The Stranger

:

Season 1
  • Network: Netflix
  • Series Premiere Date: Jan 30, 2020
Metascore
62

Generally favorable reviews - based on 5 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
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Critic Reviews

  1. Salon
    Reviewed by: Melanie McFarland
    Jan 30, 2020
    70
    Labyrinthine as its multiple cases – with details muddied by well-concealed deceptions or good old fashioned controlled substances – the performances are enough of an attractant to keep a person engaged initially, ensnaring them eventually. ... In elevating the emotional stakes to the same level as the conspiracy, Brocklehurst imbues "The Stranger" with a weight that stays with the viewer more effectively than all the other weekend crimetime options parading across TV schedules.
  2. Decider
    Reviewed by: Joel Keller
    Jan 31, 2020
    60
    It’s your typical Coben yarn, with multiple and seemingly unrelated threads going on at once, characters who have dark secrets that are alluded to but not mentioned outright until enough tension is drawn out, and mysteries upon mysteries.
  3. The Telegraph
    Reviewed by: Anita Singh
    Jan 30, 2020
    60
    Plots pile on top of one another, leaving us to work out how or if they’re linked. ... Not dark enough to be great, but highly bingeable.
  5. The Independent
    Reviewed by: Ed Cumming
    Jan 30, 2020
    60
    The bigger question is whether you care enough to wait for the answers. The Stranger is a curious beast, an almost-pure mystery, which shows its machinery so nakedly that it almost defies you to switch off. Whether you binge the entire series in an afternoon or hurl the controller out of the window in frustration will depend mainly on your tolerance for being mucked around.
  6. The Guardian
    Reviewed by: Tim Dowling
    Jan 30, 2020
    60
    A strong and sprawling cast (Stephen Rea is also in it, as is Jennifer Saunders) work hard to keep all the balls in the air, and you will feel a strong urge to watch the second episode immediately, if only to clear up a few things. Without wishing to spoil anything, I can tell you that the second episode only muddies the waters further, and the third episode further still.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
4.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 25 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 25
  3. Negative: 11 out of 25
  1. ExTexan
    Feb 4, 2020
    8
    Why all the hate? This series threw in everything but the kitchen sink, but that’s what I liked about it. There was a new twist about everyWhy all the hate? This series threw in everything but the kitchen sink, but that’s what I liked about it. There was a new twist about every five minutes, making this the least predictable series I’ve watched in a long time. I appreciate that. Thought it was a fun watch.… Full Review »
  2. macdavid
    Feb 8, 2020
    9
    Very good. Suspense untill the last episode. And it's true: everyone has a secret.
  3. Angel_Sigh
    Feb 15, 2020
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. One of the single most idiotic, ridiculous TV dramas I've ever seen. Every character has a huge secret that connects them to every other character in the most comically silly way, everyone speaks in an intentionally cryptic fashion so that the completely nonsensical plot isn't revealed all in one go, no-one behaves normally, no-one has a brain, no-one is funny, or human, or loving or interesting. They're all just props, there to propel the plot along at its both-too-slow-and-too-fast pace. There isn't a single second where you think of any of these lurching, frowning, derpy on-screen shapes as actual human beings. They're just gormless gears in a machine made by a madman.

    I've given it an extra mark because(SPOILER) Jennifer Saunders gets murdered in cold-blood quite early on. Obviously that's been the highlight so far, although a fat teenage character ran face-first into a tree trunk at one point too, and the collision made a satisfying 'thunk-crack' noise in the process.

    It's an utterly deranged show: like some AI researchers fed a hundred of the most mind-numbing crime dramas into an AI program and asked it to come up with a script. And halfway through, the AI program attained a kind of confused, inchoate level of sentience, and developed a childlike fascination with alpacas.
    Tonal lurches, terrible attempts at humour, Alpaca attacks.... To be honest, even though it's terrible, I am at least bothering to review it; because there's something fascinating about it.
    it's SO awful and stupid and ridiculous it lurches into the realm of the absurd, and while - when you first start watching - you'll think it's just a bit rubbish, as the episodes go by you begin to realise it's more than that: it's uniquely bad, in a kind of hallucinogenic, free-form, mildly terrifying way. And it becomes so bad around the third or fourth episode(time began to break down for me during my binge-watch, I'm not sure how many episodes I actually ended up sitting through) that you begin to wonder what other people might think about it, and begin to want to get their opinions on it too. And that's...sort of a recommendation....

    So...its terrible plot regularly made me think I'd fallen asleep and was lucid dreaming...but at the same time, if you're like me and you like noting cliches and plot holes and stupid narrative details, you really should watch the first two or three episodes just to get a taste of one of the most unbelievably awful TV dramas ever made.

    I promise, give it time and it'll win you under.    … Full Review »
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