Good Behavior

The true accomplishment of Good Behavior, created by Chad Hodge and Blake Crouch (based on Crouch’s novel), is that none of this seems as hokey as it sounds. Dockery digs deep and gives a frenetic and often moving performance.

Good Behavior so far is a work in progress with two leads who show considerable promise in terms of making it all work.

Good Behavior surrounds its star with so much deep and heady dramatics; dark, foreboding settings; and an ample and able supporting cast that it might actually last a while.

Not only is Raines a crook, but she’s an alcoholic and an addict. It takes some getting used to seeing Dockery in this role. Botto, though, is perfect, suave and sinister as the hitman.

Good Behavior is both a caper drama and a dark romance, and Dockery and Botto sizzle together.

Dockery’s rousing chameleonic performance, along with the tension-filled interplay she has with Botto, are enough to have us hoping that Good Behavior will ultimately be as good as it can be.

Dockery and Botto have heat to spare, and troubling as Letty and Javier’s partnership may be, the actors’ performances make us believe that the two have enough in common for the plot to evolve into a standout narrative.

Their [Michelle Dockery and Juan Diego Botto] chemistry--both between the characters and the actors--is formidable. ... [But] It’s hard to figure out how Hodge and Crouch will make the show’s central relationship work more comfortably and believably moving forward.

Good Behavior is entertaining in its own shaggy way and, at the very least, a solid addition to a network whose one-hour drama track record has otherwise been somewhat spotty.

Letty may be a hot mess, but she’s an essentially decent person--why, she even listens to self-help tapes to try and psych herself into leading a better life. But if you let the show carry you along--especially into the strong second episode, directed by Carl Franklin--you may find yourself rooting for these antiheroes.

Good Behavior kicks off as maybe the best drama pilot TNT has produced since Southland, while Dockery's new direction as a bad girl is wonderfully realized--and a very welcome relief for anyone tired of the reserved Lady Mary. ... But more than anything, Good Behavior's pivotal fourth episode will need to address how Letty and Javier stay together and why--and it can't take place in a car with a fading battery. If there's a convincing way to keep these two connected, Good Behavior could really be something for TNT.

Letty's evolving rapport with Javier is intriguing, and Dockery and Botto generate sufficient chemistry. Good Behavior is good enough. Whether it can be something better is a story to be told. [11 Nov 2016, p.50]

[Letty and Javier's] playfully perverse, masochistic 50 Shade of Huh? relationship makes for a ludicrous nut enjoyable steamy and sordid noir thriller, TNT's latest overwrought walk on the dark side. [21 Nov 2016 - 4 Dec 2016, p.19]

This is a strangely not-quite-there show, one that has assembled all the elements of a classic but settles for being watchable.

Mr. Hodge and Mr. Crouch, who share the writing in the early episodes, can’t seem to find the balance between suspense and incipient romance. The best part of the show is the sniping banter between Ms. Dockery and Mr. Botto, but there isn’t enough of it, and it’s so out of tune with the mystery and murder plot--which is grim and rather pedestrian--that you’re never really prepared for it.

The show is energizing and a fun thrill ride in its first hour until Letty falls off the wagon. Then it just turns depressing, meandering down a dark road that’s in keeping with TNT’s new aesthetic, but a bit too far out of step with how Good Behavior plays until that point.

Good Behavior may develop into a guilty pleasure once it gets past the icky origins of its romance, but its value along the way--primarily, an ass-kicking female protagonist taking vengeance on oppressive, rotten men--is largely mooted by a relationship contrary to that very mission.

Letty might actually be a better protagonist for an old-school TNT show, taking on another caper and identity in each episode. Forced into a dark, gritty ongoing storyline, she ends up a chore to watch.

These two criminals are supposed to have chemistry so we need another scene to set that up. Good Behavior, based on a series of novels by Blake Crouch (“Wayward Pines”), has some very awkward moments like these. The series also saddles Letty with way too much baggage, requisite for any “flawed” TV character.

Good Behavior is a convoluted antihero crime drama, prone to episode bloat and pulpy titillation. Too little vision spread out over too many episodes, the blank spaces of Good Behavior throw its limitations--plot, perspective, performance, and a lot of product placement for automotive brands--into sharper relief.