Swarm

The “Swarm” finale may not satisfy all viewers – it’s somewhat open to interpretation and not concrete – but it is a fitting finale to easily one of the year’s best, most outrageous series.

A sharp, introspective style — relying on disturbing ambient sounds, changing color gradients and consistent shifts to Dre's first-person perspective — allows for the audience to have a way in. And Fishback's performance, mysterious and unsettling while also tapping into measures of deep pain and sadness, completes the picture.

Fishback's work channels the same way those characters have revealed the ids of their time period and left an unforgettable mark. Every pop culture movement creates its own killer. "Swarm" is just getting in formation.

It’s a spellbinding horror story about our fascination with celebrities and the loneliness and isolation many feel when they are stuck on the outside of a star’s inner circle. ... Expect Fishback to be collecting awards for her take-no-prisoners performance.

Donald Glover proves he can do horror too with Swarm, anchored by a dazzling lead performance from Dominique Fishback.

Glover and Nabers have crafted a production that looks past the fan and shows the heavily-damaged person behind her, but without trying to make her likable or justifiable. I binged the season almost without break, and I'm sure a lot of others are going to do that too.

Seven episodes is maybe one more than we needed, and the finale runs out of steam. Episode 6, “Fallin Through the Cracks,” will certainly have its fans, though its loose construction needed further refinement to better justify such blunt (but effective!) choices. Still, with Fishback a riveting constant, well-deployed gallows humor, and more to the story than meets the eye, the buzz around “Swarm” is worth hearing out.

It’s the tension between the show’s satirical elements and what it tries to achieve outside of them that makes it so engaging.

A spectacular showcase for Fishback. ... The only true misstep comes in the back half of the season, which features a big stylistic swing that not only fails, but manages to break the morbid trance the show spends so much time earning. ... That one miscalculation aside, “Swarm” is a trip worth taking.

The vivid imagery, absurdist humor, and intelligent homages will do well to ensnare an audience to “Swarm.” While Dre’s erratic and compulsive behavior may be hard for some to stomach. Although the show only really scratches the surface of pop culture infatuation, it still manages to be a wild ride into the dark side of pop culture infatuation.

“Swarm” certainly isn’t for everyone, and without spoiling anything, viewers should be forewarned that it is dark, violent and occasionally unsettling. Yet the theme that the show tackles feels significant enough to deserve a hearing in this age where people form communities around Internet-connected passions, and Fishback is one of those performers who can keep you riveted without uttering a word, speaking volumes with the pain and longing in her eyes.

Fishback is the key to the watchability of Swarm. As her character becomes a more experienced killer, Fishback becomes more confident in her performance. The show is definitely stylishly shot (Glover directed the first episode), but much of that would be empty without Fishback’s performance.

Swarm is an incredibly bizarre series that’s definitely going to split opinion, and it’s easy to imagine a lot of people failing to make it to the end. That being said, if you can get on the same wavelength of such a strikingly unique, relentlessly eccentric, oftentimes emotionally manipulative, and relentlessly singular approach, then cult favorite status surely beckons.

Fishback is scintillating, giving a performance that had me rewatching laugh-out-loud or heartbreaking beats. ... It’s a performance of deliriously bizarre choices anchoring a show of deliriously bizarre choices, and I wish I could be as confidently effusive about Swarm as I am about its star.

"Swarm" plays with form the way "Atlanta" was able to completely switch styles from one episode to the next, and it finds freedom in its narrative looseness. If only it had more going on underneath its hood. ... But at least with Fishback in the driver's seat, the ride is never dull.