• Network: Netflix
  • Series Premiere Date: Feb 23, 2018
Metascore
68

Generally favorable reviews - based on 20 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 20
  2. Negative: 0 out of 20

Critic Reviews

  1. Reviewed by: Ken Tucker
    Feb 23, 2018
    60
    The series would certainly benefit from some editorial tightening--reducing its number of episodes to five or six would have made it considerably more exciting. As its stands, Seven Seconds is admirably acted, but it’s a slow grind.
  2. Reviewed by: James Poniewozik
    Feb 22, 2018
    60
    Seven Seconds is good at showing its characters’ pain; it’s less effective at giving them a more rounded humanity, as Showtime’s series “The Chi”--also about the aftermath of violence--has done much better. But there’s a purity of dark vision driving the series, if you’re willing to take it without sweetener.
  3. Reviewed by: Brian Tallerico
    Feb 22, 2018
    60
    There’s a solid, more consistent and shorter version of Seven Seconds within the 10-episode version premiering this week. It’s up to you if you have the time to find it.
  4. Reviewed by: Maureen Ryan
    Feb 22, 2018
    50
    Seven Seconds doesn’t display any more storytelling discipline than “The Killing” did, and Netflix’s habit of indulging overlong episodic running times plagues “Seven Seconds,” which turns into a chore despite a promising start.
  5. Reviewed by: Kelly Lawler
    Feb 22, 2018
    50
    The series does make its point, that nothing is fair and the institutions designed to protect us are broken, even if it does so with an extremely heavy hand. It's hard, especially when King is onscreen, not to be reminded of ABC's superior American Crime, which more deftly handled complex social issues and told a better story in the process. If only there was a little more depth behind those Seven Seconds.
  6. Reviewed by: David Wiegand
    Feb 21, 2018
    50
    As it plods along, Seven Seconds is often redeemed by superb performances from actors who are constantly called on to make the best of overwritten and not always credible dialogue.
User Score
6.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 39 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 28 out of 39
  2. Negative: 6 out of 39
  1. Mar 19, 2018
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. **** this show. I don't watch a show to be force-fed a ridiculously ham-fisted message about the injustice black people face in our justice system. I am well aware of that, I'm not stupid. When I spend 10 HOURS watching a show, which by the way is the slowest show I've probably ever watched in my life, I expect some kind of payoff. But nope, **** you, the bad guys win, nobody pays for anything bad done throughout the show, and the main characters don't grow or change at all. What a waste of time. Full Review »
  2. Mar 12, 2018
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. The premise is sound, the acting is excellent and the ending is realistic. That said, some of the plotting is horrendous. A major witness conveniently turns up dead having been murdered by one of the police officers under indictment. The ME calls it an accidental overdose. But the lead investigator sees scratch marks . . . potential signs of a struggle, on the arm of one of the suspects. And, in an example of either the worst detective work ever or dreadful plotting, it never occurs to the investigator or the prosecutor to have the victim’s fingernails checked for DNA evidence. Now I get it that prosecutorial incompetence is one of the themes of the series, but this takes it into the realm of the simply idiotic. Full Review »
  3. Mar 9, 2018
    4
    Drawwwwwwwn out as slooowwwwwly as possible to justify 10 episodes. Obviously trying to copy American Crime Story who was a far superior showDrawwwwwwwn out as slooowwwwwly as possible to justify 10 episodes. Obviously trying to copy American Crime Story who was a far superior show where characters were far more complex. In this show, cliches galore abound in a lazily assembled story. Full Review »