Run (2020)

Run, the new HBO series created by Vicky Jones, who directed the stage production of Fleabag, is a beam of glorious light and a jolt of electricity. It’s also an absorbing piece of escapism. ... Merritt Wever and Domhnall Gleeson generate more heat than I’ve seen since … well, since Fleabag crossed paths with the Hot Priest in season two of Fleabag. ... By the fourth episode of Run, what started out as the honoring of a tantalizing, risky pact veers into something much more dangerous. Without seeing the last two episodes, it’s hard to say whether that tonal shift fully works. Either way, Run is still very much worth watching.

When Run is at its most authentic, it truly shines as a character study, honestly searching for how something so outlandish would really work. In those moments, it never shies away from the truth that we can’t run from ourselves, and Wever and Gleeson plays that sadness with aplomb. But again, once things start spiraling so out of control that it reaches territory that can never be undone in these characters’ lives, it has the potential to lose some of that authenticity as it moves towards bigger and bigger moments.

Mixing sexual farce and Hitchcockian suspense, it unfurls with such speed and vigour that you feel constantly wrong-footed. It’s jittery, sardonic – and quite brilliant.

An energetic hybrid of rom-com and action thriller whose half-hour episodes move as swiftly as the vehicle that is their primary setting.

Running just seven episodes, “Run” makes a strong case for short-term series. Stopping when it should, not when producers think it can’t be squeezed anymore, the half-hour series rarely lags, even when some twists seem forced. Waller-Bridge created the template for something like this. Now, Jones borrows the playbook and two extremely talented actors make it worth the risk.

"Run" is a work that proves more surprising, shocking, seductive, funny and powerful the less you know about it, but it earns it trust from the top of the series through Wever's unwavering performance and her chemistry with Domhnall Gleeson as Billy Johnson.

An exhilarating exercise in dark and bracingly original romantic comedy. [13 - 26 Apr 2020, p.5]

You may not know exactly where you’re heading at first, but Run promises — and plays with how much it wants to fulfill — quite the captivating treasure map along the way.

Run is distinctively Jones’ voice, but it has a lot of what made Waller-Bridge’s work so popular: dark humor, unstable chemistry, razor-sharp editing, and a narrow focus on the contradictions of human intimacy.

The best of “Run” has that razor-sharp wit that made Waller-Bridge famous, but it’s really the work by Wever and Gleeson that elevates it into a must-watch. ... Some of the plotting in the first five episodes of “Run” is a bit questionable but every time this threatens to go off course, Wever or Gleeson will find that perfect character beat. While I’m still not 100% sure the whole thing works narratively, these episodes have wonderful individual moments.

It takes a while for “Run” to find its footing — is this a drama with comedy, or a comedic farce with drama? — but when events heat up, we get some fantastically funny set pieces, including the brutal demise of one particular player. This is a well-filmed show.

The late-season developments have the unintended effect of absolving Ruby and Billy of their responsibility, which robs Run of its earlier potency. Like its protagonists, Run makes regrettable choices; hopefully, the show will also have a chance to course-correct in its final two episodes.

There’s great potential for a fun road-trip comedy here.

“Run” is a little of each, not at the same time, and one of its weaknesses in the early episodes is its lurching among tones as it pulls the emergency brake on one and launches into another. But on the strength of its nerve and two strong lead performances, it’s a jittery, often darkly funny ride, propelled by a hellbent, coal-fired plot engine.

Wever’s boundless appeal, and Gleeson’s willingness to make an ass of himself early and often, go a long way towards compensating for the dawning possibility that Ruby is right to hate herself for what they’ve done. But Run is often neither fish nor fowl in its blend of different tones and genres: rarely funny enough when it’s trying to be a straightforward comedy, nor taut enough when it shifts into mystery mode.

“Run” does, however, suffer from leaning too hard on its leads’ (admittedly scorching) chemistry rather than tightening its story, which quickly takes some needlessly complicated turns. ... It doesn’t hurt that Wever and Gleeson make a five-course meal out of every stolen glance, buoyed by Gleeson’s lethally charming portrayal of Billy’s neuroses and Wever tearing into Ruby’s latent fury with palpable relish.

They only meet expectations, and thus fall short of the series’ on-paper potential. With this cast, Jones’ lead, and Waller-Bridge’s involvement (no matter how minor), “Run” can still find its groove. Once Billy and Ruby stop fleeing from reality and face their past, viewers will know whether they’re a couple worth following.