# American Gothic (2016)

> A prominent Boston family must reckon with a chilling link between its late patriarch and decades of murders, while suspicion grows that one of them helped him.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/57102

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 13
- Episode runtime: 41 min
- Status: Canceled
- Genres: drama, mystery
- Created by: Corinne Brinkerhoff
- Network: CBS
- Cast: Juliet Rylance, Antony Starr, Virginia Madsen, Justin Chatwin, Megan Ketch, Elliot Knight, Stephanie Leonidas, Gabriel Bateman
- TMDB rating: 6.7/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5257744/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: brooding, unsettling, tense, gothic

## What critics say

Audiences found the single-season Boston family murder mystery mixed, with a middling rating that suggests a slow, uneven payoff for its lurid premise.

## Synopsis

American Gothic (2016) is a United States network drama mystery series created by Corinne Brinkerhoff for CBS. Set in present-day Boston, it follows the wealthy Hawthorne family, centred on Alison Hawthorne-Price (Juliet Rylance) and Garrett Hawthorne (Antony Starr), whose recently deceased patriarch is linked to a string of murders spanning decades. Madeline Hawthorne (Virginia Madsen) and her children, including Cam Hawhorne (Justin Chatwin), are pushed to redefine themselves while the mounting suspicion grows that one of them may have been his accomplice. The engine of the series is the family's struggle to keep its polished public image intact while privately digging into what the patriarch concealed. Each episode peels back another layer of the household's history, with domestic confrontations, buried records and tense confessions building toward a larger reckoning. The single season of thirteen episodes is one continuing mystery rather than a case-of-the-week format. The atmosphere is brooding and unsettling, with a gothic sense of inherited guilt and secrets hiding behind immaculate walls. Fans of Ozark, Big Little Lies and Twin Peaks will find resonance in its blend of respectable surfaces and dark family secrets.

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- [Deadwater Fell (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/80579)
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- [Home Before Dark (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/82550)
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