Words Unsaid

April 5, 2021
After a decade-long hiatus from the Shaken series (following 2010’s Mother Load), MacGregor delivers a solid fifth installment that neither takes risks with the characters nor delves into too much recap. Anna and Lily Kaklis, now in their late 40s and parenting a teenager and preteen twins, barely give a thought to their romantic pre-kids days. Anna is in the throes of selling her car dealership empire; Lily’s occupied by her work as a superior court judge; son Andy is underperforming at school; and the twins, Eleanor and Georgie, have myriad activities to be ferried to. Despite the domestic milieu, this is not entirely relatable stuff—Anna’s deal is worth nine figures—but the settings are believably drawn and the relationships realistic. It’s also a fairly pedestrian slice-of-life narrative—until, at the halfway point, Andy is left home with the housekeeper and they both disappear. Andy, who takes after his Latino birth father rather than his white mothers, has been swept up by ICE, and Lily’s L.A. County legal connections are worthless against the Feds. As a plot twist, it’s a bit out of the blue, but sadly plausible and played with more emotional realism than cheap suspense. Series fans will be glad to return to the lives of the Kaklis family.