Past Life
FOX | Release Date: February 9, 2010
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
42
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
10
Negative:
8

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
30
The New York TimesMike Hale
Season 1 Review: A crime drama doesn’t need soft edges if it has crisp plotting and interesting characters, but the first two stories on Past Life are startlingly generic, and Kate, in lieu of a personality, is given a dog and a wacky mother. Read full review
30
Deseret NewsScott D. Pierce
Season 1 Review: It's bad writing. It's lazy storytelling. It's ridiculous. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesMary McNamara
Season 1 Review: Past Life is created by David Hudgins ("Friday Night Lights"), who certainly knows his way around a script, so it is literally shocking how bad the writing is, with Whately grinding out such illuminations as "You can't get DNA from a memory" or "It's like all your life you've been playing this game and then someone changes the rules" until you want to scream. Read full review
30
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen
Season 1 Review: Past Life begins with a fairly ridiculous premise, and the show's bland leads don't make it anymore watchable. Read full review
30
TV Guide MagazineMatt Roush
Season 1 Review: Past Life is so glum, lugubrious and blandly cast I felt I had temporarily regressed into someone who in a past life hated television. Read full review
30
PopMattersCynthia Fuchs
Season 1 Review: Even as you’re hoping that she won’t have to conjure up variations on this explication theme every week, she does it a few more times in this episode alone. Read full review
25
USA TodayRobert Bianco
Season 1 Review: The weakness of the plot might matter less if the regular characters had something special to offer, but Past Life's are standard-issue blanks. Read full review
25
Slant MagazinePeter Swanson
Season 1 Review: As it is, Past Life is just a bad premise executed badly, and very unlikely to be given a second [life] season. Read full review
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