Being a teenager is hard enough without having to go on the lam with your mom and dad. Apple TV+ debuts the seven-part adaptation of “The Mosquito Coast,” based on the 1980 novel by Paul Theroux that was also the inspiration for a 1986 movie starring Harrison Ford.
“Coast” also stars the author’s nephew Justin Theroux (“The Leftovers”) as the central character, Allie Fox. When first seen, he’s teaching his son, Charlie (Gabriel Bateman), how to operate his new invention, a rackety contraption that turns fire into ice. Riches are just a patent away, Allie assures Charlie, who seems less than convinced.
When next seen, Allie is working as a handyman welder in California.
.agribusiness in Stockton.
., a town that appears to have seen better days. Both Charlie and his sister, Dina (Logan Polish), have to wonder why Dad’s working for $11 an hour when he’s really MacGyver and maybe Thomas Edison. Mom Margot (Melissa George) can’t seem to hide the piles of foreclosure notices that crowd the mailbox. But when unmarked cars start tailing them, Allie knows it’s time to run. Again.
Information arrives in small dollops in this slow-moving but compelling drama. We learn that Margot is from money, but she can’t access it because her folks can’t know where they live. Allie appears to be on the run from the NSA. But just why does not become clear, at least not in the first two hours.
Their adventure will take them on a journey through homeless camps and a reverse run of an immigrant trail into Mexico, where Allie hopes to hide out on their way to living on a trawler and out of harm’s way.
This odyssey is filled with obvious metaphors and overt lessons about America’s materialism and its throw-away attitudes toward items and even people. Allie provides most of the didactic “editorials,” but sometimes the kids parrot him.
“Coast” follows in the tradition of great American novels asking us to follow a brilliant visionary even when we’re half-convinced he’s actually deranged. In this “Moby-Dick,” the kids (and the audience) play Ishmael to Allie’s Ahab. It’s a wild ride, but also a bit exhausting, depending on whether you find Allie to be a charmer or a psychopath.
— Amazon Prime streams the 2021 thriller “Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse,” starring Michael B. Jordan as intrepid Navy SEAL John Clark, motivated for revenge by the murder of his pregnant wife. Add this to Amazon’s “Jack Ryan” Clancy adaptation, starring John Krasinski in the title role.
— “Wahl Street” begins streaming on HBO Max. A vanity project for actor Mark Wahlberg, it follows him as he visits his many businesses and startups, including the fast-food joints celebrated on A&E’s insufferable “Wahlburgers.” Wahlberg may lord over his empire, but he does so in sweatpants while wearing a baseball cap.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Four-and-a-half scintillating hours of the 2021 NFL Draft (7 p.m., ABC).
— Amnesia strikes on the series finale of “MacGyver” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— Back in the USSR on “The Blacklist” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— A brother and sister (Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey) buy a haunted house on the Cornish coast in the 1944 ghost story “The Uninvited” (8 p.m., TCM, TV-PG).
— “Great Performances” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-G, check local listings) offers a highlight reel from 10 concerts celebrating International Jazz Day.
— Jamie and Frank clash over an officer’s arrest on “Blue Bloods” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
A certain pungent theme drifts through several of tonight’s films, including “Dazed and Confused” (7 p.m., Paramount, TV-14), “Half-Baked” (8 p.m. and 10 p.m., Vice, TV-14) and “Pineapple Express” (9:30 p.m., Paramount, TV-14).
SERIES NOTES
— “WWE Friday Night SmackDown” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … “World’s Funniest Animals: Spring Fling” (8 p.m. CW, TV-PG).
A helicopter ride to remember on “Magnum P.I.” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … “Dateline” (9 p.m., NBC) … Illusionists audition on “Penn & Teller Fool Us” (9 p.m., CW, r, TV-PG).
LATE NIGHT
Jane Fonda, John Oliver, Ringo Starr and Teddy Swims are booked on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes James Spader, Abbi Jacobson and Beach Bunny on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Hank Azaria, Brandi Carlile, Dulce Sloan and Emmanuelle Caplette visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC, r) … Drew Barrymore and Storm Reid appear on “The Late Late Show With James Corden” (12:35 a.m., CBS, r).
