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- USA
- Nov 25, 2018
- USA
- Nov 25, 2018
Summary The anthology series created by Alexandra Cunningham was based on the articles and true crime podcast by Los Angeles Times reporter Christopher Goffard.
Created By: Alexandra Cunningham
- USA
- Nov 25, 2018
- USA
- Nov 25, 2018
Summary The anthology series created by Alexandra Cunningham was based on the articles and true crime podcast by Los Angeles Times reporter Christopher Goffard.
Created By: Alexandra Cunningham
Where to Watch
Season Episodes
View All Seasons
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 18 Critic Reviews
58
28% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
67% Mixed
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
6% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 18 Critic Reviews
58
28% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
67% Mixed
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
6% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
A dazzling matchup of pulp and prestige. ... Britton is perfectly cast as Debra. ... As Meehan, the actor [Eric Bana] pivots from charming to chilling and back with astonishing ease. [16 Nov 2018, p.45]
Britton plays Debra as if some Botox seeped into her brain. Bana charms while simultaneously simmering.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 20 User Ratings
6.3
60% Positive
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
10% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
30% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 20 User Ratings
6.3
60% Positive
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
10% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
30% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
I enjoyed this after listening to the podcast - which I would recommend that everyone do first. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be nearly as believable and I would’ve probably given up at some of the ridiculous writing and story lines. But the events did actually happen, and were quoted verbatim from the real victims. I think the podcast is more suspenseful and gritty, but the show expands on it by showing how Eric Bana as John can be seen as the charming ladies man who conned a lonely Deborah before showing his true colors. And I really enjoyed how spoiled and bratty the show made Deborah’s daughters, allowing John to attack their credibility when they were warning their mother and trying to distance themselves from him. I thought Deborah ignoring them in the podcast was head scratching, but see it more believable with how the daughters were portrayed in the show. l think overall the show gave me a better perspective of what happened than just the podcast. Really unbelievable that this story is a true event - zombie kill and all!
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SEASON 1
Dirty John is very entertaining, though it’s not without faults. It doesn’t dig very deep, or present Debra’s daughters as full characters (their main roles are to look confused or upset, which is a waste of big talent), and its storytelling can be a little convoluted. But it never claims to be high art.
It’s not nearly as compelling, and its continual efforts to make the characters and situations more palatable grow wearying.
Dirty John is little more than a fancy Lifetime movie. ... There is some pleasure in watching the inevitable unfold, particularly since the cast is solid. Britton is, as usual, a sympathetic lead, even if her character is written to be shallow. And, as her daughters, Juno Temple and Julia Garner are formidable. ... As with Debra, John is written as a flat bad guy whose deeper drives are inscrutable.
The people and places--from the penthouse apartment Debra initially shares with Veronica to the beachside house she impulsively rents to hole up with her new beau--are all there, but the show doesn’t dig any deeper.
There’s not a lot of nuance to be found here, with any trace of psychological depth replaced by cheesy love montages and paint-by-numbers confrontations. We’re given no sense of why Debra is making these terrible decisions... over and over and over again.
I’m not sure why Dirty John Season 1 has such low ratings. I enjoyed it. It seems like it’s trying to emulate American Crime Story, which is significantly better in my opinion. Jumping around in time, the plot gradually reveals the nefarious and tragic circumstances and develops the characters, notching up the suspense episode after episode. It’s a fascinating character study of a self-destructive con man and sociopath who won’t accept charity when it’s offered to him. Apparently some viewers didn’t like season 1 because they listened to the podcast and liked it better. I did not listen to the podcast, but I think Dirty John Season 1 is a gleefully suspenseful and deranged character study and a portrait of a family whose bonds are being pushed to their breaking point by an intruder seeking to divide and conquer.
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SEASON 1
The plot is kinda thrilling but the storyline and the characters are very underwhelming. There are also several continuity mistakes and slips, for example, when Debra picks up her phone and the next scene she's using another phone model. The characters are very unlikeable and not-relatable at all, specially Debra's daughters who just come up as spoiled brats.
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SEASON 1
I am not sure which is **** writing or the acting. I believe Eric Bana and Jean Smart are collateral damage. Connie Britton, Julia Garner and Juno Temple play the most unlikable characters in the most unbelievable manner....
Watching this reminds me of reading 50 Shades...HORRIBLE WRITING, but like a bad accident you just have to keep watching to see what happens
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SEASON 1
I think I would have liked this series better as a true-crime podcast because, as a hybrid drama, it disappoints. Its high gloss and star power promise deft characterization and skillful plotting, but don't deliver those things. Instead, as so often in life, terrible things happen for no apparent reason to people who are hard to understand and harder to like. The overall story is most interesting at the beginning, when the audience isn't quite sure that the Eric Bana character is a con man because the people accusing him are so petty and smug that viewers want them to be wrong. Once the Connie Britton character discovers his collection of restraining orders (helpfully stashed where she can easily find it), all mystery vanishes, and the series becomes very predictable, melodramatic, and steeped in pop-psychological cliches.
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SEASON 1
