Tyrant
FX | Release Date: June 24, 2014
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
56
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 44 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
20
Negative:
5
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Boston HeraldMark A. PerigardJun 24, 2014
Season 1 Review: Tyrant is the most engrossing new show of the summer.... Gordon’s razor-sharp timing, a skill honed on “24,” serves Tyrant well. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesLori RacklJun 23, 2014
Season 1 Review: The pilot is riveting but, like our protagonist Barry, a bit joyless. Here’s hoping the series doesn’t collapse under the weight of its own gravitas; it’s a compelling premise that plays out in a part of the world not often seen on TV. Read full review
83
NewsdayVerne GayJun 15, 2015
Season 2 Review: By the end of the first season, the show had improved significantly, if not quite dramatically, and based on a viewing of the first two episodes, that trend continues. Read full review
80
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob OwenJun 23, 2014
Season 1 Review: In its early episodes, Tyrant is as engaging when it focuses on family drama as when it veers more in the direction of taut, serialized, political thriller. Read full review
75
NewsdayVerne GayJun 30, 2016
Season 3 Review: Tyrant gets a welcome addition, along with more intrigue. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyRay RahmanJun 30, 2015
Season 2 Review: The war crimes scares off potential friends like France and China, and gives the show an absorbing current-events sheen. [3 Jul 2015]
75
USA TodayRobert BiancoJun 23, 2014
Season 1 Review: In essence, Tyrant is a ruling-family variant on The Godfather, shifted from Italy and America to the Middle East. But don't dismiss the shift out of hand: That move is precisely what makes Tyrant so intriguing--and so troubling. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandJun 23, 2014
Season 1 Review: Both "The Godfather" and Tyrant are, at heart, about family dynamics. As the Al-Fayeed story evolves beyond Tuesday's pilot, that fact becomes clearer. Read full review
70
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen GrayJun 16, 2015
Season 2 Review: At its best, it's a family drama in an unusual setting. And after some tweaking, a more entertaining one. Read full review
70
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniJun 16, 2015
Season 2 Review: Fascinating and perplexing, enjoyable and frustrating, intelligent and obtuse at the same time. Read full review
70
The WrapTim MolloyJun 24, 2014
Season 1 Review: It's just a good story, cleverly told. It's not going to resolve the troubles in the Middle East, but then again, neither has anything else. Read full review
70
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoJun 24, 2014
Season 1 Review: The cast, and the potential arc of the well-performed lead, will keep audiences interested but this show needs to be more engaging on an episode-to-episode level soon or they’ll move on. Read full review
70
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen GrayJun 24, 2014
Season 1 Review: Tyrant looks great. The cast is excellent.... The family soap opera might be more fun if the stakes weren't so high, the politics more riveting if Barry's reform attempts weren't so obviously doomed. Read full review
70
Denver PostJoanne OstrowJun 23, 2014
Season 1 Review: The cinematography is stunning, the music and atmospherics are immersive. With occasional hiccups the acting is mostly subtle. Suspension of disbelief will be required (how else can Bassam/Barry slip out of his father's palace in the middle of the night to rendez-vous with an old journalist buddy?) But Tyrant is worth the effort. Read full review
67
The Lincoln Journal StarJeff KorbelikJun 30, 2014
Season 1 Review: It’s brutal, violent and graphic. And it’s a story we’ve seen before. Read full review
67
Uncle BarkyEd BarkJun 23, 2014
Season 1 Review: Tyrant strives to be big, momentous and powerful. But while sometimes jabbing to good effect, it lacks a heavyweight’s punch. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyMelissa MaerzJun 20, 2014
Season 1 Review: Gordon has said that he's trying to dramatize the "complexity" of the Middle East, but there's not a lot of depth to the pilot.... If there's one thing that saves Tyrant, it's Bassam. By the end of the pilot, he's not the boring, all-moral hero that he seems. Read full review
63
New York PostRobert RorkeJun 24, 2014
Season 1 Review: The Middle East of Gordon’s Tyrant is as explosive as on “24” and “Homeland,” but he’s much better at letting the special effects guys manufacture the blasts than he is at creating those moments with his characters. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchGail PenningtonJun 24, 2014
Season 1 Review: The first episode of Tyrant, the only one I've seen, is both exotic (the cultural elements surrounding the wedding are fascinating) and unfortunately trite, to the point of embracing stereotypes about the Middle East that some early viewers have found offensive. Read full review
Current TV Shows
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 92 The Pitt: Season 2
2 90 The Celebrity Traitors UK: Season 1
3 87 Hacks: Season 5
4 87 Industry: Season 4
5 87 Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal:...
6 85 The Beatles Anthology
7 85 The Traitors [UK]: Season 4
8 85 Bait: Season 1
9 84 Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!
10 83 Lord of the Flies
11 83 Riot Women: Season 1
12 83 For All Mankind: Season 5
13 81 The Muppet Show (2026)
14 80 Outlander (2014): Season 8
15 80 The Other Bennet Sister: Season 1
16 80 The Mighty Nein: Season 1
17 80 The Comeback: Season 3
18 80 The American Revolution
19 80 One Piece (2023): Season 2
20 80 Dark Winds: Season 4
SEE ALL