Critic Reviews

The only TV series I’ve seen that actually feels like watching another season of The Wire. ... The show should also be viewed as a model for an entire genre of documentary storytelling. So often, a docuseries has to navigate between the individuals it focuses on and a larger system it’s trying to depict. ... Philly D.A. is a beautiful, sprawling story that does justice to both the giant organizations and the many individuals caught inside them.

It’s as captivating, timely and relevant a legal drama as you’re likely to watch this spring.

It is still unclear whether the docuseries can act as some sort of bridge to find common ground on divisive issues or if it will include decisions made by Krasner over the last three years that some say have led to the deaths of local police officers and residents. The first two episodes of “Philly D.A.” are compelling.

Those first two episodes mark an extraordinarily promising start for the series, which boasts impressive access to Larry Krasner's Philadelphia district attorney's office and a nuanced approach that works hard to give this specific situation universal ripples.

Essential, remarkably balanced vérité-style account of [Larry Krasner's] unlikely tenure as the city’s district attorney. ... Packed as it is with details that will surely be invaluable to policy makers, activists and academics, the series is bound to feel a bit long, at eight hours, to the casual viewer. Episodes tend to focus on single issues, and the most effective of them are structured around an individual person with a relevant story.

Transcending the directorial workmanship and production values, however, is the simple sight of unfashionable – which is to say good, ideologically informed but practically executed – work being done on behalf of the disfranchised, the powerless, the underserved. It is deeply thrilling to watch. An unfamiliar feeling stirs, and rises higher with each episode. The feeling is hope.

Admirably complex and captivating eight-part series.

Given the complexity of the subject, the inertia of institutions and the polarized state of ... everything, as well as the limitations of even an eight-hour film, it is also almost inevitably a frustrating one, hopeful and dispiriting by turns.

It’s hard not to think that a feature-length film with a much more clear focus, and not a series juggling so many ingredients in an impersonal fashion, could have more powerfully shown the impact of one man in this important office on the people he serves.

Is never quite as immersive as promised, and at odds with a Krasner campaign pledge. ... At its best, “Philly DA” shows the myriad of moves problematic systems perform to insulate themselves from real improvement. It also charts the root of these ingrained problematic practices. ... Unfortunately, “Philly DA” is too hulking of a series to fully balance the competing tensions.