I want to believe that the obvious twist is a red herring for a more interesting one. But, so far everything - including the series title - would suggest otherwise.
Still, well made with good performances all around.
Great episode! Tom Holland really knocks it out of the park with his performance. Intense!
Starting to enjoy this a bit more,was a bit slow to start with.
To try to twist the machinations this story involves, they had to write dialogue that doesn't really jive. And the dialogue also betrays later plot points that haven't been introduced, yet, so when they're discussing something the audience isn't aware of, it really doesn't make much sense in the moment. None of this makes for a compelling story.
Untill now it's so slow and boring but great performance from Tom
Episodes 1-3.
I have to say that if there’s three words to describe the show so far it’s: discombobulated, slow, generic. I feel like this is one of those shows that has great creative production but is just ultimately held back by what it severely lacks in writing.
Holland seems like the wrong person for this character. To see a 27-year-old man playing a highschooler doesn't work for me. It definitely needed a more compelling actor than Tom Holland to make the show work as well as it should. (He didn’t exactly blow me away in Apple TV+ dud Cherry, either). Emmy Rossum is way too young to be Danny's mom. Speaking of which, I hope they have more scenes of Rossum because they’re pretty much under-utilising her in the first 3 episodes.
First episode it's something we have seen plenty of time - getting high, getting paid, getting laid: all the beats of teenage life are here. Episode 2 laid some focus on Ariana, who is unfortunately, a very boring character. I couldn’t care less about Danny's stupid crush. Not all stories need romance, and this was one of them. The focus on this particular storyline felt like a waste of time. Episode three is definitely better than the 1st two, so releasing the first 3 episodes was a good idea.
The Crowded Room is not bad but it’s also not good. It’s just an okay show. At best it’s boring and for anyone who has seen movies before this story is a lot more predictable than it is a mystery. This show could have been good, but instead, as of now, it’s ringing hollowly cliche.
I know the pacing is slow for a reason: to focus on the characters rather than the plot, as much as it's sold as a thriller. Sometimes the point of the story isn't how it ends but the journey it takes to get there. But still, I’ve felt like there has been a lot of unnecessary stuff in each episode. Like each episode could be cut by 20 minutes and it would be the same story. The mystery is not being interesting enough for the run time of 10 episodes.
If you don’t want to know how the show ends, don’t read or google the book.
The problem with this show is it feels like it could of been done in 3 eps or less. It’s unnecessarily dragged out. Also let’s not even mention the obvious turn coming in the story that a blind person could see coming.
Review by Justin NumerickBlockedParent2023-06-14T00:13:42Z
I think the main negative for this show so far is that it seems to be trying to play into the mystery and building towards big twist reveals, when I'm sure a lot of people watching this already know what this story is about. At least that's how it is for me, and I've been looking for signs that allude to what's really going on since the first episode and now feel as if I have it figured out, so when the show continues to try and be confusing and mysterious it doesn't really work very well. However, I do think they have paced out all of those signs and clues for what is going on pretty well. I don't think it was overly obvious in the first episode but there were little hints here and there, and by the third episode bigger things start happening that I think make it pretty clear what is going on. It was a nice build, but I think it came too soon. If they continue to drag out the mystery despite making it pretty clear what's happening this early, I imagine the show is going to end up feeling like a drag because of its predictability. However, as of now I am actually pretty engaged and interested in this. To me, it is still naturally an interesting story even if I find it a bit obvious and I don't find these first three episodes boring at all. I disagree with people who say Tom Holland isn't good here or right for the role. I'm finding his performance to be pretty effective and believable so far. I imagined I would have a hard time seeing past the actor, but I'm seeing the character much more easily than I thought I would. The production design is also good and the show is pretty sound on a technical level. It's just the script that seems to be setting itself up for issues. Still, thus far I'm still interested.