The result is television that (occasionally) fails to pop with excitement, but nevertheless engages on an almost Fincher-ian level. Add in the fact that it’s all really true, and looking away from Manhunt is a hard thing to do.

The series is a surprising win on all fronts. It’s equal parts true-crime drama, psychological thriller and the moving personal stories of two men on different sides of the law who had eerily similar connections (or disconnections) to the society around them.

Kaczynski’s combative relationship with Fitz shows how alike two determined men on opposite ends of a spectrum can be. Only here the dichotomy is not good or evil or right or wrong, but law against chaos, order over freedom. Manhunt: Unabomber walks across that scale with careful consideration and sustains an engaging level of tension throughout the seven of its eight episodes provided for review.

Discovery’s gripping Manhunt: Unabomber, aim for a lot more than just tapping into our fascination with heavily covered events. They’re also aiming for quality, and Unabomber not only delivers on that score, but offers the story of one man who not only broke the case, but did so in a revolutionary way.

Manhunt, clocking in at eight hours total, makes for fine if unexceptional storytelling. It’s a scripted true crime drama that may hook fans of psychological thrillers but lacks the panache and visceral punch of FX’s “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.”

The two episodes available for review, Manhunt: Unabomber has a by-the-book feel--a lot of forensics and theories. It’s not until the last few minutes that Bettany’s Kaczynski is really introduced.

Unfortunately, the plodding Manhunt: Unabomber miniseries often fails to bring its principals to any kind of recognizable or specific life.

One of the more compelling, and well done summer series. Jam packed with information that I never knew about the Unibomber case. Although I have difficulty relating to the lead character's obsessive nature, I find myself still wanting more after each episode.

This is an extraordinary bit storytelling. Who of us knew the dense and enthralling backstory of an investigator who was as emotionally 'out of the box" as his prey? I did not, and I lived through the whole sordid "reality." I will not go so far as to compare it to ESPN's near perfect rendering of the OJ story, but it is damn good. I hang on every episode for the moral ambiguity and bureaucratic morass each one reveals. Chris Noth also has a bit of a "star turn" in the series. He inhabits a difficult role with aplomb.

Despite the non-understandable lack of diversity in its cast, Manhunt: Unabomber is engaging, thrilling and addictive. The writing is captivating and the characters are actually pretty good.

While it runs for 8 episodes, it does a solid job of maintaining the energy and interest throughout.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]