Irish Blood Is a Crime Drama That’s as Much About Family as It Is Murder

Irish Blood is the latest addition to streamer Acorn TV’s slate of cozy crime dramas, shows that feature mysteries and murder but little gore or over-the-top violence, and which usually rate character development higher than twisty whodunnit plots. (See also: Art Detectives, Harry Wild, My Life Is Murder). Its larger premise varies slightly from the norm, given that it stars an American (who is immediately transported to the picturesque hills of Ireland within the show’s first fifteen minutes), and its procedural-style investigations of the week are all deployed in service of a larger season-long mystery. But the general vibes are the same. 

Of course, the big hook for this particular series is that it stars Alicia Silverstone, the actress who is best known for her iconic turn as Cher in Clueless. Silverstone has appeared in a variety of film and television roles since then, most recently starring as Kristy’s mother on the excellent (and, sadly, gone-too-soon) Netflix adaptation of The Baby-Sitters Club. But here, she’s asked to carry an entire series on her back for the first time, and, for the most part, does so admirably. 

Silverstone plays Fiona Fox, a high-powered, take-no-prisoners divorce attorney from Los Angeles who has never gotten over her beloved father, Declan (Jason O’Mara), walking out on her and her mother (Wendy Crewson) when she was just ten years old. Her resulting daddy issues have informed much of her life, from her career choices (she’s very into making men pay for their relationship crimes) to her lack of trust in people, particularly potential romantic partners. But when she receives a cryptic package from Ireland that appears to be from her long-absent and estranged dad, she drops everything for the chance to get to the truth about the great unanswered questions of her life. 

But when she arrives in Ireland, she’s forced to confront the idea that many of her assumptions about her father were wrong. Because it turned out that he’s lived a much darker and much more complicated life than she could have ever imagined. The discovery of a mysterious briefcase full of random objects tied to specific memories from childhood or stories Declan once told his daughter when she was small sends Fiona on a quest to find out the truth about what’s happened to him, and potentially solve some dangerous crimes at the same time. 

It probably won’t surprise anyone that Fiona’s not a particularly experienced or talented crime solver, so she gets some help from a young Irish police officer (Ruth Codd) and the handsome owner of a local boxing gym (Leonardo Taiwo), with whom she has immediate and intense romantic chemistry. (I ship it, is what I’m saying.) International aid is provided in the form of Fiona’s assistant Tess (Djouliet Amara), an internet whiz who’s particularly skilled at tracking down information. Maybe she’s the real reason Fiona always seems to know everything about her client’s dirtbag exes. 

Much like some of its other Acorn TV siblings, the mysteries are the weakest and least interesting part of Irish Blood. The show’s trying hard to have it both ways—give viewers weekly mysteries that can be satisfyingly wrapped up in the space of 42 minutes or less, while still balancing them alongside the steadily unraveling larger question of Declan’s past. There are some interesting elements—one mystery involves horse racing, another MMA fighting, and a third a surprisingly close connection to a criminal gang—and they’re all set against the sort of gorgeous scenery that works overtime to become a character in its own right. But they’re mediocre at best.