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Things are getting hot and heavy in film and television just lately. With the likes of “Wuthering Heights” and “The Housemaid” steaming up the big screen, a few shows are trying to light the romantic fire, too, and the latest can be found on Prime Video. “56 Days” is the brand new show from creators Karyn Usher and Lisa Zwerling. Collectively, their past credits include some groundbreaking shows, with Usher serving as a writer on “Prison Break” and “One Tree Hill,” and Zwerling penning episodes of “ER” (whose spiritual successor “The Pitt” has been praised by doctors) and, most recently, “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon.”
Together, the creative pair are adapting the novel of the same name by Catherine Ryan Howard, published in 2021. The story follows Ciara Wyse, played by Dove Cameron, and Oliver Kennedy, played by Avan Jogia, a pair of stupidly good-looking people who fall hard and passionately for one another. Soon their encounter reaches a grisly conclusion when the police turn up at Oliver’s apartment, only to discover an unidentified body bubbling in a bathtub. Unable to confirm immediately which of the pair has melted away at the crime scene, an investigation begins that slowly reveals that obsession turned to psychological mind games between the two, and seemingly only one of them wound up alive. With the show tangled up in murder and intrigue, it’s been enough to send the show skyrocketing up the streaming charts, but critics appear not to be as fond.
56 Days is dominating Prime Video even if critics aren’t fans
As it stands, “56 Days” is at the top of Prime Video’s streaming charts (via FlixPatrol), beating the return of “Cross” and nudging “Fallout” further down the charts after its season 2 finale ended on February 3 (and you need to watch both of those, too, if you haven’t already). But while fans might have had “56 Days” fill their TV watchlist, critics haven’t been too welcoming of the new show.
“56 Days” has earned a passable 60% on Rotten Tomatoes, with pacing issues deemed the biggest setback. Pajiba said, “As boring as all that sounds, it’s actually worse because it takes eight episodes to tell a story that could have easily been told in two.” Decider also said that “The affair feels artificial and the investigation of the murder feels excruciatingly drawn out, and the timeline jumping makes the show tiring to watch.”
Backing the show, however, was the Seattle Times, which said, “’56 Days’ can be a little silly, and it’s definitely heavy on the dramatics, but you can’t peel your eyes away as the mystery deepens.” Variety also said that, “While some of the twists are more obvious than others, the show thrives because the audience never quite knows what to expect.”
You can judge for yourself if “56 Days” is worth a watch with the entire season now available on Prime Video. See if you can figure it out before the credits roll, and when you’re done, take your pick from our favorite sci-fi movie twists here.
