Claire Danes’s “unbroken streak of playing women in emotional extremis” continues, said Mike Hale in The New York Times. In Netflix’s new eight-parter, the “Homeland” star plays Aggie, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author grieving the loss of her son, who was killed in a drink-driving accident four years earlier. Consumed by guilt and estranged from her wife Shelley (Natalie Morales), she is living alone in a large house on Long Island, struggling with writer’s block, when Nile Jarvis (Matthew Rhys) – an infamous property developer suspected of killing his ex-wife – moves into the house opposite her. Aggie is initially appalled but soon senses that “a new book may have fallen into her lap”.
Jarvis is “very wealthy and very unpleasant”, said Anita Singh in The Telegraph. Aggie is warned that he is dangerous, a psychopath. Yet the two strike up an uneasy rapport and, in a somewhat implausible development, he hires her to write his biography. The drama appears to be heading towards “the big reveal” of whether or not Jarvis murdered his wife, and if Aggie might be next on his list. But somehow the tension fails to develop fully and, ultimately, it makes for a “dour” and “unconvincing” watch.
It may be “silly”, even “ludicrous” at times, said Rebecca Nicholson in the Financial Times, but Danes and Rhys are superb, whether “hanging out and putting the world to rights” or pitted against each other in “increasingly unsettling stand-offs”. “Gripping” and often “genuinely scary”, this “gleefully horrible story” is a lot of fun.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Did Alex Pretti’s killing open a GOP rift on guns?Talking Points Second Amendment groups push back on the White House narrative
-
The 8 best hospital dramas of all timethe week recommends From wartime period pieces to of-the-moment procedurals, audiences never tire of watching doctors and nurses do their lifesaving thing
-
‘Implementing strengthened provisions help advance aviation safety’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
The 8 best hospital dramas of all time
the week recommends From wartime period pieces to of-the-moment procedurals, audiences never tire of watching doctors and nurses do their lifesaving thing
-
The 8 best horror series of all timethe week recommends Lost voyages, haunted houses and the best scares in television history
-
Hawai‘i: a kingdom crossing oceans – a ‘thrilling’ exhibitionThe Week Recommends With some items on display for the first time since 1900, the British Museum’s new show gives voice to a ‘fascinating, rarely heard culture’
-
The 8 best comedy movies of 2025the week recommends Filmmakers find laughs in both familiar set-ups and hopeless places
-
The best drama TV series of 2025the week recommends From the horrors of death to the hive-mind apocalypse, TV is far from out of great ideas
-
The 8 best drama movies of 2025the week recommends Nuclear war, dictatorship and the summer of 2020 highlight the most important and memorable films of 2025
-
The 8 best comedy series of 2025the week recommends From quarterlife crises to Hollywood satires, these were the funniest shows of 2025
-
A postapocalyptic trip to Sin City, a peek inside Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras’ tour, and an explicit hockey romance in December TVthe week recommends This month’s new television releases include ‘Fallout,’ ‘Taylor Swift: The End Of An Era’ and ‘Heated Rivalry’
