Fascinating, oftentimes maddening, and occasionally overdramatic, Good American Familyis thoroughly addictive television. Like its limited-series cousins, The Act, Adolescence, and Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, the Hulu series presents a seemingly harmless child—or family—that are not who they appear to be. Or maybe they are. Either way, the tension builds to such a degree that you want to reach inside the screen and shake some of the characters you’re watching.

That’s a good sign that we’re in for a gripping ride here in a story starring Ellen Pompeo (Grey’s Anatomy), Mark Duplass, and Imogen Faith Reid. Creator/executive producer Katie Robbins shares showrunner credit with executive producer Sarah Sutherland in a tale (told from different perspectives) that is inspired by the mind-bending real-life events of Ukrainian orphan Natalia Grace Barnett, who was thrust into the public eye when her adoptive parents claimed she was not a child,...