Secrets and Lies (U.S. TV series)

Season one

Ben Crawford is a self-employed contractor, married to Christy with whom he has two daughters, Natalie, 16, and Abby, 12. His best friend, Dave, lives in their summer house. They have a neighbor, Jess, who is estranged from her husband Scott, who is in the military. Jess and Scott have a five year old son named Tom.

While out for an early morning run, Ben discovers Tom's body; he was evidently taken from his bed into the woods and killed by six blows to the head from a flashlight.

Detective Cornell is convinced Ben is the killer, Ben cannot prove his innocence because he suffered a blackout after going out drinking with Dave following a fight with Christy over her suspicion of an affair with Jess.

The Crawfords suffer media intrusion and are shunned by the community; a misunderstanding leads to a falling-out with Dave. They learn that Tom was in fact Ben's son, the result of a one-night affair, only revealed to him after DNA tests by police.

Ben conducts his own investigations, leading to false accusations against Scott and other neighbors. He is manipulated by a reporter, Arthur, who is looking to take down Cornell, and kidnapped by a neighbor, Kevin, a former CIA operative, who attempts to extract a confession through torture.

The rift with Dave is repaired only after Dave confesses to spiking Ben's drink the night of the murder. Together they retrace Ben's steps. Cornell begins to consider other suspects.

By this time Ben's marriage has fallen apart. After sleeping with Jess once more, Ben discovers she is bipolar; convinced she is the killer and wrongly assuming she has now kidnapped Abby, she counters that with a false accusation of rape.

Independently of each other, Cornell and Ben discover the awful truth that Tom was killed by Abby. She confesses to her family that it was an accident, a failed plan to hide Tom for a short while to make it appear he was missing, to induce Scott to come home and prevent her father leaving Christy for Jess.

Ben decides to confess to the murder to protect Abby, despite the protestations of Cornell, who is convinced Abby will kill again and vows to put her away. Abby reveals her plan all along had been to drown Tom, in the hope it would make Jess move away.

In Season two, Ben is revealed to have been killed in jail. However, his innocence came to light afterwards. These facts have apparently put a stain on Cornell's reputation as a detective. It is unknown as of yet whether or not Abby was revealed to be Tom's real killer or if she succeeded in evading justice.

Season two

Eric Warner (Michael Ealy), a newly married heir to his family's private equity firm, is under suspicion from Detective Cornell when his wife Kate (Jordana Brewster) is murdered. It is revealed that his father had two wives. His sister also killed his wife. Detective Cornell walks into her house and finds her daughter and unknown person, with her gun, shots are fired.

Production

Secrets and Lies was given its initial 10-episode series commitment in October 2013. Barbie Kligman was brought in as executive producer and showrunner while the producers from the original series, Tracey Robertson and Nathan Mayfield, serve as executive producers. On May 9, 2014, Secrets and Lies was picked up by ABC to air as a mid-season entry during the 2014–15 season.

An additional scene from the season 1 finale was made available online, set 14 months after the rest of the episode, with Natalie clearing Ben's name.

Episodes

Cornell: Confidential is a web series by ABC Studios and Disney/ABC Digital Media Studios which accompanies the television series. Each webisode was released online after the television episode aired and gives additional clues told from the perspective of Detective Cornell.

Critical reception

Secrets and Lies has received mixed criticism when season one came out. On Rotten Tomatoes, it received a 36% approval rating, with a rating average of 4.7/10, based on 30 reviews. Its critical consensus reads: "While some may find its limited intrigue compelling, Secrets and Lies is ultimately undone by wooden performances, excessive red herrings, and bad scripts." On Metacritic, it scored 48 out of 100, based on 22 "mixed or average" reviews.

Controversy

On March 16, 2015, ABC and the show's producers came under fire from the bleeding disorder community for portraying hemophilia as an incestuous disease with Michael Beach's character stating: "Hemophilia is the nasty byproduct of incest." A petition for a public apology was started on Change.org. In subsequent airings of the episode, the line was removed, but ABC published no formal apology.

International broadcast