Satisfaction (2014)

:

Season 1
  • Network: USA
  • Series Premiere Date: Jul 17, 2014
Season #: 2, 2, 1
Metascore
63

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 19
  3. Negative: 1 out of 19
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Critic Reviews

  1. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Alessandra Stanley
    Jul 16, 2014
    60
    Satisfaction is the most daring, because it’s not really a comedy, and that makes its intent oblique and quasi-European.... The series picks up as it moves away from the couple’s problems and into the complications Neil’s new career creates.
  2. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: David Hinckley
    Jul 15, 2014
    60
    As drama, that new direction is interesting and may be darkly honest. It’s just unsettling, which will take some adjustment for viewers of a network that has rarely gone there.
  3. Boston Herald
    Reviewed by: Mark A. Perigard
    Jul 17, 2014
    58
    Satisfaction has the most provocative premise--until about halfway through when it doesn’t just go off the rails, it careens into the ocean, swims for England, sits for afternoon tea and then flings itself into the moon.
  5. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: Matt Zoller Seitz
    Jul 17, 2014
    50
    For every tired element, there are lovely, even mysterious touches.... Emotionally, I'm not sure that a lot of Satisfaction makes sense at all, but a certain strain of dream logic holds it together.
  6. Philadelphia Daily News
    Reviewed by: Ellen Gray
    Jul 17, 2014
    50
    Passmore's interesting to watch, but the characters are frustrating in their refusal to acknowledge that their obstacles are far from insurmountable.
  7. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Robert Bianco
    Jul 16, 2014
    50
    Passmore and Szostak give fine performances, and many viewers will no doubt appreciate having a drama that's designed to reflect modern life, without a crime or a medical crisis as a catalyst. They just might appreciate it more if it were a bit less grim and if the big plot twists felt a lot more organic.
  8. Time
    Reviewed by: James Poniewozik
    Jul 16, 2014
    50
    What the network is positioning Satisfaction as, and what it feels like it should be, is a morally complex story of two people experimenting with what makes them happy, the TV equivalent of a ‘70s adult-relationship movie. And for maybe a half-hour, the pilot feels like that.... And the back half of Satisfaction‘s premiere seems to lose its nerve.
  9. Hitfix
    Reviewed by: Alan Sepinwall
    Jul 17, 2014
    40
    Passmore's too bland to pull off the many dynamic emotional shifts Neil goes through, and the whole thing feels shapeless, providing little idea of how the series functions going forward.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 45 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 28 out of 45
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 45
  3. Negative: 7 out of 45
  1. Larryde
    Aug 22, 2014
    0
    I watched the next to last episode last night. What a farce! It is disjointed and goes nowhere. I have no interest in the season finaleI watched the next to last episode last night. What a farce! It is disjointed and goes nowhere. I have no interest in the season finale because it is obvious that it will be the same, leaving any resolution for a possible next season! Satisfaction gives me no satisfaction!… Full Review »
  2. calbertuk
    Aug 4, 2014
    7
    I'm usually not one for the bland USA network dramas but I'm not disappointed I gave Satisfaction a try. The show has an interesting premiseI'm usually not one for the bland USA network dramas but I'm not disappointed I gave Satisfaction a try. The show has an interesting premise and a very strong pilot. While the pilot can be a bit all over the place, it does have strong interesting characters. The show appears to be a lot less formulaic than other USA shows which could eventually make it one of the network's strongest shows.… Full Review »
  3. metabad
    Aug 2, 2014
    5
    And yet again do we have a show that makes us ask ourselves one question:
    Are we willing to buy into its unlikely premise?
    If you haven't    And yet again do we have a show that makes us ask ourselves one question:
    Are we willing to buy into its unlikely premise?

    If you haven't seen the first episode, the next paragraph will contain spoilers, so watch out for the,
    spoiler warnings, if you don't want too much information.

    *** Spoiler Start ***
    Neil and Grace are a married couple with a daughter, him working as an investment broker,
    her being a housewive trying to get back into a career as an architect.
    Both are not satisfied with their lives and while Neil looses his nerve and snaps on an airplane and
    in his bosses office with the risk of loosing his job, Grace calls an escort from time to time for..uhm...sex.

    Neil finds out about the escort and accidentally gets hold of the guys smartphone using it to try out being
    an escort himself. The escort, of course, doesn't like this at all.
    This will turn in into a plotline involving Neil and the escort having an escalating conflict.
    *** Spoiler End **

    This is the basic setup which doesn't simply have the problem that it's hard to believe,
    but has more problems, the biggest having to do with the marriage problems itself and with the character of Grace.

    Firstly, we are not seeing any real marital problems. They're basically both bored because things
    aren't fresh anymore after 20 years of marriage. Who can blame them?
    Yet we don't see absolutely no effort of realising the problem, talking about it and do same
    marriage counseling, for example.
    This has, for the most part, to do with Grace. She's almost an enigma.
    We don't know anything about her except she isn't satisfied with the marriage and wants to work as an architect, and that's it.
    We get no idea what she wants from Neil and the marriage. When she interacts with Neil, she shows almost no emotions.
    The show tries to make us believe that the problem is her lack of fulfillment in a job,
    but that's BS. We know that being successful in your job doesn't lead to a happy marriage by itself.
    Additionally the show focuses on Neil being the one responsible for the problems and him trying to change.
    But Grace doesn't do anything for the relationship. She isn't willing to talk about the problems
    even when Neil asks her whether she would tell him, if she had a problem.
    Grace has a sister, so that character could be used to put in some scenes with the two talking about
    Grace's marriage, so we could understand Grace better. No such thing.
    I came to the conclusion, that this is all deliberately done by the writers to keep the unlikely plot going.
    Only as long as Grace is kind of like a black hole, emotionally, guaranteeing no progress
    in dealing with the marital problems, this show is able to keep on going.
    If you can live with that, ok, but I call this a sham.
    The show is constructed in a way that I can't simple accept the unbelievable premise and get on with it,
    but I constantly have to question the credibility of the plot and I have to swallow that premise
    over and over again.
    Again and again, I ask myself: 'Ok, they have some not very severe marital problems, but how
    does that turn into this specific plotline that is constantly on the verge of spinning out of control?
    What? A party with everybody wearing masks? What's going on here, how did we get here?'.

    This show isn't bad at all, on the contrary, it's watchable.
    But I simply don't buy into it. Facing all those unlikely events happening, maybe a certain amount
    of humor would help, since the show lacks any kind of humor.
    I just think, that the unbelievable plotlines aren't matched by the heft of some real marital problems,
    making the the latter simply a lazy pretence for the former.    … Full Review »
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