Hulu’s new crime drama Furiousled by Emmy Rossum, has received strong reviews for its performances, though critics note that the show occasionally leans too heavily on familiar traumas to tie its central characters together.
Loosely inspired by the 1987 thriller Black Widowthe series replaces the film’s premise of a serial killer targeting rich husbands with something significantly darker.
Creator Elizabeth Meriwether centers the story on Catherine, played by Say nothing breakout actress Lola Petticrew, a woman who targets the men who abused her as a victim of human trafficking, including a New York financier whose portrayal, several critics have noted, mirrors the late Jeffrey Epstein.
Rossum plays Alice Black, a rookie FBI agent sidelined in the agency’s public call center who stumbles onto Catherine’s trail as she works through her own trauma.
Black‘s review praised the cast for elevating material that can otherwise feel too neat in how it draws parallels between its two female leads’ pasts, noting that the show “fits comfortably into the current yen for psychologized storytelling” but ultimately “transcends” its familiar framework thanks to its performances.
Collider called it Rossum’s “most raw performance since her decade-long tenure Shameless“, while The Hollywood Reporter‘s review described the series as “a complex, well-acted and even funny thriller about the ongoing toll of trauma, the psychological cost of revenge and the danger of a life fueled by anger.”
The playlist was still milder, calling it a “gripping Epstein-esque revenge thriller” rooted in Rossum’s ability to hold her character’s contradictions together “without becoming disjointed.”
Furious also stars Quincy Tyler Bernstine as Alice’s hardened FBI mentor alongside Scoot McNairy.
The series premieres with three episodes on July 27th on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+, with new episodes launching weekly through August 31st.
