Common Sense Media Review
By Joyce Slaton
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Compelling true-crime series chronicles real kidnappings.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 16+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Captive
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
A prison riot on Easter Sunday in 1993. An ordinary English couple held hostage by Somali pirates. An Al Qaeda kidnapping of charitable workers in Yemen. Docuseries CAPTIVE digs into these cases and others involving kidnapping and captivity. Interviews with survivors are combined with reenactments, recordings of phone calls, vintage news footage, and other historical documents that tell each story, from the events that led up to the captivity until those held are released -- not always alive.
Is It Any Good?
Thorough research and reporting uncovers the kind of throat-clutching detail that true-crime fans will particularly respond to in this smart but dark series. Each of the events spotlighted in Captive made the news, but unless you're a world news completist, you probably haven't heard of many of these incidents, which makes the retellings all the more gripping: Will these people make it out alive? And in one piece? When they do, it's cathartic. When they don't, haunting.
Viewers may find themselves Wikipedia-ing the details of each story to find out more, but you won't get much further than what Captive has shown you. This is an eminently binge-worth series, but parents should consider carefully whether teens should watch, since some of the material is quite unsettling. If you allow it, you may want to watch along to reassure them that they're safe in their own home and everything they're seeing has long been resolved.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how documentaries are designed to present factual stories and details from a specific point of view. But is it possible to offer too much information? Is it necessary to include so many violent details to tell this story in Captive? Why, or why not?
What is a a documentary? Is it the same as a reality show? Should documentaries be unbiased in the way they tell their stories? Should a documentarian have an agenda? Why, or why not?
Does seeing real news footage make you understand or believe a story? How does Captive distinguish between real footage and a staged reenactment? How can you tell which you're seeing?
TV Details
- Premiere date : December 9, 2016
- Network : Netflix
- Genre : Reality TV
- TV rating :
- Last updated : January 7, 2026
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