The Night Of

:

Season 1
  • Network: HBO
  • Series Premiere Date: Jul 10, 2016
Season #: 2, 1
User Score
8.8

Universal acclaim- based on 522 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 478 out of 522
  2. Mixed: 22 out of 522
  3. Negative: 22 out of 522
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User Reviews

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  1. McBean
    Aug 30, 2016
    6
    This started off great, with a deliberately slow pace and a really authentic air to the proceedings. The acting was excellent by everyone concerned and the production values and technical skill were high. Although the screenplay ended up lacking, the dialogue was very good throughout. The first episode in particular was extremely well done in terms of pacing and tension. This level ofThis started off great, with a deliberately slow pace and a really authentic air to the proceedings. The acting was excellent by everyone concerned and the production values and technical skill were high. Although the screenplay ended up lacking, the dialogue was very good throughout. The first episode in particular was extremely well done in terms of pacing and tension. This level of overall quality was sustained for roughly six episodes with only a few minor missteps. **SPOILERS AHEAD***

    That said, the 7th and 8th episodes take a huge nosedive in terms of credibility, and the finale is supremely unsatisfying:

    Exhibit A - Chandra Kapoor's actions and motivations are silly. Kissing her client while in jail - a client she hardly even knows - then smuggling drugs in for him shortly thereafter? I'm not buying that.

    Exhibit B - The multiple alternate suspects emerging at the trial have back stories ranging from scant to highly contrived. The step father has the most to gain, but in the end only serves as a counterpoint to the other suspicious characters. The undertaker's actions under initial questioning are stupid - he'd never admit to such misogynistic thoughts to a stranger, who happens to be a (female) lawyer investigating the death of a woman he was recently in contact with - especially if he had actually committed the crime. Duane Reade's backstory is hilariously identical to someone who could have committed the specific crime in question. And then that Ray guy pops up out of nowhere, half an hour from the end of the final episode, with a motivation that seemed dreamed up at the last minute.

    Exhibit C - It seems extremely far-fetched that any jury would not convict Naz with the evidence they'd been presented with.The amount of physical and circumstantial evidence pointing towards Naz being guilty is overwhelming, any alternative suspects seemed scraped up in a desperate scramble by his defence team to throw anything at the wall in the hopes that something would stick, and Naz himself first accepts a plea in exchange for leniency, then changes his mind and proclaims his innocence, then finally admits after being asked directly if he killed the girl says, 'I don't know'. What jury wouldn't convict in those circumstances?

    Exhibit D - The audience never finds out who killed Andrea. And in fact doesn't even know that Naz isn't the killer.

    It's a real shame this ended up the way it did. It had so much potential. If the makers had tread the thin line of credibility as carefully in the second half of the series as they did in the first then this would have been a truly memorable affair.    … Expand
  2. coreym
    Sep 2, 2016
    4
    Started off well, good production values and solid acting, but poor writing and over indulgent characterisations and lots of filler episodes. Very poor finale.

    One of those shows that thinks its clever, but isn't really.
    I note most of the reviews here are based on the pilot episode, so this skews the rating.
  3. Jspotter89
    Aug 30, 2016
    6
    So, The Night Of turned out to not live up to the promise that was so clearly evident in it's first episode.

    The best way I can describe it is that it is a thoroughly watchable, but ultimately frustrating show. The list of positives are many: great acting, great atmosphere, and a great hook in the first episode that reels you in and demands that you pay attention. Turturro and Riz Ahmed    So, The Night Of turned out to not live up to the promise that was so clearly evident in it's first episode.

    The best way I can describe it is that it is a thoroughly watchable, but ultimately frustrating show. The list of positives are many: great acting, great atmosphere, and a great hook in the first episode that reels you in and demands that you pay attention. Turturro and Riz Ahmed were outstanding in their roles, and Michael K. Williams was fantastic, as always. Individual scenes and character moments were first rate.

    But as the series continued, I became more and more confounded by some of the writing choices and plot points the show kept harping on. The problem seems to have been that the size of the story that was being told was simply too large for the format that was telling it. What was the ultimate message this show was trying to convey? Was it a procedural drama, a murder mystery, a vehicle to explore the criminal justice system and how it often is more focused on results than on actual justice, or a depiction of how prison can take a law-abiding citizen and turn him into an animal as a means of survival? It was a little of all of these things, but in trying to wear so many hats, it diluted the message as a whole.

    To wit, the characters occasionally made decisions that made very little sense in the context in which they were made. Naz, primarily, was a thoroughly interesting, but ultimately infuriating character to follow. I found myself rooting for him to survive this ordeal with his life and freedom at the start of the series, but being utterly indifferent to how he ended up by the finale. This was because in the first half of the series, he is depicted as an unremarkable but likeable teenager who finds himself utterly out of his depth in a world he had never experienced. By the end of the series, he is right hand to the kingpin of Rikers Island, assisting him in murder, partaking in the drug trade, and other unflattering if understandable behaviors. This course of events was all well and good, but it was never explained to the viewer in any satisfying way. We don't witness Naz make this change, it just sort of happens. Maybe that was the point, that the prison system takes fresh-faced young people and churns them into hardened convicts. Again, too many messages and not enough time to play them all out.

    Naz's attorney Chandra was the most plainly misused character in the series. The events of the finale utterly gutted her character of credibility. First, she kisses Naz in a holding cell, an act that she must have known would result in the destruction of her career, and should have known would have been on camera. This act happens almost totally out of any sense of context, because there is barely any establishment of any attraction between the two characters. It just happens. Finally, and most non-sensically, she agrees to help Naz smuggle drugs into the prison. It seems left to the viewer to determine why she does this, but now she isn't just risking her career, she's risking jail time.

    Ultimately, the story is interesting. The acting keeps it enticing. But there's a lot of bizarre choices made along the way that make The Night Of a perplexing, if interesting, watch.    … Expand
  4. LordFAFA
    Jul 26, 2016
    6
    I'm truly surprised by the high ratings over here. I've only seen the first episode so the rest of the season must be mind-blowing then, because the pilot was really, really predictable. Maybe that was the intention or something. To each their own :)
  5. marco34la
    Aug 27, 2016
    4
    I'm 5 episodes in and have to say -- this show is grossly OVER-RATED. The series shoots its load in the last 30 mins of episode 1... the rest is all downhill. SNOOZER.
  6. Lakyforever
    Aug 20, 2016
    5
    had promise in the first few episodes.
    now it has drifted into being just another free **** show in which showrunner decides what random stuff to fill and what direction to take it to, depending on what they eat for breakfast...
  7. wicker771
    Sep 28, 2016
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Fantastic opener, great ending, muddled middle. The prison scenes leave a lot to be desired, and Ahmed's transformation is hard to believe. Neck tattoos? You're supposed to be innocent, why are you getting neck tattoos. There is also a scene featuring the the female lawyer sneaking contraband. As unbelievable as it gets. Good show, far from great.… Expand
  8. EraserTraceur
    Jan 14, 2017
    4
    I am rating this a 4/10 for the average rating of this show being a 9 just to calm the fan boyism off from what this show actually is....and I just didnt enjoy it. The show for the first 15 minutes....I was on board, I was like yeah he is a smart tutor person...I know he has a party to go to, who is this chick??? I have to keep this short..

    I enjoy Game of Thrones,Breaking Bad, Diners    I am rating this a 4/10 for the average rating of this show being a 9 just to calm the fan boyism off from what this show actually is....and I just didnt enjoy it. The show for the first 15 minutes....I was on board, I was like yeah he is a smart tutor person...I know he has a party to go to, who is this chick??? I have to keep this short..

    I enjoy Game of Thrones,Breaking Bad, Diners Drive ins and Dives, theres always something happening, and yes I may be a sucker for action and stuff "happening" and tend to shy away from dramas, Mr Robt I gave up on, Walking Dead I gave up on, all had good promise like this show...but just fell off, OMG Luke Cage is just NO.

    The protagonist here does nothing...weird mamsy pamsy stuff.....what happened for the whole first episode??? he stole a cab...got arrested....stayed quiet....just sits there.... NOTHING HAPPENED....
    NEXT. Im gonna go watch the Wire season 1 because I heard good things.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

5
#5 Best TV Season of 2016
14
#14 Most Discussed TV Season of 2016
21
#21 Most Shared TV Season of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
90

Universal acclaim - based on 40 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 38 out of 40
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 40
  3. Negative: 0 out of 40
  1. The Lincoln Journal Star
    Reviewed by: Jeff Korbelik
    Jul 11, 2016
    100
    The wide-eyed Ahmed is perfect as the naive young man who can’t seem to make a right decision. That is until he agrees to let Turturro’s Jack Stone help him. And Turturro hits the right notes as the cynical attorney who has his work cut out for him.
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  2. The Daily Beast
    Reviewed by: Marlow Stern
    Jul 11, 2016
    90
    Though its title screams Christmas flick, HBO’s absorbing new miniseries is a pitch-black procedural that combines the system-is-broken outrage of Making a Murderer, the menacing atmosphere of Oz, and the shameless topicality and plot twists of Law & Order: SVU. And the first of its eight hour-long chapters plays like an elegant, extended version of the first three minutes of SVU.
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  3. Newark Star-Ledger
    Reviewed by: Vicki Hyman
    Jul 11, 2016
    100
    How Naz's religion (he's the American-born son of Pakistani immigrants) becomes a factor in the case is a natural part of the narrative but never feels like a polemic--The Night Of is too subtle for that. Its brilliance is in the way, thanks to the moody, unrushed direction and pointed, spare dialogue, everything feels freighted with meaning.
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