As the extremely underwhelming recording of the Ronda Rousey versus Gina Carano fight quickly slides down the Netflix top 10 list, a new series has been rising, surpassing some former hits. And its Rotten Tomatoes score suggests it’s worth a watch.
The series is Nemesis, a “dark thriller” with eight hour-long episodes, airing live after its debut on May 14. As it stands, it has racked up a 90% Rotten Tomatoes score from critics, with the caveat that there are not loads of reviews in yet. Still, a very solid start. Audience scores for Nemesis are quite a bit worse, but there are very, very few in so far, and we’ll have to see how it progresses in time. But there may be a sharp critic/viewer divide in the end, we’ll have to see. Here’s the synopsis of the show:
“The LA crime drama pits master thief Coltrane Wilder against detective Isaiah Stiles, challenging heist genre norms while examining what drives, sustains, and destroys people.”
Nemesis was created by Courtney A. Kemp and Tani Marole, with Kemp serving as the showrunner for the long-running series Power from 2014 to 2020, and was heavily involved in its various additions and spinoffs.
The series stars Matthew Law, who had a stint on Abbott Elementary, where this is certainly a very different role for him. He also starred in over a hundred episodes of The Oval, which is about to end. Opposite him is Y’lan Noel, who was in the Natalie Portman miniseries, Lady in the Lake, and Cleopatra Coleman, recently in Netflix’s Black Rabbit and in both Rebel Moon movies. We won’t hold that against her. I enjoyed her in the 2023 horror film Infinity Pool with Mia Goth. Also, don’t miss her in Dopesick, the truly excellent 2021 miniseries.
The action series may be the right follow-up to Man on Fire, which has proven to be another hit on Netflix, though it hasn’t been renewed for season 2 yet, which is at least a little surprising. Former #1 for a very long time, the True Crime miniseries Worst Ex Ever, has now slid to #4. Last week’s The Roast of Kevin Hart remains at #2 as clips of the jokes keep going viral on social media.
We will see how long Nemesis lasts on top, and if fans come around the way critics have. Or you can just make up your own mind and check it out for yourself.
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