Critic Reviews

There are moments, especially during the courtroom segment, when the narrative falls back on some too-familiar tricks. But it’s nonetheless a respectful, often compelling deconstruction of a serious disorder, one that will probably stick with you.

It feels aimless in the early going—not uncharmingly so, but seemingly without a defined objective. To offer a carrot—that everything comes together in episode 6—is asking for a good deal of time and patience, but stick with it. The performances throughout are, at worst, mesmerizing.

Showrunner Akiva Goldsman takes full advantage of the 1979 setting and fashions a successful psychological thriller filled with good performances and taut direction. But this series belongs to Holland and he’s shattering to behold. His emotionally staggering performances takes “The Crowded Room” to a whole new level.

If you can make it through the first five episodes, you will be rewarded. [12 Jun - 2 Jul 2023, p.6]

Sure, it's a lengthy drama and one that may very well lose you in moments but it is a series worth sticking with for the plot twists alone, even if you may already have a hint of them from the outset.

An actor needs to hold the audience’s attention even as an Everyman figure and – no thanks to an unscintillating script – Holland is too quiet a presence to compel. Seyfried puts in a fine performance, but it feels like a bland comedown from her last outing as that walking bundle of contradictions Elizabeth Holmes in The Dropout. That said, I haven’t watched the back half of the series.

By the end of the third episode, as the clues mount up, you will have an idea where the story is heading and then the show starts to feel dragged out, its intensity diluted. It’s serviceable, but it’s not the spiky thriller it could have been.

Despite a sometimes self-sabotaging sense of its own mystery and occasionally glacial pacing, The Crowded Room’s slick ‘70s stylisation, timely themes, and a mercurial Tom Holland will certainly keep you watching.

Seyfried continues to prove her range, and Holland digs deep into his character’s troubled past. It’s too bad almost everything fails to land, but in its two-hander scenes, “The Crowded Room” finds small amounts of space to excel.

It’s not that these topics aren’t handled with the care and sensitivity they deserve. They are. It’s just that they aren’t written particularly well, nor does the show really have anything new or interesting to say about them. It isn’t all bad news. Relative newcomers Sasha Lane (How To Blow Up A Pipeline) and Emma Laird (Mayor Of Kingstown) shine as Danny’s magnetic best friend-turned-accomplice and enigmatic love interest, respectively.