Beartown
HBO | HBO Nordic | Release Date: February 22, 2021
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 7 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
95
Paste MagazineShane RyanFeb 22, 2021
Season 1 Review: So, yes, Beartown works as an athletic drama, too. This ingredient and all others cohere seamlessly, and you’re left with a show that transcends noir even as it elevates it. Read full review
80
The Daily BeastNick SchagerFeb 23, 2021
Season 1 Review: Icy and enraged, it’s a sobering portrait of tragedy wrought from not only toxic masculinity, but from the equally noxious—and potentially more deadly—systems that nurture, amplify, and protect it. Read full review
80
SalonAshlie D. StevensFeb 22, 2021
Season 1 Review: The series' creators stripped "Beartown" of the melodrama that's often inherent to stories centered on teenagers, and of the salaciousness that lesser series lean on when writing about sex crimes. In its place, they revealed a narrative that's chilling in its survey of how we can lose what makes of human in the pursuit of a win. Read full review
80
DeciderJoel KellerFeb 22, 2021
Season 1 Review: Even though Beartown takes its first episode to set things up, it does a lot of showing instead of giving a lot of exposition. That’s a good sign that the series will make for a well-paced drama. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalDorothy RabinowitzFeb 19, 2021
Season 1 Review: [Answers] emerge with a satisfying subtlety in “Beartown”—for all its familiarity, a riveting tale. Read full review
75
IndieWireBen TraversFeb 22, 2021
Season 1 Review: “Beartown” is a blunt story, stocked with direct lessons. Still, it’s patient about revealing its thesis, and the life-or-death stakes set up from the get-go help to prepare the audience for when normal life in a small Swedish town turns very, very ugly. Read full review
70
Under The RadarKaveh JalinousFeb 22, 2021
Season 1 Review: While turning Backman’s complex novel into a series rather than a film was a smart move, Beartown does run into some issues along the way. The rise of Beartown’s hockey team is important for the context of the story, but the series spends too little time showing how their skill improved. The series relies too heavily on surface-level montages to communicate how this dramatic shift actually happened. Read full review
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