Season 1 (Anthology)

The **first season** of the Netflix Original Series *Newcrest* premiered on January 28, 2015 and concluded on April 1, 2015, after ten episodes. The episodes focuses on the woman-killing Bruce Lionel.

## Premise

John Baxter, a rookie detective working for the Newcrest Police Department (NPD), becomes involved in a murder case with the top suspect being Bruce Lionel, the mentally unstable son of the wealthy Harold Lionel. As John further investigates the case, he discovers the lives of his family and friends hang in the balance.

## Cast

### Main

* Ben McKenzie as John Baxter; an NPD detective.
* Matthew Fox as Luke Mason; John's partner.
* Jessica Lucas as Sarah Lionel; Bruce's half-sister.
* Mehcad Brooks as Bruce Lionel; a suspect in John's first case.
* Calista Flockhart as Alicia Rogers; the mother of one of the first victims of the killer.
* Abigail Spencer as Rebecca Baxter; John's wife.
* Dacre Montgomery as Owen Mason; Luke's teenage son.
* Mekia Cox as Rosie Young; Bruce's high school crush.
* David Harewood as Harold Lionel; Bruce's father, Sarah's step-father.
* Josh Holloway as Cooper James; the Newcrest sheriff.

## Episodes

### Chapter One: Just the Beginning

John Baxter has just been promoted from beat cop to detective after years of working for the Newcrest Police Department. He learns his partner will be Luke Mason, a very experienced detective in the business. John and Luke investigate a murder. John learns from Luke that the murder is likely part of a serial murder case. The girl, Emily Rogers, is discovered to have been at a bar when she got a call and abruptly left, the last anyone saw of her that night. Her brother who she lived with revealed she never came home that night. John reveals the case to his wife Rebecca, who worries about him due to his first case as a detective being a serial killer. John and Luke are informed by the latest victim's mother, Alicia Rogers, that Emily had been dating Bruce Lionel, who Alicia disapproved of. The two detectives discover Bruce is the son of the wealthy retired businessman, Harold Lionel. They question Bruce about his involvement in the murder, but he denies it and nearly breaks down. His sister, Sarah, tells John that Bruce has nervous breakdowns and is not entirely stable. Initially this makes John believe Bruce was the murdered, but Sarah and Harold both confirm Bruce was at home the entire night. Luke reveals their questioning to the town sheriff, Cooper James, who tells Luke to not go after Bruce any longer, as his father has connections that would get them and half the police department fired. John returns home, where Rebecca attempts to begin sex, but John is not in the mood. Elsewhere, Bruce is digging in the woods and comes across three skeletons. Inside his house, Sarah watches a news report about three girls who went missing months ago and were never found.

### Chapter Two: 10 o'clock

John awakens in the middle of the night due to a call from Luke. Luke reveals that another murder has occured. John arrives at the murder scene and meets up with Luke. Luke reveals that the girl had the same story as the previous girl, and all the girls in the serial case before them: they were at a bar or some establishment, when they received a call and disappeared for the night. John, however, is dismayed to learn that this is the smallest gap in between murders since the killings began, usually they are a few weeks apart, though this one was only one. Luke is revealed to have a son, Owen, who is fifteen and a sophomore in high school. John continues to believe Bruce is the culprit when he and Luke discover that Bruce went to high school with the latest victim. John questions Harold, who reveals that Bruce was bullied in high school and had a crush on the only girl who had sympathy for him: Rosie Young. Harold asks John to stop looking into Bruce, as he is not guilty. John discovers Rosie is still living in Newcrest and visits her along with Luke. Rosie confirms Harold's story but insists that Bruce would never hurt anyone. Sarah is revealed to have been a drug addict and is attending weekly meetings to help her continue to stay sober. After ending a meeting, she runs into Rebecca, who was at another meeting in the same building. Sarah learns who Rebecca's husband is and reveals that he was very friendly toward her and her family when he visited them. Rebecca thanks her for the compliments on her husband before leaving. Owen gets home with his father gone as usual. However, he gets worried when Luke is still not home at 10 o'clock, when he usually is. Owen calls his father, but he doesn't pick up. It is revealed that Luke was in a car accident.

### Chapter Three: 11 Times

Luke has been in the hospital for a week now. Two new murders involved in the serial case have occured in the week, one happening the night before. John visits Luke in the hospital and learns the crash was a result of Luke being drunk. Owen has been staying with his uncle, while the hospital decides whether or not to release Luke. John runs into Alicia at a coffee shop and she reveals that she is suing the Lionel family, as she insists that Bruce killed her daughter. John attempts to talk her out of it, but Alicia asks him to testify, due to his knowledge of the killing. John agrees to testify, on the condition that he does not have a side. Sarah learns they are being sued and that John is testifying. She meets with John and attempts to talk him out of it. However, he tells her that does not believe Bruce is the murderer and will admit that in court. Sarah thanks him. In the jury a young woman seems to be on Alicia's side, unlike the majority of the jury. Sarah notices this and threatens her. The next morning, John discovers the woman to be dead. A man in the court informs John that he witnessed Sarah threatening the woman, forcing John to question Sarah. Sarah begins to cry, as she was just worried her brother was going to jail and tried to get the woman on her side, but she did not murder her. John tells her he believes her. At home, John reveals to Rebecca that the day's events changed his mind and he now believes Bruce murdered those women. Rebecca tells John about her meeting with Sarah the previous week and how she does not seem like the killer-type.

### Chapter Four: X/Y

Luke is released from the hospital and Owen goes back to live with his father. John and Luke are informed by the medical examiner that he has found a pattern. The killer has eleven alleged victims, six from before John, plus Emily Rogers, three after that, and the woman on the jury during Bruce's case. Each victim has the number of stab wounds that corresponds to the order they were killed in (i.e. the first victim had one stab wound, the second had two, Emily had seven, and the latest victim had eleven), essentially confirming they were all killed by the same person. Alicia reveals to John that her case was dropped, implied to be because of Harold's involvement with the court. John apologizes and promises that he will get justice for her daughter. Luke is reminded that Owen's birthday is coming up and tries to get him a great present. Rebecca meets Sarah outside another meeting, inclining Sarah to ask Rebecca what she is there for. Rebecca reveals that she was an alcoholic before John became a detective and has tried to stop in the two weeks since, and her first meeting was when she first met Sarah. Sarah asks if John knows she is sober. Rebecca reveals he never knew she was addicted. In flashbacks, Rebecca and John try to have children.

### Chapter Five: Just One Drink

John and Luke investigate the third murder in the last week, with the murders becoming decreasingly connected to Bruce. John begins to think he may not be the murderer after all, with Luke revealing he never thought he was. Rosie and Bruce both attend their high school reunion and after dinner they have sex at Bruce's house. John returns home from work and discovers Rebecca is not home. As Luke confirms Owen is asleep, he leaves the house and goes to a bar, where he sees Rebecca. Rebecca begs him not to tell John that he saw her there. Luke agrees but insists that Rebecca should continue to attend her weekly meetings. Sarah sleeps with a guy she met at her meetings and after he asks her for her number, she leaves his apartment without saying anything. She drives home in the middle of the night and nearly crashes into another car, but narrowly avoids this. Cooper is revealed to have been driving the other vehicle and yells at Sarah for almost causing a crash. Cooper arrives home, where he is called by an unknown number. He discovers it is "Cheryl" and tells her to "look up the definition of a one-night stand". Sarah arrives home and says goodnight to her father before going to bed. Bruce wakes up at the sound Sarah returning home and gets dressed. He picks up a knife hidden below his bed and prepares to stab Rosie. However, a knock at his bedroom door causes him to hide the knife again and open the door, revealing his father, who is upset that he brought home another girl. Bruce tells him that he loves Rosie before slamming the door on his father.

### Chapter Six: Runs in the Family

John and Luke carefully watch the streets at night after no killings have occured in the past week. Luke believes the killer may have stopped, but John thinks he is just trying to get them off his trail. Sarah is shocked when her mother, Olivia Lionel returns to Newcrest, demanding to see Bruce. Bruce talks with Olivia and she reveals that she knows Bruce is the murderer, and she claims to have known about his murderous tendencies since he killed the family cat when he was six. Rebecca continues to go to the bar every night, claiming to John that the hospital has been working her overtime. Luke gives Owen a car for his sixteenth birthday and his son thanks him. However, Luke begins to regret this when Owen begins to not coming home until past eleven nearly every night. Olivia stays at the Lionel mansion for the weekend, much to Harold's dismay. Sarah tries to reconnect with her mother, who left when she was only sixteen. Olivia tries to bond with Bruce to get him out of his "phase". Alicia contemplates suicide until John visits her and reveals that he has found concrete evidence that Bruce is the killer. At the mansion, Olivia prepares for her final night in Newcrest when Bruce tells her goodnight. However, as Olivia hugs him, he stabs her fifteen times. In flashbacks, Harold's abusive tendencies toward his wife and children is seen.

### Chapter Seven: Post-Mortem

John attends Olivia's funeral with Sarah and helps her get through the eulogy. The medical examiner tells John that though Olivia was stabbed fifteen times, her story does not match up with the other girls, and therefore is denied to be a part of the serial killings. Harold becomes the top witness in the case, with Sarah secretly giving John information about her father's abuse when she was a child. Rebecca gets drunk one night and calls John to pick her up. He does so and in the car she reveals that she has been going to the bar for the past two weeks, not working at the hospital, and has not attended her last two meetings. The next morning, John informs Rebecca of what she told him and she apologizes, and agrees to go to the next meeting, that day. Bruce and Rosie have continued dating for the past two weeks, though they have only seen each other twice since Olivia's murder. Cooper learns Harold's defense has found undeniable evidence that he did not murder Olivia, though they do not give the evidence. John visits Alicia again, who asks why he never showed the police his "concrete evidence" that Bruce is the killer. John reveals that he feels that it would be ill-timed due to Olivia's recent death. Alicia blames him for all the murders since Emily, insisting that the more he does nothing, the more girls die. After a week of Owen staying out late and two nights of him not coming home at all, Luke takes his car away. Owen calls him the worst father ever and leaves. Rebecca does attend her meeting and sees Sarah again after her meeting. Sarah tells Rebecca that she believes her husband may be the killer. Rebecca laughs at the thought but goes with Sarah to see the "evidence". Sarah takes her to the middle of the woods and stabs her sixteen times.

### Chapter Eight:

Sarah drags Rebecca's body to Bruce's "grave" for the three missing women he murdered. Bruce meets her there and thanks her for doing his dirty work. Sarah agrees but tells Bruce that she actually liked Rebecca and was sad to see her dead. Bruce insists that they must hit John personally to get him off their trail.

## Reception

The first season was met with generally favorable reviews. The season has a 66% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 39 reviews, 26 of those being positive. The season has a score of 62/100 on Metacritic based on 29 reviews, 18 of those being positive.