The good, the bad, and the disappointingly mediocre

Gillian Anderson and Lena Headey star as matriarchs locked in an increasingly bloody rivalry in this 1850s-set drama that lacks emotional depth. Nick Hilton goes along for the ride...

- Nick Hilton

Graham Greene used to have a simple taxonomy for his books.

Jolly thrillers, like The Third Man, were labelled “an entertainment”, while serious offerings, like The End of the Affair, were called “a novel”. In the same way, some TV shows have aspired to be “good”, while others seem content to be considered “bad”. Yet in recent years, we’ve seen ones that subvert these expectations: good “bad” shows, like The White Lotus, which lace a schlocky premise with surprising originality, and bad “good” shows, like Zero Day, which take prestige conventions and run them through with daftness and ineptitude. And it is in this latter category that Netflix’s new drama, The Abandons, rides into town.