Diksha Sundriyal
Hulu’s ‘Good American Family’ follows the story of a family that brings home a little girl with the hopes of giving her a loving home. However, things take a turn for the worse as shocking claims are made against the girl, especially with respect to her age and her temper. The story examines the dynamics of Kristine and Michael Barnett’s family and their adoption of Natalia Grace, who they believe is seven years old at the time. In eight episodes, we hear different sides of the story, told from the perspectives of various characters. Each point of view reveals something different, and Detective Brandon Drysdale is the one character who can sense the audience’s confusion about whom to trust and whom to blame for the chaos.
Brandon Drysdale is a Fictional Character in an Otherwise True Story
‘Good American Family’ is inspired by the true events of Natalia Grace’s life, focusing on her adoption and eventual abandonment by Kristine and Michael Barnett. The show relies on the accounts of all the parties involved in the matter to give a version that is more about how you view the story rather than giving a definitive version of events. Still, certain things needed to be fictionalized in order to give a better shape to the TV show, and Detective Brandon Drysdale (Dulé Hill) happens to be one of them.
Drysdale comes into the picture early on in the show, though according to the timeline, he doesn’t show up until 2019, which is when charges are levied against the Barnetts for neglect of their dependent, Natalia Grace. This is in line with the real-life events, as 2019 is when the case went to trial, and distressing details about it came to light. In reality, more than one detective worked on the case, starting from Michael Barnett’s interview to his and Kristine’s arrest, to get to the bottom of all the claims made by Natalia against her adoptive parents and vice versa. However, for the sake of keeping things more streamlined for the show, a fictional composite of these officers was created, leading to the existence of Drysdale.
In the show, Drysdale serves as an in for the audience, as it is from his investigation and interrogation of the characters that different narratives start to come to light. The more he talks with the people involved, the more differences he discovers in their stories, making him question the authenticity of each narrative, which is also what happens to the audience. At the end of the day, he has to rely on hard evidence to confirm who is telling the truth and who is the real culprit in the case, which seems to get worse with each turn.
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