The Many Faces Of James Van Der Beek In His New Lifetime Movie Jodi Picoult’s Salem Falls

Jack St. Bride (James) is just trying to start a new life when his future lover's father almost crashes into him on a lawnmower. Did we mention he's drunk? Poor Jack doesn't know what he's gotten into.

Addie (Sarah Carter) tries to pay for the damage to Jack's car, but he pushes her money back with this tender "it's OK, I don't need your charity" face.

This is perhaps the most nuanced of the bunch: Gillian (Amanda Michalka), daughter of the town's pharmaceutical king, decides she wants Jack for herself. Here, she stalks him at Addie's diner and suggestively licks some frosting off his finger. This is before we know he's a registered sex offender, unless you've read the book, but he's clearly very scared of this girl. (Although I also read it as he's slightly attracted to her and even more terrified of that.)

Right as Jack has decided he might want to stay in town because he likes Addie, he finds out that her daughter Chloe is dead but she talks about her like she's still alive. Abort, abort!

Wes: He raped a sixteen-year-old girl!
Addie: That can't be right, there must be an explanation.
Wes: He registered as a sex offender.
Jack: (this face)

Maybe Jack wanted to defend himself a little better, since next thing you know, Gillian's accused him of raping her and he's in his orange jail jumpsuit. He tries to convince his lawyer of his good nature with this steely glare.

Lawyer: You said you never touched Gillian, but your DNA is under her fingernails.
Jack: Oh yeah, she probably scratched me.
Lawyer: But what about your blood on her shirt?
Jack: Oh, she wiped off my head with her shirt.
Lawyer: But you said she was standing in the woods naked!
Jack: (this face) Well, she picked her shirt up off the ground...

I can't blame his lawyer for being pissed off with his wishy-washiness.

I have to say, Lifetime should have made this a miniseries, or at least a three-hour movie. A ton of subplot got lost in translating it to a 90-minute TV movie, especially the fact that all of Jack's trial/courtroom stuff occurs in like 22 minutes.

But he goes free, for reasons you'll see in the final slide.

To make up for not getting a 2011 version of Crying Dawson, here's Gillian sobbing when Addie reveals Amos to be molesting his daughter and he says, "Gilly, you know I'm not hurting you... I'm just showing how much I love you."

The book treats this revelation a lot more subtly; it ends with only the readers knowing that's what happened. But obviously you have to make things more dramatic in a movie; and again, it brought us this face, so it can't have been the worst choice.