Z: The Beginning of Everything

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Season 1
Metascore
61

Generally favorable reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 17
  3. Negative: 1 out of 17
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Critic Reviews

  1. Collider
    Reviewed by: Allison Keene
    Jan 25, 2017
    60
    Ultimately Z: The Beginning of Everything is low-fi, escapist television that houses a serviceable biography with a fair amount of style, even though] its TV series format feels a little like a missed opportunity to tell the story in a different way.
  2. CNN
    Reviewed by: Brian Lowry
    Jan 28, 2017
    55
    Ricci is certainly convincing as a Southern Belle, and she helps make "Z" reasonably watchable. But when Scott grumbles in a later episode -- well before publishing "The Great Gatsy" -- "What if I never finish anything again?," there's a question whether, as a viewer, it's worth hanging around long enough to see him do it.
  3. The Huffington Post
    Reviewed by: David Hinckley
    Feb 22, 2017
    50
    While Ricci and Hoflin play well together, the intensity of that primal force, particularly from Scott’s side, doesn’t always come across. He needs a simmering intensity.
  5. Yahoo TV
    Reviewed by: Ken Tucker
    Jan 27, 2017
    50
    The story lacks much in the way of momentum other than the downward spiral of too much booze, too little creation of art. Z: The Beginning of Everything is a spiffy soap opera, but not much more than that.
  6. Variety
    Reviewed by: Maureen Ryan
    Jan 24, 2017
    50
    The show’s repetitive storytelling would be less of a problem if it had more depth, but its characterizations rarely go beyond the rudimentary, and its dialogue is often clunky.
  7. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Neil Genzlinger
    Jan 26, 2017
    40
    There is exactly one sizzling moment in the 10 installments, and it has nothing to do with the couple’s supposedly fiery romance.
  8. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Matthew Gilbert
    Jan 26, 2017
    40
    Ricci plays defiance with a capital D. As Scott, David Hoflin is surprisingly flat, almost generic. Like too much of Z, the specifics of his personality have been ironed out, stripped of particularities, robbed of life.

Awards & Rankings

24
#24 Most Shared TV Season of 2015

User Reviews

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User Score
6.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 27 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 27
  3. Negative: 4 out of 27
  1. JennetP
    Feb 6, 2017
    5
    As someone very interested in both Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, I found the series disappointing. Not too surprisingly, it's more interested inAs someone very interested in both Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, I found the series disappointing. Not too surprisingly, it's more interested in their "dysfunctional" relationship than in their prodigious talents--or the way they briefly embodied a unique (and deeply conflicted) cultural moment. While never uttering pop-psychological buzzwords such as "codependency," the series occasionally seems to treat the protagonists as case studies, even cautionary tales. Toward the end, I half-expected Max Perkins or Zelda's parents to arrange an intervention. Lots has been written about Ricci, and I have to say I give her a about a "5," too. I don't care that she's too old, and I appreciate how hard she tries to nail the performance. But, for me, she's an actor who never disappears into a role; I'm always aware that I'm watching Christina Ricci as whoever. Sometimes that works, but here it's distracting. I'll keep watching because I would probably watch sock puppets play the Fitzgeralds on a cardboard-box stage. Z is better than sock puppets, but it needs to be "more better."… Full Review »
  2. cherold
    Feb 11, 2018
    8
    I don't understand why this series didn't get more love. Ricci was excellent as Zelda. Yes, too old, but she's one of those people whoI don't understand why this series didn't get more love. Ricci was excellent as Zelda. Yes, too old, but she's one of those people who generally looks younger than her age, so she gets away with it. The rest of the cast is also quite good and the period detail is first rate.

    I wish the series had been renewed; it would have been interesting to see Zelda's descent into madness.    … Full Review »
  3. Qldgamer
    Feb 1, 2017
    1
    This would have to be one of the most boring plots I have ever had the misfortune to sit through. Dull is not even close to the tepid pacedThis would have to be one of the most boring plots I have ever had the misfortune to sit through. Dull is not even close to the tepid paced events that slowly crash down upon your mind.… Full Review »
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