Netflix's 'Unabomber' drama draws mixed reactions to its dual timelines

Netflix’s "Unabomber" presents a bifurcated narrative that juxtaposes the FBI’s last year of pursuit with flashbacks to Ted Kaczynski’s early days at Harvard. Jacob Tremblay portrays the adolescent Kaczynski, while Russell Crowe appears as professor Henry Murray, whose controversial psychological study is framed as a possible trigger for the future bomber. In the present-day thread, Shailene Woodley plays FBI agent Joanne Miller, confronting sexism and bureaucratic inertia as she reconstructs the case.

The series also features Alexander Ludwig as Miller’s skeptical partner and Michael Buie as the 1994 bombing victim Thomas J. Mosser. Critics argue that the dual timelines feel disjointed, the dialogue is formulaic, and the psychological speculation adds little beyond what earlier biopics have covered.