*Spoilers ahead

Unbelievable, an investigative thriller now streaming on Netflix, begins with an 18-year-old woman, Marie Adler (Kaitlyn Dever), filing a rape complaint. She was asleep in her apartment, she says, when a man wearing a mask bound her and raped her. The police take down her statement and send her for a medical examination. But soon, the lead investigator, detective Parker, becomes doubtful that the rape even took place.

Based on a true story, Unbelievable is gripping from the word go. The series, created by Susannah Grant, Ayelet Waldman and Michael Chabon, is also exactly what the world needs to see at a time when more and more women are opening up about the sexual violence that they experience on an everyday basis, only to be met with hostility and skepticism. Despite the alarming statistics, which should logically make law enforcers and society believe survivors first, it's often not the case. Survivors are repeatedly put through a traumatic process by which they have to re-live their experiences in order to convince the system that they're not lying. 

Unbelievable gives us a teen protagonist with a troubled past. She was raised in foster homes and has only just begun to live by herself and enjoy her independence. Though the first episode briefly shows the rape, the visuals are mercifully not voyeuristic. The episode instead focuses on how law enforcement handles the case - the number of times Marie is required to give her account to one person after another (most of them male), the toll it takes on her, physically and mentally, as she submits her body to medical procedures to gather evidence, and then, what happens when her story is discredited. 

While Unbelievable might be like any other police procedural in tracking the story of how the detectives ultimately crack the case - red herrings, dead-end leads, breakthroughs - it also makes a very important point when it comes to sexual assault cases. The approach of the investigating officer is key to understanding the crime and eventually solving it. The minute detective Karen Duvall (Merritt Wever) steps in to the frame, it becomes apparent that she's on the survivor's side and is operating from the premise that the woman is telling her the truth. Her willingness to believe makes all the difference, leading to the arrest and conviction of a serial rapist who was confident that he'd never get caught. 

Here are eight facts about sexual assault that Unbelievable lays out for its viewers. Facts that have been reiterated repeatedly through studies but still haven't permeated society's consciousness. 

1. There's no one kind of woman who gets raped: The perpetrator in Unbelievable deliberately rapes women across demographics to lower the possibility of the cases being linked. The survivors are of different ages (ranging from a teenager to a 60 plus woman), races and body types. Some are conventionally pretty while others are not. The only factor which unites them all is that they were living alone. When detective Karen figures out that there could be a link, she pairs up with another woman detective Grace Rasmussen (Toni Collette), and the two of them lead the investigation together. Not for one moment does either of them disbelieve the survivors, asking if a woman who "looks" that way could attract the attention of a rapist. Both understand that sexual violence is about power and that all women live under the constant threat of sexual violence on a day to day basis.

2. Responses of survivors vary: Marie's ex foster moms become doubtful about her version of events because she seems to be "fine" after the incident. Both of them have been sexually assaulted in the past, so they assume that they'd know how exactly another survivor would react. However, as Karen and Grace investigate the case, it becomes apparent to the viewer that survivors exhibit a wide range of responses to the crime. While Amber, the second survivor we meet in the series, is constantly breaking into a smile even as she explains what happened to Karen, Lilly, who escaped the assault by flinging herself from a balcony, becomes paranoid about security. We see the survivors in their everyday surroundings, as they go about trying to reset their lives. The women often smile a lot and look perfectly "normal", but the trauma is still lurking under the surface and catches them unawares at times.

3. Women are rarely believed when they speak up: Though Marie reports the crime and cooperates with the investigation, she is disbelieved. The police even charge her for filing a false complaint and the media hounds her, publishing her photo and other details. The male detective who investigated Lilly's case is also skeptical about the incident, asking her if she had been hallucinating.  However, when Amber is giving her version of events to detective Karen, she constantly explains her decisions, only to be told by the latter that this isn't necessary at all and that she believes her. The reassurance is unexpected. Later, when one of the survivors describes the attacker as having been "gentle" at times, she hesitates because she wonders if this would make the detectives disbelieve her. Another survivor repeatedly apologises for not being of more help till both the women detectives tell her that she's got no reason to be sorry. 

4. Women are blamed for what happened to them: Extrapolating what one of the ex foster moms tells the detective about Marie's troubled history, conclusions are drawn that she's exhibiting "attention-seeking" behaviour. What she did in the past is used to discredit her - the kind of character assassination that is routine in cases of sexual assault. In the end, when one of the survivors confronts the accused in court, she asks him why he picked her - what about her made him attack? She describes how she stopped doing things that she was led to believe had made him notice her. 

5. Survivors remember the crime differently: The detective in Marie's case is convinced that she's lying because her versions are inconsistent. However, the series clearly establishes that survivors remember the crime differently. While one survivor is able to give vivid details about the incident to the investigators, including a birthmark on the perpetrator, another has just blocked out what happened entirely. One even holds an entire conversation with him. In Marie's case, she gets muddled about the order of events after the rape - a normal response to trauma - but this is used as "evidence" to prove that she's lying. 

6. Rape doesn't always leave behind medical evidence: Survivors often get asked what proof they have about their allegations. Considering sexual assault mostly happens when the perpetrator and victim are alone, a thorough investigation is required to ensure that the culprit is nabbed and convicted. In Unbelievable, the attacker leaves behind very little evidence on the bodies of the women he's raped by way of physical injuries. However, he confesses later that in Marie's case, he'd left behind a DNA trail that he was worried the police would catch on. But since the detective assumed that Marie had caused the abrasions on her hands by herself, he does not bother pursuing the case. With his next victim and the others, the perpetrator becomes extremely careful, leaving Karen and Grace very little evidence to work with. The two women nab him despite this. 

7.  The bro code perpetuates rape culture: On course of the investigation, a young man comes to detective Karen and confesses that someone he knows "forces girls to have sex with him". When Karen calls it rape, he looks shocked and says that's not what he said. Karen, however, insists on calling it rape. He describes situations when the suspect had forced himself upon women, to the knowledge of others, but nobody did anything. Throughout the series, we see that the women respond with more urgency and seriousness to the case than the men who largely look at it as part of their job, as sincere as they might be. And it becomes evident that thanks to their experiences thus far, sexual assault as a crime is a lot more personal for the women investigators than it is for the men. This is also reflected in how casually sexual assault cases are logged into the system - while detectives record crimes like murder with great detail, sexual assault simply does not get that kind of attention. At one point, Grace points out that 30% of male cops have domestic violence complaints against them but have been allowed to continue on the rolls because violence against women is just not a deal-breaker. 

8. A rapist could be anybody: With so little evidence in their hand, the two detectives examine various suspects who would fit the bill. The men they investigate look like regular people who wouldn't raise any alarm in ordinary circumstances. In fact, this is a point that one of the women they speak to makes when she's questioned about her son. One of the survivors was even married to a man who had been convicted of rape without being aware of this. Considering the perpetrator's extensive knowledge about cleaning out DNA evidence and the conversations he had with the survivors, the two detectives suspect that he could either be a cop or from the military. When they nab the culprit, his brother who lived with him, is shocked to know the truth. The varied profiles show that rapists could come from any social location and that they're often very ordinary men with a deep-rooted hatred for women. And since misogyny is so pervasive, it doesn't raise any hackles. 

Unbelievable is closely based on the Pulitzer Prize winning story An Unbelievable Story of Rape written by T Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong. You can read the story here.

Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the series/film. TNM Editorial is independent of any business relationship the organisation may have with producers or any other members of its cast or crew.