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. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Gwen Ihnat
    Jan 27, 2017
    83
    For Fitzgerald fans, wannabe Fitzgerald fans, or even people who can appreciate a well-done period drama, Z has a lot to offer, even as it gives us lots to think about.
  2. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Robert Lloyd
    Jan 26, 2017
    80
    Ricci, always playing a person rather than a personality, is the reason to watch. It’s a subtle evocation of a famously electrifying character, free from grand gestures, centered behind her eyes.
  3. Boston Herald
    Reviewed by: Mark A. Perigard
    Jan 25, 2017
    75
    Ricci serves as an executive producer and delivers the best work of her career. ... Z is helped by an unusual format--the drama unfolds in 10 half-hour episodes, making it especially binge-worthy. More providers should try half-hour dramas. They don’t feel like endurance challenges, as many one-hour shows do.
  5. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Robert Rorke
    Jan 23, 2017
    75
    Even though we know this is one love story that doesn’t end well, The Beginning of Everything delivers an entertaining seduction into a fabulous, bygone world.
  6. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: Jen Chaney
    Jan 27, 2017
    70
    Z: The Beginning of Everything tries to capture the many facets of this complex and conflicted woman, and does so with some success. There are moments when it’s exhilarating to be immersed in the 1920s with Great Gatsby author F. Scott Fitzgerald (David Hoflin) and his wife/muse (a fierce, focused Christina Ricci).
  7. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Keith Uhlich
    Jan 26, 2017
    70
    The show finds a nice groove about halfway through, after husband and wife settle in Roaring '20s Manhattan and proceed to tear the town apart.
  8. IndieWire
    Reviewed by: Liz Shannon Miller
    Jan 30, 2017
    67
    Zelda was a complicated woman, and Ricci definitely has the chops to play that. But the show never really lets her breathe into that realness, resulting in something resembling suffocation. The end result is that we now know what it’s like to party with Zelda and Scott. But we don’t really know who they were.
  9. Newsday
    Reviewed by: Verne Gay
    Jan 26, 2017
    67
    While beautiful to look at--some of this was filmed in Wading River, near Herod Point--Zelda can also feel like that TV biopic we’ve all seen before: The one that trudges dutifully along without adding much depth or subtlety in the process.
  10. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ray Rahman
    Jan 23, 2017
    67
    The story itself is interesting, if well-known, but the series is overacted, over-accented, and overwritten. [27 Jan 2017, p.55]
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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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