Episode Guide
Episode 1 – | Review Score – 2.5/5 Episode 2 – | Review Score – 3/5 Episode 3 – | Review Score – 3/5 Episode 4 – | Review Score – 2/5 Episode 5 – | Review Score – 3/5 Episode 6 – | Review Score – 2.5/5 Anxious People is not a thrilling crime drama. It’s also not particularly funny, failing to even exist in the realm of parody. Instead, Anxious People is a strange hodgepodge of ideas that misfires right the way across its brief 6 episode run-time. That’s a shame because the premise is actually quite enticing and will be enough to draw a fair few people to this oddball series In its simplest form, a whole group of strangers find themselves held hostage at the hands of a masked assailant after a bank robbery goes horribly wrong. When the police do finally show up, the robber is gone and the hostages are none the wiser over what happened. Where did they go? Is this an inside job? Or is there an air of supernatural shenanigans going on here? This idea is elaborated on by young, plucky police officer Jack and his grizzled dad, Jim. Together, they try to uncover what’s been happening while also juggling the woes of Jack’s drug-addict sister, Jill. Across the six episodes, more is revealed about who these hostages are, how they came to be in this predicament and a surprising link that ties them together. Unfortunately in doing so, Anxious People loses sight of its main purpose, tepidly treading across different genres without ever really establishing itself. Anxious People’s characters are pretty archetypal too and there’s really not much in the way of development for them, at least outside of Jack anyway. Sure, there are a couple of nice moments for the supporting characters, but this feels inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, especially when the final reveal is made. Unfortunately this reveal comes off the back of a bizarre fourth episode that changes tact, with a more soap opera tone as all our characters scramble to help a pregnant woman called Julia to the hospital. These deviating subplots do nothing to help drive the show forward and ultimately underline what’s otherwise a disappointing venture. Given how many crime dramas there are, and how many parodies too for that matter, Anxious People is unlikely to hold in the memory for long. It’s a weak, tepid effort that takes an interesting idea and squanders it across short episodes that never quite form into a cohesive whole.
