"Good American Family": They adopt a girl with dwarfism who tricks them.

Released in 2009, Orphan is a horror film about a typical American family that adopts a psychopath with a developmental disorder, believing she is actually a child. Two years later, Kristine and Michael Barnett's marriage believes they are facing a similar case. In 2010, the Barnetts, parents of three boys, had lost an adoption case, but thanks to an agency with more "flexible" practices, they were able to adopt Natalia Grace , a Ukrainian girl with mobility issues and dwarfism.

At first, the Barnetts were happy with Natalia; the empty nest was full again. But soon, problems arose. Natalia hid a knife under her bed to slit the throats of her siblings' toys, and one afternoon she pushed Kristine against an electric fence. Was this seemingly defenseless girl a child or a gruesome character like the one in that horror movie?

Good American Family (Disney+) is a miniseries that adapts these events by name and surname, starting from a traumatic case that ended with a highly publicized trial between Indiana's family and the adopted girl. The series begins by focusing on Kristine ( Ellen Pompeo ), a struggling mother who manages to make her eldest son, Jacob (Aias Dalman), a boy with autism, become a brilliant student and a kind of promise for the scientific world.

From being a struggling mother, Kristine becomes a successful businesswoman. She sets up a support center for children with autism, writes books on the subject, and turns what were initially fears into a profitable business. It's precisely during one of her lectures that Kristine is arrested by the police, for something that will be revealed later. Her protests, her complaints about the authorities for so many titles won, are in vain. Something in that American family has gone wrong, and the series will unravel the narrative knots like the most well-oiled thrillers.

Divided into two parts, the first segment of Good American Family tells the story from the Barnetts' perspective. Creator Katie Robbins shows the growing friction between Kristine and Natalia (Imogen Faith Reid), until one afternoon the adoptive mother accidentally discovers that Natalia has pubic hair. The woman begins to suspect that the girl isn't real, and when she tries to contact the adoption agency, she discovers that the agreement was a front for irregular adoptions.

Overwhelmed, Kristine seeks support from a handful of doctors to legally establish that Natalia is a 22-year-old girl, intent on passing herself off as a child to abuse her parents' trust. Using that blank check and Medicare disability insurance, the Barnetts house Natalia in an apartment and move from Indiana to Canada, intending to wash their hands of the situation and rebuild their lives.

It's a strategy that will work well for a while. As in all good thrillers, in Good American Family there's an internal enemy, and that's Michael (Mark Duplass), a man who, with a low-paying job and permanently overshadowed by his successful wife, habitually supports Natalia's behavior, believes Kristine is exaggerating, supports the girl, in short, until the very last minute, until the moment their destinies diverge and he must "flee" with his wife to Canada.

Duplass, an actor and producer who made his mark in mumblecore films, then in comedy and documentary films, brings to life, millimeter by millisecond, a character who, despite his underdog profile, will prove key to the story's outcome. Equally notable is the performance of Imogen Faith Reid, a young British actress who lives with Russell-Silver syndrome, a rare form of dwarfism.

The second and final segment presents the events from Natalia's perspective, with a diametrically opposite version. Here, Natalia is a child who falls victim to Kristine Barnett's abuse and mistreatment. According to her version, after being abandoned, she is fortunate enough to be taken in by Cynthia Mans (Christina Hendricks), a woman who adopts street children and runs a church with her husband.

Here, the irony of the "good American family" has a much crueler side, but the series leaves the resolution, the "truth," of this story hanging in the balance until the very last episode, with a subtle handling of the conflict between all the protagonists. Moving between drama and thriller, Good American Family achieves an immersive treatment that is as entertaining as it is revealing about the extremes of manipulation in human relationships.