Black Rabbit ****

Directed by the creative team of Ben Semanoff (among others) and created by Zach Baylin and Kate Susman, the show holds you in that kind of slow-burn suspense where every glance, every spilled glass, matters. Jude Law as Jake and Jason Bateman as Vince deliver performances that anchor the drama, Law brooding over what he’s built, Bateman simmering with regret and danger and the result is kinetic, overloaded with menace but never careless.

Black Rabbit could be argued as being Shakespearean with its study of the glamour of high-end hospitality and the grime of underworld deals. The titular restaurant is more than a set; it’s a character itself, looming over the brothers as they make disastrous decision after disastrous decision.

The supporting cast-like Amaka Okafor as chef Roxie and Troy Kotsur as ruthless loan-shark Joe Mancuso, adds layers of fear, betrayal and ambition. The tiny little cracks in seemingly ordinary folk under pressure in real life settings, you feel the weight of stakes: the VIP tables, the unpaid debts, the shells of childhood traumas cracked open. The show is dramatic in every sense: the slippery morality, the family ties that wound, the club lights flickering over broken promises, broken glasses and smashed ashtrays.

That said, Black Rabbit is not without flaws. While the performances soar, the narrative sometimes drags under its own ambition. Several critics note that the eight-episode arc meanders and overloads itself with characters and subplots. There are moments where you wish the show would go harder and faster, rather than luxuriating in the long glances and soft music. But when it hits its stride, around halfway through, it reminds you what prestige drama can still do: turn a restaurant in Manhattan into a warzone of emotion, with every barbed conversation a battlefield.

Visually and tonally, the series is a knockout. The cinematography leans into shadows and reflections, the soundtrack hums under tension, and the direction never lets the camera land too comfortably.

© IMDB

It’s a world where ambition tastes like espresso and danger smells like shared cigars at 2 a.m. The creators treat you like a guest at the table, sometimes invited, sometimes warned off, but always watching. Law and Bateman carry it with charisma and vulnerability; their interplay is the engine that keeps you engaged even when the plot stalls.