- Network: Netflix
- Series Premiere Date: Jan 13, 2022
Critic Reviews
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We’re giving a cautious recommendation to The Journalist because we think writer Michihito Fujii has established the bones of a good story. But it needs to avoid getting bogged down in the details of the corruption and just get down to the business of examining everyone’s motivations in the scandal.
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This is wish fulfilment, based on the question that nags us most when we read about corruption and cover-ups: how can the people who did this sleep at night? We would love to see them unable to do so – and The Journalist indulges that desire. But it does so effectively, setting up simple stories about the emotional fallout of institutional cruelty to remind us what is at stake.
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The conspiracies never spiral into absurdity and the climactic court scenes and come-uppances still hit home. But it remains a strange amalgam of taut thriller and bizarre panto, addictive and believable when Yonekura is on screen, a little silly when some of the other actors are fabricating documents while saying “but this is… fabrication of documents!!!”