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CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
33
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews
IndieWireSep 22, 2021
Season 1 Review:
Identity is a prominent theme in the story of college kids struggling to discover who they are and what they stand for, and the series’ first two episodes feel deeply unifying. The premiere episode is a streamlined effort with an impressively strong voice; the next half-hour is equally affecting and vocal, an ideal split between entertaining and illuminating.
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Sep 22, 2021
Season 1 Review:
Dear White People gives you an abundance of characters to care about and entertains with its inspired, hilarious storytelling. Simien keeps and hones the heightened reality style of his film. The meticulous compositions and meta-awareness are reminiscent of the Coen brothers and Spike Lee.
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Sep 22, 2021
Season 1 Review:
The entire cast is outstanding, and Simien’s script is masterful. On the one hand, he is dealing with very complicated identity issues with intelligence and directness. On another level, though, he’s writing exceptionally funny comedy, crackling with credible wit that often packs a not-so-secret weapon: thought-provoking points of view about how we deal with issues of race and identity. Or, in some cases, how we don’t deal with them.
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IndieWireMay 7, 2018
Season 2 Review:
Season 2 is a statement of understanding as much as it’s a means to help viewers engage with what’s happening in American culture. Simien and his talented writing staff, directors, and cast are more confident with a season under their belts, and that conviction burns through the screen.
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Sep 22, 2021
Season 1 Review:
It doesn’t just have a setting and a story, it has a philosophy and a vision of life. This is so rare in any art form that the show’s less-than-subtle aspects (and there are many) feel like features rather than bugs. ... Loosely based on Simien’s 2014 same-titled independent film but superior to it in almost every way.
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TV Guide MagazineSep 22, 2021
Season 1 Review:
Dear White People balances satirical irony and deep-seated rage to tell its richly entertaining, wildly funny yet deadly serious character-driven story of identity politics. [1-14 May 2017, p.19]
May 7, 2018
Season 2 Review:
Maybe Dear White People isn't sure yet how to also be a generation-spanning mystery. Watching the show built over two seasons leaves me with little doubt that Dear White People can grow into that genre as well. In a Too Much TV landscape, Dear White People is a show I didn't write about at all in its first season, but it has become one of the best things on TV and deserves to be discussed as such.
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Sep 22, 2021
Season 1 Review:
Well-written, well-directed, and well-acted by an appealing young cast. ... Even for a show that revels in absurdist humor, it can be too glib (as in the reaction to the discovery of a dead student), and a bit too reliant on subsidiary characters who are too clueless and too Clueless. Still, in the end, those are minor quibbles with a show that is as entertaining as it is valuable.
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IndieWireAug 2, 2019
Season 3 Review:
“Dear White People” Season 3 builds very well on its core goodness — if you enjoyed past seasons, you’ll continue to enjoy this one. The developing relationships are surprising and honest; the dialogue is sharp; the direction is inventive. The gripes to be had with the new episodes are only in comparison to what’s come before, which are near-perfect seasons of TV.
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Sep 22, 2021
Season 1 Review:
Dear White People works perfectly as a half-hour series, providing a sharp look at African-American students at a predominantly white Ivy League university while creating an assortment of appealing, well-defined personalities. Making the jump from 2014 movie to TV show, the Netflix show passes the test of juggling relevance and entertainment with flying colors.
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Sep 22, 2021
Season 1 Review:
In presenting essentially the same chain of events, Rashomon-style, in Chapters I and II of the 10-episode series, Simien has effectively addressed criticism over the decidedly more scattershot approach favored by the feature; that sharper focus serves the new format well.
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Sep 22, 2021
Season 1 Review:
Season 1 Review: As it relaxes into the students’ lives, and explores their feelings about lovers of other races, the semi-compromised state of student journalism on campus, and the mental cost of always bracing for the next round of idiotic statements from aggrieved white bros, Dear White People does an increasingly assured job of depicting the amused frustration and disillusioned exhaustion of these students.
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RogerEbert.comAug 2, 2019
Season 3 Review:
A scattershot approach that includes the return of the secret society revealed at the end of season two, a potential T.A. strike, and even a character inspired by Tyler Perry, among many other plot threads, will frustrate some viewers in terms of storytelling. ... It’s a show that has become so confident in terms of voice and character, that I don’t mind that the story feels like it treads water this year because I’m down with just spending time with these people.
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Aug 2, 2019
Season 3 Review:
Some subplots and characters get lost along the way, but here, too, there are gems of dialogue and performance and a breakout performance by a new cast member, Griffin Michaels, who plays D’unte. ... This might be a train wreck of a season in some ways, but it’s a glorious one, spilling food for thought everywhere.
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Sep 22, 2021
Season 1 Review:
It’s still sometimes jarring when the occasionally broad humor transitions into the heavier political themes, but Simien is mostly good at balancing the two, using the humor (which is more clever than laugh-out-loud funny) to strengthen the social commentary and to show how even the most righteous characters have flaws and make mistakes. Read full review
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Sep 22, 2021
Season 1 Review:
Dear White People the show has the same problem as “DWP” the movie: a reliance on types rather than characters, on situations rather than storylines. ... It’s comedy. It should be funny (and sometimes is). Does it ultimately get to things that matter, and/or a fresh way of looking at them? There are indications it will, but it was also a bit early to tell.
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RogerEbert.comSep 22, 2021
Season 4 Review:
It’s not as sharp, profound, or consistent a season as the first three, but it’s loaded with empathetic goodwill. ... The broad material here plays like a different kind of satire than “Dear White People” is at its best. The more character-driven stuff that develops is more interesting, although some of it is repetitive.
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Sep 22, 2021
Season 1 Review:
It just feels like Simien was eager to expand the universe of his original film, and ended up overextending himself. The result feels more like a series of self-contained short films than a TV show. That puts the burden on the cast of mostly newcomers to command our attention in their solo showcases, and unfortunately, they largely come up short.
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The PlaylistSep 24, 2021
Season 4 Review:
This final season unfortunately ends with a whimper. Having lost its true direction and sense of purpose (the ’90s throwback thing never truly working as it should), nor ever capitalizing on 2020, “Dear White People” attempts to burst into song, but never truly sings.
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Jul 31, 2019
Season 3 Review:
Dear White People has never had a problem with an availability of interesting, solid characters, and this season is no exception. The breakdown lies in the show’s ability to push forward their individual journeys in a manner that doesn’t come off like a free-for-all, but rather like an actual development.
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