The Girlfriend Experience

A welcome comeback from Kerrigan (with no small contribution from Seimetz), and a resounding triumph for both of them. Had Antonioni lived to see the age of prestige television, he might have very well come up with something like this. It might not be the first time a show has been a fully-realized character study, but it's probably the first time one has managed to be successfully pull off a sustained, legitimately cinematic mood piece. A defining depiction of neoliberal capitalism, and more.

The closest thing to a serialized character study I've ever seen. Seimetz and Kerrigan have crafted a narrative whose function is to examine and test the psychology of a woman on a microscopic level. Observing the themes blossoming organically with every episode is truly something to behold.

Season 1: 86/100; agree with sellis' and JakeAesthete's reviews. Riley Keough is also fantastic here throughout, but especially in episode 9. Season 2: 70/100? it feels more like standard television drama and the weaknesses of the writing aren't masked by an incredibly excellent performance as in Season 1

This was really, really good

As a young teenager this would have been my favourite show. People used to joke that "Game of Thrones" was porn. But this is actually...just porn. The lead actress/character is a robot with no personality. There's a wafer thin plot about her getting revealed as a prostitute at her corporate job, but it doesn't matter at all. The critics went insane for this, I assume out of some weird "new woman/sex positive" politics that I don't nor care to understand. Maybe they're just horny-ass critics.

S1 - starts interesting when i thought it would explore prostitution but turns into, of all trite things, a lawyer operette where indicting audio recordings that belong in a soap opera from the 90s push the narrative, demanding an increasingly, and ultimately, ridiculously credelous viewer.

S1

This anthology show has a strong first season (see the other positive reviews), but the second suffers from a strange gulf in quality between the two plotlines, which were each written and directed by one of season 1's co-creators. I don't know what Kerrigan was thinking with his story about a snoozy Super PAC operative ("Erica & Anna" ), but it's just a total dud. Seimetz's story ("Bria") is utterly ludicrous, but at least it's entertaining and interesting. (Grade is only for season 1.)

A deep sea diving series for heavy breathing. Riley Keough put herself full body work for the character driving story. There was not much for the linear story but the inside world of the head of the protagonist. She was acting through almost as a robot. Not much of emotions. The episode nine was almost 100% perfect out of thirteen episodes.