Dirty John: Season 1

"Viewers might be suckered into wanting to know exactly who this guy is, but the vanilla, passive depiction of his primary victim dulls any empathy for her struggle to the point where your only motivation to continue is to see how dark this story might get."

"There are so many opportunities to flesh out both John’s story and the complicated and tragic Newell family history, and so far, the show eschews them in order to keep plugging away at the story as once written."

"Some of the essential vitality and veracity of the material has been lost. In its place, I can't point to much insight or advantage added by the new medium."

"It’s not nearly as compelling, and its continual efforts to make the characters and situations more palatable grow wearying."

"The main problem with Dirty John, though -- both the character, and the series -- is that as structured here, his web of lies begin unraveling pretty quickly."

"Dirty John is very entertaining, though it’s not without faults. It doesn’t dig very deep, or present Debra’s daughters as full characters, and its storytelling can be a little convoluted. But it never claims to be high art."

"It has all the makings of a frivolous, ephemeral good time, a spiky bauble made to stand out among television's soft December offerings."

"Glossy and well-acted, its transfer from your daily commute’s most suspenseful listening stretch ever to serviceable wine-and-laundry-folding companion show feels, all in all, a smooth one."

"A dazzling matchup of pulp and prestige. ... Britton is perfectly cast as Debra. ... As Meehan, the actor [Eric Bana] pivots from charming to chilling and back with astonishing ease."