Critical Condition: Seven Seconds

Seven Seconds | Netflix, from Friday

➢ “Inspired loosely and probably irrelevantly by the Russian film The Major, Seven Seconds was developed for Netflix by The Killing creator Veena Sud as a continuation of her fascination with watching mismatched crime-solving duos investigating murders in inclement weather … a 10-hour-plus drama that might otherwise have been the somber punchline to a joke that begins with, ‘The Killing, American Crime, The Shield and a mediocre episode of Law & Order walk into a bar …’ — The Hollywood Reporter.

➢ “The Killing creator Veena Sud trades the rainy streets of Seattle for the slate-gray winter of New Jersey, and murders for a car accident that takes the life of a black teen. After the white cop driver (Beau Knapp) calls his fellow Jersey City officers for help, he gets dragged into a cover-up that rapidly makes things worse … Seconds may not be particularly original, but it’s a solid binge.” — Entertainment Weekly.

➢ “The legal and political firestorm that ensues is relentlessly grim in a very long and frustrating road to justice, offering meaty roles for Clare-Hope Ashitey as a train-wreck prosecutor, Michael Mosley as her gum-cracking detective with a thing for strays, Russell Hornsby as [Regina] King’s shattered husband and Gretchen Mol as a cunning shark lawyer.” — TV Guide.

➢ “Like The Killing, this is ultimately a story about families and surrogate families and improvised families — the comfort they offer and the damage they do. Seven Seconds does keep you in suspense with the expectation that bad things will happen, and they do. Nevertheless, the series is more hopeful than not. To find out just what that means you’ll have to watch. I recommend you do.” — Los Angeles Times.

➢ “Seven Seconds needed someone to remind the people behind the camera and at the streaming service of the adage that less is often more. The fact is that Seven Seconds drags on way too long, even when you think it’s over. And that’s a real shame because there is a thoughtful and deeply emotional story of needless sacrificed cultural cannon fodder and systematic discrimination on many levels in the series, one that I still think, despite my reservations, makes it worth watching.” — Deadline.