Transatlantic

This show feels like an exercise in highlighting the good in an unquestionably dark time, without insensitively skirting around the danger and tragedy of it all.

Transatlantic takes a serious story and gives it a bit of a bouncy, adventurous edge, thanks to some crisp writing and a fun lead performance by Jacobs. But it still pays reverence to the people who risked everything to help Nazi refugees, as well as the refugees themselves.

Transatlantic is an effective, crowd-pleasing thriller. It moves briskly, lays out the story and stakes cleanly, and has three strong and likable lead performances.

The performances are game. ... But the series sacrifices a bit of depth in exchange for accessibility, keeping its famous players at arm’s length and speedrunning through the honorable work the ERC did in real life.

As a palatable history lesson, Transatlantic is comprehensive. ... Transatlantic struggles, however, to weave its learning points elegantly into the drama, to show rather than tell.

Though “Transatlantic” is made with evident affection for its subject, and is not without entertainment value, it can also be clunky, corny and clichéd, scattered and perfunctory and at times unintentionally laughable.

“Transatlantic” falters because it’s too broad. ... While “Transatlantic” in some ways pays reverence to their contributions, its overly expansive cast and storylines create a lack of intimacy. A more centralized focus on the major players would have made the series more intricate and profound.