DTF St. Louis

This is a very assured show, the kind where a left-field backstory or character trait doesn’t come off like a tacked-on quirk or distraction but rather the heart of what makes it so wonderful to watch in the first place.

HBO only sent four of seven episodes for review, but if it sticks the landing — and it probably will — it will be one of the best shows of the year.

As much as “DTF St. Louis” suggests that loneliness and the absence of healthy, rewarding male friendships are a pox on American men, the show likewise critiques paths that lead them to damnation: social media apps that crater one’s confidence with arguably greater efficacy than fulfilling the “social” part of the label.

For a show that’s routinely funny and intriguing, DTF St. Louis is startlingly insightful and moving.

“DTF St. Louis” isn’t exactly cringe comedy, but it is idiosyncratic enough that I expect some will find the show a tough sell; it certainly took me a few episodes to acclimate to Conrad’s stilted, precisely crafted world. That the performances are all so calibrated to each other’s wavelengths, if not a bewildered viewer’s, is an indication that “DTF St. Louis” is achieving its own goals, however inscrutable they are to an outsider.

Like any good show, solving the puzzle isn’t the point. Learning to live with the characters is. Harbour, who you probably know from “Stranger Things,” is doing great work here. .... Bateman and Cardellini are also good, playing mostly against type.

Everyone here has an odd, difficult part – especially once the whimsy has worn off – and making them congruent as well as believable individually is an achievement all of its own. You may well find yourself DTFinishing the whole thing in a single watch.

Those who want to scratch their “White Lotus” itch without the mouth-watering scenery should be “DTW” (that is, Down to Watch).

While it never succumbs to the bloat so common in the genre, there are times when the pace feels designed more for stretching out to a season than it should, but they’re just far enough apart to never completely derail momentum.

“DTF” is a funny, lurid and creepingly compassionate watch.

It won’t be for everyone, but if you enjoy shows like FX’s Fargo and HBO’s own The Chair Company, it’s worth getting down with DTF.

Somewhere along the way, the show’s cringe comedy gives way to sincerity and our pity evolves into genuine empathy. And the longer we spend with this group of goofy, hopeless characters, the more grateful we are that we didn’t give in to that initial impulse to swipe left.

A strange, surreal, surpassingly dark addition to Bateman’s œuvre. He’s cast well in the show—I can’t imagine it working without his presence, reeking of ennui and buried impulses. .... Clark Forrest, a local celebrity owing to his job, is like an updated, puzzlingly childlike Cheeverian confection.

DTF St. Louis is definitely a little weird at the start, but viewers’ patience will be rewarded with a quirky but interesting mystery starting in Episode 2.

If it were solely a series about sex, the tender yet confounding “DTF St. Louis” would be one cool piece of work. .... Usually, one would have a pretty solid idea of where things were headed after watching more than half a series. Yet “DTF St. Louis” is so emotionally elusive I’m less confident than usual in my clairvoyance.