3 out of 5

Created by: Michael Caleo

Sexy Beast has an interesting rawness to it that feels slightly of a different era – perhaps the era of the film (2000) for which it acts as a prequel. It’s not the polished gloss of much modern TV, or boiled down to the alternately clean and excessive plot structuring streaming has encouraged. The characters aren’t exactly deep, but they’re more than cutouts, and waddle along on a line that’s kind of repellant at points, until you start to recognize the very human-ness of their faults. These imperfect imbalances are, in themselves, interesting, and kept me hooked, which helps for a show that otherwise… lacks a hook.

There’s seemingly a lot going on in Sexy Beast. Gal (James McArdle) and Don (Emun Elliott) and his mates are thieves, working through Don’s sister to arrange jobs, in hopes of bigger and bigger scores. They land a promising gig with Teddy (Stephen Moyer), an up and coming gangster, whose seemingly sadistic glee in setting up heists that directly impact the more dominant mob family in town is troubling… but Gal’s crew are promised a big ol’ payday at the end of the jobs. The jobs are puzzling, though: not stealing money, but items. And this bit of mystery burbles while Don fends off his ever-controlling sister, and Gal juggles his upcoming wedding with an accidental relationship with adult film star DeeDee (Sarah Greene), who’s also trying – mirroring Gal’s quest – to set herself up on her own terms.

All of this supposes a heist series with a lot of swirling drama.

It is that. But it’s also perpetually distracted: the heists have that same imperfect imbalance of never really being all that clever, but still requiring planning, and while that’s as conceptually interesting as the other tonal mishmashes of the show, it means that a probable central point of intrigue never feels all that important. In other words: for a heist series, it doesn’t feel like the heists are all that important.

And as for the drama, while we zoom in for some really gripping intersections of characters and stories – despite how cartoonishly evil Teddy is, or how textbook cinematically fractured Don is, there’s a sense of a very rich inner world and history that the actors can tap into – no single plotline ever feels like it’s getting traction. The whole show kind of feels stuck, which is appropriate in some ways, but ultimately not very satisfying.

You might have already pieced together what’s going on: that, being a prequel to a movie, Sexy Beast is taking a lot of steps to plug into that universe. The visuals are impacted; the pacing is impacted. That legacy is responsible for the overall unusual tone of the show, but also prevents it from feeling like its own thing. For those more familiar with the flick, I think the dedication to kind of patiently interweaving (and not – at least to me – overtly winking) is admirable, especially 20+ years after the fact. For casual viewers, or if you haven’t seen the movie at all, it helps explain why some elements which aren’t uninteresting also feel moderately irrelevant overall – just set dressing.

The net balance is a show I can’t exactly celebrate, but that I tuned in to with interest each week, and kind if enjoying forestalling an inevitable movie rewatch to see how the series fares without it. Even with it over, I… don’t know if I can say! But that muddled sensation will have to serve as kind if the ultimate takeaway.