James Jackson

All of this unfolds like a kind of heatwave fever dream, the cicadas buzzing incessantly, oblivious bystanders to the mad psychodrama unfolding around them. It’s gripping late-night summer viewing.

If this is the more slow-burn sibling to For All Mankind, it’s one that gradually draws you in for something perhaps even more satisfying altogether. English accents and all.

He [Nick Cave] talks fondly of the pop star as a “beam of light” and “the definition of joy”. The series gives you every sense of what he means.

Such tonal shifts make Katie Dippold’s show one peculiar barrel of fish, much in the way that Atlanta or Barry were uncategorisable (Hiro Murai, this show’s director, also worked on those). Which means, I suspect, just as many will find it frustrating as will applaud it for being like nothing else around.

What follows is an unpredictable, if ultimately melodramatic psychological drama motored by dark manipulations.

By the final couple of episodes, when the action pinballs to South Korea, things have veered from unpredictable to near-deranged.But let’s not quibble too much. When it’s being funny (such as Austin’s blagging as he fakes it as a physical therapist), being perceptive about neediness and dissatisfaction within a long-term relationship, or being simply downright entertaining in the country club, this beef can still be something rare and delicious.

Ashe is the kind of fresh juice a second season needs, even if it ultimately leads things to a preposterously far-fetched climax. Meanwhile, a slight problem remains that over ten hours the series can dip whenever Hamm isn’t on screen. The various characters’ family dramas sometimes feel as if they’re from a different, slightly schmaltzier drama.

The laughs are waning by the halfway point, so it’s a relief when the class acts Adam Scott and Bradley Whitford show up later (albeit in small roles) to help steady the ship.

Eight episodes twist through their backstories, but first we have to wade through a morass of weeping, hugs and gradual suspicion that doesn’t yet feel properly earned.

The criss-crossing timelines gradually show how all these personal lives evolved over time, and it really does keep you hooked. Loading in such familial emotion is pretty nimble writing.