What crime dramas are in America's third largest city after New York and Los Angeles? Boston, Chicago and San Francisco can all make a point, and many may choose Baltimore for “murder: Living on the street” and “wire.” However, recently another city has moved up the chart. Philadelphia suddenly became a hot place with moody stories about drugs and murder.
The miniseries “Long Bright River” premieres as a premiere at Peacock on Thursday, and “Dope Thief,” which begins on Apple TV+ on Friday, is a melting pot on Philadelphia on an industrial stack. The show follows HBO's 2021 “Mare of Easttown,” followed by another HBO law enforcement drama “Task,” featuring FBI agents in the Philadelphia suburbs. (And you can throw the Hulu comedy “Deli Boys” about a crime ring based in a convenience store in the Philadelphia area.)
The stars of the two new shows, Amanda Safried and Brian Tyree Henry, play people who can become almost the same characters, although superficially different, for dramatic purposes. Mickey Fitzpatrick of Safried in “Long Bright River” is a police officer who protects the prostitute with her beat. “Dope Thief” Henry Ray Drisco is a former con man who pretends to be a federal agent and takes away his drug home.
But beneath the surface, two Indigenous people in northern Philadelphia suffer from similar family trauma seen in the abundant flashbacks (fathers grow larger). As a result, each needs redemption and change. This is reality through the lines of each series.
But they get there in very different ways. “Long Bright River” is a family soap opera that is played like a heavy “Marle of East Town” companion piece and grafted with the mystery of a procedural serial killer. “Dope Thief” is a hyperbolic postmodern dance rilrea, spoofing the mysteries of a fierce bo style. Personal tastes may primarily determine what you respond to, but here's a hint: If humor is counted for something, then “dope thief” is consistently used in a reasonably clever, biased comedy, and is much more commonly used for 8 hours.
In “Long Bright River,” Mickey is a single mother with a massive 8-year-old Thomas (the very charming Calm Vinson). Her only family support comes from her sharpened grandfather (John Doman) if you can call it. When her beat woman begins to die as her estranged sister, Casey (Ashley Cummings), goes missing, Mickey begins to investigate her off-book.
The mechanism of that detective work was carried out with the help of Mickey's former partner, Truman (Nicolas Pinnock). And the final solution is pretty obvious from the start in terms of who the killer is, and also in terms of how the killer is going to be tried, it's a heady goofy thing.
Created by Nikki Toscano (“Offer”) and Liz Moore and based on Moore's novels, “Long Bright River” ignores credible crime in favor of a gothic melodrama that jumps between the cliches of family reconciliation and feminist empowerment. The emotional logic changes from scene to scene, but Mickey is mostly bottled and reads as evasive and uninteresting. One Note Characters minimize Safried's abilities. (Pinnock, Harriet Sansom Harris, Harris as Mickey's landlord, and Perry Mattfeld as one of the prostitutes, do a good job.)
“Dope Thief” also has limitations to Henry's performance. The anger caused by Ray's trauma is a bit familiar with the eight episodes, and his rants and complaints begin to run together. But as written by Peter Craig on the basis of Dennis Tafoya's novel, Ray also has occasional notes of kindness and melancholy regret that Henry carefully portrays.
Henry is also fun to watch, as she can convey Ray's excitement by playing the character, at least early on. Ray puts on a DEA jacket and forces a teenage Mescoke and a dealer to go down to the floor. He can survive the role of a hero from the old Westerner who we see him watching alone in his room.
Soon Ray and his strong-armed play, Manny (Wagner Mullah), hit the wrong house, and the tense but charming tone of the opening shifts to a more hopeless and violent pitch. (“Dope Thief” is slightly flattered after a great opening episode from director Ridley Scott. “Long Bright River” picks up at the end where directors Jessica Yu and Meera Menon perform the melodrama in a more stylish way.)
But “Dope Thief” remains interesting. Craig actively overlays biker gangs, Vietnamese crime families, neo-Nazi killers, real DEA agents, and Ray's almost black neighbors on a sardonic farce that works in their own Baroque terminology. Henry is remarkably supported by Vin Rams as Ray's convicted father. Kate Mulgleu is a charming stepmother to steal the Hammy scene. And Mura gives unconventional influence performance as a spiral manny.
“Dope Thief” and “Long Bright River” often present Philadelphia background in a similar way. The quick interstitial montages of murals, storefronts and commuter trains are essentially the same. But again, the effect is different just because of the color palette. The saturated and vibrant cinematography of the “long bright river” has a tourist look that is avoided by the clean, neutral tone of the “dope thief.” You may prefer to live in Philadelphia for the first show, but you are more likely to believe in the second one.
