I had my doubts. A crime caper originally intended for CBS, created by Bryan Cranston and the guy who made House, but then CBS bailed and so did the House guy, and then Graham Yost took over and now the whole thing's on Amazon Prime, and oh by the way it stars Giovanni Ribisi? Yeah, that sounded like a recipe for a tonally confused procedural I had no interest in seeing. But reviews were just good enough, and I liked Justified and Bryan Cranston just enough, and although I've got too much TV on my plate already, Marissa has gone away for a couple weeks - just long enough - for me to give this a shot. (And hey, I could always bail, right?)
But man - I liked this! I may have even really liked this. And why should I be surprised? It's got exactly the same clever wit that made Justified so endearing, and Bryan Cranston as the antagonist steals absolutely every scene he's in - which is like ten or fifteen over the course of the whole season. Ribisi is actually perfect in this role of a slippery con artist who's in way over his head, and the whole thing is set back and forth between New York, its surrounding suburbs, and a rural farm upstate. This is an obvious pick for anyone who liked Justified and it's even got some Shane Black vibes and in several episodes it's got the feel of a "great big heist" movie.
The first season's ten episodes long and stands alone pretty well, but a second one has been confirmed. Give this a shot! I thought it was very frenetic and very fun. The year might only be like one tenth over, but so far Sneaky Pete is my best new show of 2017.
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