Billy Crystal Drama ‘Before’ Is a Stagnant, Repetitive Mess: TV Review
variety.comAlison Herman TV Critic The promotional materials for “Before” describe the Apple TV+ thriller as “atmospheric,” which is a euphemistic way of saying the 10-part season is a lot of vamping for precious little payoff.
Even with half-hour episodes, several coming in under the 25-minute mark, this drama still manages to drag, endlessly repeating the same setups and visual themes to buy time until an unsatisfying conclusion.
In a serial form like television, atmosphere without momentum is a recipe for a stagnant swamp. One can at least admire “Before” for prioritizing its dreary, mudbound mood over even its central performance, the element so many other limited series build themselves around in the hopes star power will attract our divided attention.
Created by Sarah Thorp (“Damien”), “Before” stars Billy Crystal as Eli Adler, a child psychologist reeling from the death of his wife Lynn (Judith Light) after a long battle with cancer.
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