“Now and Then” is a compelling soap mixed with well-crafted drama and an even better cast [than Netflix's “Who Killed Sara?”].

With Miami as its gorgeous backdrop and diversity at its center, Now & Then is an entertaining and gripping take on a familiar formula.

For all the tension that Now and Then whips up with anxious texts, wiretapping, and races against the clock, the most engaging aspect about the series isn’t its visceral murder mystery, but its depiction of the ways in which social status can doom people to avoidable and tragic fates.

The show is best when it embraces its pulpy sensibility (Illicit affairs! Hidden secrets! Convenient comas! Missing evidence!) and gives its actors juicy scenes where they have to assess who they can afford to trust even as they retreat back to the young kids they once were. ... Now & Then is less successful, though, when it tries to feel topical amid all of that pulp.

A fairly good time, with a lot of intriguing twists, a stylized production design, imaginative camerawork, and some sturdy class-related underpinnings. It’s a decent friend along the way, staying more or less entertaining for eight episodes. But, for me, the ending was unsatisfying, and I’m still shaking my head over the illogic. The show, which premieres on Friday, is a means to a loose end.

Despite a fine performance from Perez, we fear we’re not going to see enough of her to make suffering through the generic main characters of Now And Then tolerable.

Over eight hourlong episodes, thinly drawn characters and sleepy pacing hold the series back from reaching its full potential — and unlike the awful night in question, Now & Then proves all too easy to forget.