Critic Reviews

Dunst takes risks and they pay big dividends. ... Emmy worthy. [Theodore Pellerin as Cody] is one of the best performances of the year. It makes you want to discover what drives him and where he’ll finally wind up. Others, though, are equally compelling. ... “On Becoming a God in Central Florida” is one of the best new shows of the year.

On Becoming a God in Central Florida is a series that caused me to, numerous times as I watched the first season, write in my notes, “What is this show?” But it was always in a good way, as I found myself in awe of what I was watching. With every hard left turn and 180 the series takes, the tone somehow manages to remain consistent.

“On Becoming a God in Central Florida” is such a clever, compelling, and thorough evisceration of American capitalism it’s shocking Elizabeth Warren isn’t listed as an executive producer. ... The awesome Kirsten Dunst (also an EP) is the story here, bringing a captivating vitality and unflinching veracity to her lead character, Krystal Stubbs.

A delectably weird and compellingly realized misadventure tale that makes a spot-on point about the inescapable degree of fraud that infests American-style capitalism and promises shortcuts to making millions.

The exceptional cast handles the tonal shifts and more absurd developments with aplomb, but they can’t keep the season from losing steam in its final two episodes. When the wheels come off, it makes for an exciting stretch, but what follows feels a tad anticlimatic. It’s a quibble, though.

Dunst is the saving grace throughout a rollicking Season One that keeps delivering whenever she’s on screen. It may well turn out to be the TV performance of the year, with some very able assists from Pellerin, Rodriguez, Ditto and Levine.

Dunst’s performance is so magnetic that the show could’ve focused on her alone, but it wouldn’t have been half as effective. While Krystal is its undeniable hellion heroine, the series is as much about egocentric scam artists and the widespread devastation they can wreak as it is about Krystal’s struggle to overcome it all.

It's a gem of a performance from Dunst. ... On Becoming a God in Central Florida establishes its foundation well and, especially early on, the payoffs are steady and sometimes surprising. Even if the conclusion and tease for the second season are much less exciting than I'd have hoped, after 10 episodes Dunst, Levine and the details of this strange world kept me from ever feeling scammed.

Dunst is perfect for the role — believable as a small-town girl, as she was in season two of “Fargo,” but also, as Krystal takes charge of her life, intuitive and driven.

[Kirsten Dunst] sustains the series with a life-giving performance full of heart and, possibly more important, steel. ... For all its one-note darkness, the episodes move along compellingly, thanks in good part to sequences involving evidence-gathering against Obie led by a daring and determined Krystal along with a cocaine-sniffing TV reporter. Then there’s the complex, if also slightly repellant romantic connection that grows between Krystal and the youthful Cody (a jewel of a performance by Théodore Pellerin).