Black Rabbit is what I would term frustrating TV – but in a good way. The show’s tense and propulsive in a way that’s reminiscent of Uncut Gems. It’s the kind of TV that will have you shouting at your screen due to the inane choices made by some of the characters. The show does stretch the bounds of credulity at some points, since there are times where the characters’ decisions don’t make a lot of sense. The writing could have been tighter on that front, but if you’re okay with watching repulsive characters make one bad decision after the other, and spending hours with Jude Law’s gorgeous face, then Black Rabbit is the show for you.
Jake’s (Jude Law) restaurant The Black Rabbit is on the brink of greatness: an established food critic is coming to dine in their restaurant, which would help elevate their status and help convince the investors to get on board for the expansion plan. Here to screw things up is Jake’s brother Vince (Jason Bateman), who casually kills a man over a stolen coin collection just minutes before he’s calling up his brother asking for help. Immediately the show establishes Vince as an agent of chaos, and his re-entrance into Jake’s life threatens to ruin everything that Jake’s built up so far.
It is the Law-Bateman pairing that elevates the material of the show at every turn. Their scenes together help sell the love-hate dynamic between the brothers, and the relationship feels authentic despite the visual dissonance – they don’t look like they could be related in any way. While Jake may seem to be the brother that has his life together, this is only on the surface. In reality, he’s living above his means, taking money from the restaurant to support his lifestyle and fund his son’s private education. So when Vince returns and asks him for money, Jake doesn’t have any to give. They do have their parents’ house and the restaurant, and they try to leverage these properties to quickly get some influx of cash.
As usual, Law is so compelling to watch on screen. He has this ability of making you root for even the scummiest of characters. While Jake isn’t on the same level of mess as Vince is, he’s still a douchebag. He’s not a good boss, allowing the staff to imbibe freely on drugs and alcohol while on the job, as well as making offensive comments at the expense of the female staff. They adore him because he’s incredibly charismatic and gorgeous – they tell Jake how handsome he is numerous times in the show – so they let him get away with his toxic behaviour. God bless the costume department for the gift of Law’s constant unbuttoned shirt. Bateman does feel a little miscast, only because he generally plays the relatable everyman in most of his roles, so at times it’s hard to feel the urgency of the situation when he’s making wisecracking jokes. He’s very good towards the end of the series though. That’s when we start to feel that all Vince’s bad decisions are catching up to him, and Bateman displays that exhaustion so well.
Vince owes money to the Mancuso family, and they’re the kind of old-school gangsters you just do not mess with. Head of the family is Joe Mancuso, played by the incredible Troy Kotsur. Kotsur reminds us at every turn why he’s an Oscar winning actor. He’s fantastic as the villainous Joe Mancuso, so scary and intimidating. Every time he shows up on screen you feel a palpable sense of fear and tension. As a deaf actor, Kotsur relies solely on his facial expressions and physicality to communicate his intentions, and he is so good you know what he’s saying even without the subtitles. When that man gets out of his chair to hunt you down, you know you’re in for a world of pain.
Where the show excels is really in the worldbuilding and cinematography. We’re brought into the space of The Black Rabbit – the warm interiors of the restaurant, the hectic atmosphere of the kitchen, the bustling New York streets outside. Even their childhood home is given so much character, and it looks like a proper home with all the clutter that’s built up over the years. I love it when shows make the effort of staging proper sets and taking the time to establish the world the characters reside in.
My one criticism is the treatment of the female characters in the show, who are confined to the peripheries of the narrative. Even when they are at the centre of things, like Anna (Abbey Lee), she’s barely characterised in the few scenes we do get of her. I have loved Dagmara Domińczyk since The Count of Monte Cristo, and she’s great in the few scenes she’s in, but isn’t given much to do as Jake’s ex-wife Val. Her scenes with Law are so electric, especially since the pair effortlessly establish their relationship with each other, but the show seems more invested in getting Jake to pursue some half-baked romance with Estelle (Cleopatra Coleman). I know it’s to sell Jake’s scummy and predatory ways, since Estelle is way younger than he is, but there’s barely any chemistry between them. I shouldn’t feel bored when I’m basically watching an illicit affair unfurl on screen.
Odessa Young’s Gen is another wasted opportunity. We don’t learn much about her beyond her shitty dad Vince, and despite having a father who’s constantly getting into situations, Gen seems to have no awareness when it comes to protecting her own life. She tells a random stranger where she lives while giving him a tattoo, and when she’s blatantly told that she needs to leave New York for her own protection, she doesn’t because she doesn’t want to be like her father. It’s like the woman has a death wish. It makes me sad because Young is an incredible actress, and I wish I got to see her do more than be a mere pawn.
Black Rabbit is worth the 8 or so hours it takes to complete it. It’s not a perfect limited series, but it’s definitely one of the better shows on Netflix.
REVIEW SCORE: 3.5/5
