Critic Reviews

For an audience that grew up with those shows [“The O.C.,” “Chuck”, and “Gossip Girl”], “Looking For Alaska” creates the perfect wave of nostalgia, one that will send those memories flooding back to that time when everything was life and death and your very being was defined by things like your love of specific music or book or art. ... “Looking For Alaska” is your standard, tried and true, coming-of-age story. And for that, it stands out from the rest.

While it has the some of the ingredients of standard teen fare, this series is anything but typical. A rich, layered and fascinating group of characters will keep you glued to your TV. ... “Looking for Alaska” is a riveting series, but it’s not for everyone. It deals with heavy subject matter that some may find tough to digest.

The catharsis feels earned, as does the level of answers that Schwartz, Savage, and company choose to provide about what happened and why. It’s a familiar coming-of-age story, but one executed at a high level, and with far more thought than usual given to all the kids who were forced to grow up long before the main character has to.

An endearing and often-poignant eight-part adaptation of John Green’s first novel. ... They [writer-producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage] are aided in this mission by performances that are every bit as refreshingly genuine as the writing.

Looking for Alaska feels like a period piece that hasn’t fully reckoned with itself as a period piece, and some of its nostalgic impulses feel out of step with how brutally, gorgeously sad it is. It’s not a happy story, and the final episode swerves a bit too far in the direction of trying to make things feel all better. But for the most part, it’s the rare adaptation that dismantles the original in order to build something that works better.

Dominated by Froseth and the solid young cast, it's a solid adaptation of a much-loved book, even if its successful adapting can't always fix its problems.

The biggest success “Looking for Alaska” achieves is in shading out its secondary characters. ... The series and Frosteth take great and obvious pains to flesh Alaska out beyond the basic role of Miles’ first love, which could so easily flatten her into nothing at all. It works, sometimes. Alaska, embodying just about every “lost teen” trope in the (literal) book, is as infuriating and magnetic as that implies.

This is all pretty stiff, predictable stuff, built around the operatic pangs of teen romance and the mystery of Alaska's fate, with peripheral forays into class and racial divides. All told, the eight-episode limited series is a pretty slim if earnest conceit.

Looking for Alaska has heart and soul, and has more in common with its forebears than its contemporaries. This is Dawson’s Creek with regular alcohol; The OC in Alabama. For people who grew up on those shows, the nostalgia element is strong. Whether it can win over a new, young audience remains to be seen.

“Looking For Alaska” is nostalgic for itself, like it’s admiring itself in a mirror instead of making eye contact. This neutralizes the immediacy and intimacy that can make coming-of-age stories so special.