we are in the timeline of the story we're watching, and who these characters are. There are shocks and aftershocks aplenty, and pretty much every time you think you've seen the most emotionally harrowing thing you can witness, well. Surprise. Here's a more painful place.

The Cry follows the story of Alistair and Joanna, a young couple with a new baby still struggling to adjust to the early days of parenthood. New mom Joanna is obviously struggling and getting little help. Her child won't stop crying, she's clearly suffering from some level of postpartum depression and she's becoming more and more isolated from the busy and vibrant life she used to live. Alistair, a successful PR rep with a busy job, doesn't do much by way of parenting duties and, what's worse, seems to have convinced his wife that the baby's basically her job, because he's the one that makes money. Again, all of this would also probably be enough to power a drama on its own. Here's a more painful place. Again.