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CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
9
Mixed:
12
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews
Mar 2, 2016
Season 1 Review:
Ms. Bans employs a flashback structure that keeps things lively, repeatedly revisiting the day that Adam vanished from different angles. Yes, this show is guilty-pleasure fare, but, at least after two episodes, it holds interest rather well, and it has only just begun to open all those closets where family secrets hide.
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Feb 29, 2016
Season 1 Review:
What makes the series click are the peripheral characters. Margot Bingham plays a detective who thought she solved the case, and Florina Lima is the newspaper reporter who suspects something’s hinky with the Warrens. The best is veteran actor Andrew McCarthy, who plays the neighbor imprisoned for the boy’s murder and released after his sudden return. He is intense and scary.
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Mar 3, 2016
Season 1 Review:
The latest entry is about kidnapping, not murder or terrorism, but it is the same sort of mystery and even includes the same sort of flashbacks that have proven so popular in those other [ABC] shows.... The Family gets off to a good enough start that I'll tune in to watch another episode or two, at least. Whether this is worth sticking with remains to be seen.
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Mar 3, 2016
Season 1 Review:
If the series ultimately gives in to the kind of structural gimmicks that keep its first episodes from moving forward--like the flashbacks upon flashbacks--it could easily collapse in on itself and settle into being a decent, if unremarkable drama. But if it takes a step back, pares down some of those devices, and lets its compelling characters tell the stories, The Family could become something a whole lot more interesting.
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Mar 3, 2016
Season 1 Review:
A last-minute reveal in tonight’s episode is dropped for shock value and is all but retracted next week. The twisting in the story is a betrayal of viewer trust.... With a story like The Family, everyone needs to be paying attention to the fine details. But at least we get to enjoy Allen in our homes every week, for a time, anyway.
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Mar 2, 2016
Season 1 Review:
When Allen and McCarthy are given scenes that reflect the way actual human beings might respond to the loss and return of a child, or the loss and return of freedom, Family momentarily takes your breath away. But then it’s off again, either making the characters so hateful that you have a hard time caring how the story turns out, or making the situations so crassly titillating, you have a hard time justifying your continued presence.
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Mar 3, 2016
Season 1 Review:
You’re meant to get hooked in the mystery of Danny and the reactions he provokes. Where’s he been? Who really kidnapped him? Was he kidnapped? Is this Adam the original Adam? Why did one member of the family apparently frame Hank? I can’t say I was very intrigued by these provocative questions, mostly because The Family does such a poor job of dramatizing them in a lively, believable manner.
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RogerEbert.comMar 2, 2016
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