Given the 40 minute runtime of each episode for four episodes, we’re not quite sure why The Breakthrough decided to make this into a series format. Breaking the real life case into four parts doesn’t seem to add suspense or thrill, given the especially slow pace of the first half, but with the real life investigation having lasted sixteen years, the slow pace is somewhat apt, stretching the doubt and frustration everyone involved was experiencing. It certainly won’t be the most exciting true crime series Netflix has ever created, but if you truly have nothing to watch, The Breakthrough isn’t bad… But it’s not spectacular enough to recommend.

Given the sixteen years it took to solve the case, it’s actually frustrating that the first episode literally was just the first few months, and it didn’t speed through until halfway through the second episode.