Created by: Tessa Coates – Showrunner: Matt Miller – Starring: Octavia Spencer, Hannah Waddingham, Ed Skrein, Bill Nighy, and Sylvia Hoeks
Ride or Die turned out to be pretty much the show the premiere led me to believe it would be.
It’s fun, has some genuinely heartfelt moments, a few real surprises, and enough suspense that I wasn’t always convinced everyone was going to make it out alive. And the world of clandestine world hinted at in that first episode continues to expand in delightful ways.
Judith (Hannah Waddingham) exists within a hidden network of assassins, criminals, fixers, and other dangerous people operating just outside the view of everyday life. Sometimes shows and movies build this kind of mythology so big that you wonder how nobody notices. Ride or Die keeps everything small and secretive enough that I can believe it’s all happening just out of sight.
Besides its John Wick vibe, the show also has a little Black Widow and Red Sparrow in the mix, particularly in its combination of espionage, old relationships, young women trained to become assassins, and people with complicated histories trying to kill each other.
Hannah Waddingham is fantastic throughout. She is completely believable as an action star, whether she’s fighting, shooting, running for her life, or simply walking into a room like she knows she’s the most dangerous person in it. She also gets to be funny, sexy, vulnerable, and smart without any of those qualities feeling at odds with one another. She is basically James Bond. Or should be.
Debbie (Octavia Spencer) gets a much fuller arc than the premiere initially suggested. She gradually discovers a sense of agency in a life where we’re told she’s spent years holding herself back and making herself smaller. In this adventure, Debbie gets to be smart, brave, and increasingly willing to take action rather than let things happen around her, allowing Spencer to move comfortably between comedy, drama, and some of the show’s more physical moments.
The only nitpick I have with Debbie’s plot is that we don’t spend enough time with the woman she’s supposedly breaking free from. We’re told she was afraid to take chances and pursue what she wanted, but the character we actually spend the season with already has momentum. When her transformation reaches its emotional climax, I understood what the moment was supposed to mean more than I actually felt it.
The addition of Ed Skrein also gives the series another gear. Waddingham and Spencer already work well together, but adding him to the mix creates a surprisingly fun three-person dynamic. There’s constant bickering, some genuine affection, and enough heat between Skrein and Waddingham to add another wrinkle without overwhelming everything else.
That chemistry is also where much of the comedy succeeds. Ride or Die never becomes a spoof and doesn’t treat its action or danger as a joke. The humor comes from personalities colliding, giving the show a lightness without undermining the suspense.
The supporting cast has some real bright spots. Bill Nighy is a natural fit as the elder statesman of this strange criminal ecosystem, while Sylvia Hoeks completely sells Ana’s desire for revenge and the almost gleeful pleasure she takes in finally putting her plan into motion. I also enjoyed Jacky Ido as Jacques, the Interpol agent trying to figure out what is going on.
Unfortunately, the show sometimes tries to give its supporting characters a little too much to do. A few romances, family complications, and other subplots never really landed with me, and the series probably would have been stronger if it had kept things a little leaner.
There are other bumps along the way. The show has a tendency to repeat emotional beats, particularly when testing the central friendship or Debbie’s marriage. Some of the melodrama is difficult to take completely seriously, and occasionally the larger world stops making sense if you think too hard about how it would interact with the real one. Having a member of Parliament disappear, for example, feels like something that should cause considerably more commotion than it does here.
But those problems never overwhelmed what works. The two major storylines remained engaging, and watching the series pull all the pieces together for an exciting finale was a lot of fun.
And that’s ultimately what sold me on Ride or Die.
TV shows like this don’t have to be perfect. They just have to be fun.
TV Verdict: I’m On Board
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