Dirty John

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Season 1
Season #: 2, 1
Metascore
58

Mixed or average reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 18
  3. Negative: 1 out of 18
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Critic Reviews

  1. TVLine
    Reviewed by: Dave Nemetz
    Nov 14, 2018
    25
    There’s not a lot of nuance to be found here, with any trace of psychological depth replaced by cheesy love montages and paint-by-numbers confrontations. We’re given no sense of why Debra is making these terrible decisions... over and over and over again.

Awards & Rankings

100
#100 Most Discussed TV Season of 2018

User Reviews

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User Score
6.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 20 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 20
  3. Negative: 6 out of 20
  1. rinanci
    Dec 26, 2018
    3
    I am not sure which is worse...the writing or the acting. I believe Eric Bana and Jean Smart are collateral damage. Connie Britton, JuliaI am not sure which is worse...the writing or the acting. I believe Eric Bana and Jean Smart are collateral damage. Connie Britton, Julia Garner and Juno Temple play the most unlikable characters in the most unbelievable manner....
    Watching this reminds me of reading 50 Shades...HORRIBLE WRITING, but like a bad accident you just have to keep watching to see what happens    … Full Review »
  2. JennetP
    Dec 17, 2018
    3
    I think I would have liked this series better as a true-crime podcast because, as a hybrid drama, it disappoints. Its high gloss and starI think I would have liked this series better as a true-crime podcast because, as a hybrid drama, it disappoints. Its high gloss and star power promise deft characterization and skillful plotting, but don't deliver those things. Instead, as so often in life, terrible things happen for no apparent reason to people who are hard to understand and harder to like. The overall story is most interesting at the beginning, when the audience isn't quite sure that the Eric Bana character is a con man because the people accusing him are so petty and smug that viewers want them to be wrong. Once the Connie Britton character discovers his collection of restraining orders (helpfully stashed where she can easily find it), all mystery vanishes, and the series becomes very predictable, melodramatic, and steeped in pop-psychological cliches.… Full Review »
  3. mrcovarrubius
    Feb 13, 2019
    8
    I enjoyed this after listening to the podcast - which I would recommend that everyone do first. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be nearly as believableI enjoyed this after listening to the podcast - which I would recommend that everyone do first. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be nearly as believable and I would’ve probably given up at some of the ridiculous writing and story lines. But the events did actually happen, and were quoted verbatim from the real victims. I think the podcast is more suspenseful and gritty, but the show expands on it by showing how Eric Bana as John can be seen as the charming ladies man who conned a lonely Deborah before showing his true colors. And I really enjoyed how spoiled and bratty the show made Deborah’s daughters, allowing John to attack their credibility when they were warning their mother and trying to distance themselves from him. I thought Deborah ignoring them in the podcast was head scratching, but see it more believable with how the daughters were portrayed in the show. l think overall the show gave me a better perspective of what happened than just the podcast. Really unbelievable that this story is a true event - zombie kill and all!… Full Review »
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