Easy : Season 1

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  • Series Premiere Date: Sep 22, 2016
Easy Image
Metascore
72

Generally favorable reviews - based on 10 Critics What's this?

User Score
4.9

Mixed or average reviews- based on 28 Ratings

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  • Summary: The anthology series from Joe Swanberg is set in Chicago where characters played by such actors as Malin Akerman, Orlando Bloom, Hannibal Buress, Michael Chernus, Dave Franco, Jake Johnson, Marc Maron, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw deal with culture, love, sex, and technology.
  • Genre(s): Drama

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Robert Lloyd
    Sep 22, 2016
    90
    A naturalistic comedy of modern manners set among the young, less young and undeniably middle-aged people of Chicago, it's another basket of goodies turned up on the doorstep in a fall season barely started yet already full of them.
  2. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Chuck Bowen
    Sep 22, 2016
    88
    Subtext gives Easy its tart edge, emboldening it with an obsessiveness that resists fashionable platitudes. Swanberg captures the frictions between men and women and yuppies and bohemians, revealing a common core of fear that the other has got it better.
  3. Indiewire
    Reviewed by: Ben Travers
    Sep 22, 2016
    83
    For as easy as it would be to get lost in the look and feel of the new series, Swanberg has a lot to say with Easy. Some arguments may be more compelling than others, and Easy itself is distinctly understated in almost every regard (much like its setting).
  4. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Danette Chavez
    Sep 22, 2016
    75
    Ratajkowski’s insightful observations cut through Maron’s monologues, but there’s no clear winner, of course. There are no buttons here so much as pins in a discussion. Swanberg’s modular approach to storytelling offers one of the few true snacking options among Netflix’s binging fare, which is almost as satisfying.
  5. Variety
    Reviewed by: Sonia Saraiya
    Sep 23, 2016
    60
    And yet one wishes that Swanberg had tried a bit harder to get out of his intimate, meandering comfort zone. It would be interesting to see what Swanberg would produce if he gave himself a more difficult challenge.
  6. RogerEbert.com
    Reviewed by: Brian Tallerico
    Sep 21, 2016
    60
    The Maron episode, the fifth, is the best of the bunch, and feels at least somewhat biographical. ... Other episodes have a tendency to feel narratively forced.
  7. Vox.com
    Reviewed by: Caroline Framke
    Sep 26, 2016
    50
    It throws a wide array of actors, including Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Aya Cash, Marc Maron, Elizabeth Reaser, Orlando Bloom, and Raúl Castillo, into varying scenarios about love, sex, marriage, and everything in between, and the results are, predictably, mixed. In the end, though, the series indulges way more mundane ramblings than anything particularly interesting.

See all 10 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 4
  3. Negative: 3 out of 4
  1. Indiefilmlover
    Sep 26, 2016
    6
    "Easy" has some worthwhile moments, but after a few episodes you're reminded that all eight of them were written by the same person. There's a"Easy" has some worthwhile moments, but after a few episodes you're reminded that all eight of them were written by the same person. There's a sameness to the characters and their situations that gets tiring after a while. Most episodes involve a thirtysomething couple dealing with some aspect of parenting. Either someone gets pregnant, is trying to get pregnant or is raising a small child. Not once do you see a couple with teen-aged children. Significantly, the series is set in Chicago which is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the United States, but is also one of the most segregated. The latter aspect of Chicago stands out the most here. With few exceptions, "Easy" focuses primarily on the lives of mostly white hipsters and artist types of a certain age. Absent are blue collar types, the extremely wealthy, the aged, and to a large extent, people of color. If this were a typical series that featured a small cast of regulars like "Seinfeld" or "Friends," this wouldn't be so noticeable, but as an anthology series set in a large metropolitan city, this lack of diversity really stands out after a few episodes. This is not to say there is no diversity, but not as much as you would expect. Men of color are largely ignored. About half of the episodes feature black women to some degree, but in each case their romantic relationships are all with white people. Conversely, the two episodes that feature black men with more than a bit role, none of them have any onscreen romantic relationships. Another episode features a Latino couple and their friend (who all speak in Spanish), but otherwise Latinos are mostly absent from the series. A couple of episodes have small featured roles for Asian women, but Asian men are practically invisible. Clearly, the best episode is "Art and Life," which features Marc Maron as a middle aged graphic novelist who regularly mines his personal relationships for artistic inspiration. Unlike most of the episodes in the series, this has a distinct point of view with something meaningful to say. "Controlada," the mostly Spanish language episode, showed some promise, but felt driven by the dictates of the script rather than by emotional truth. Despite some strong performances from the likes of Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jane Adams, and Kate Micucci, most of the other episodes lack any weight and are mainly exercises about the minutiae of interpersonal relationships. Now if you are someone with a similar background or going through similar issues with your life, you might find this interesting, but for many others it is simply boring. This is really a shame given the talented actors involved. If "Easy" goes on to a second season, one would hope that Joe Swanberg and company will bring in some additional writers, so that the series can really have some diversity and to broaden its artistic palette. If that happens, instead of being a largely forgettable series with a few bright spots, "Easy" could really blossom into something special.… Expand
  2. librocop
    Sep 23, 2016
    3
    Easy is a Netflix Original Series that follows the lives of different people all living in Chicago as they fumble through the modern maze ofEasy is a Netflix Original Series that follows the lives of different people all living in Chicago as they fumble through the modern maze of love, sex, technology, and culture.
    With that all out of the way, this is a terribly written, lousy TV series. With weird capping plot holes and very poorly developed plot lines, the episodes stumble through bad comedy with very obvious agenda pushing undertones. Some of the comedy and plot lines are so forced I felt like I was getting lectured rather than showing a Television show. They tackle issues in such a stereotypical and poorly executed manner that they ruin any chance of interest or insight into them.
    The only upside I could see is that many of the actors performed quite well and some of the set designs are really nice.
    All in all, I say give this one a pass.    … Expand
  4. c469399
    Sep 24, 2016
    2
    Tries too hard to seem naturalistic but nobody in reality talks like that. It just has the effect that many of the conversations areTries too hard to seem naturalistic but nobody in reality talks like that. It just has the effect that many of the conversations are unbearable. And it's just BLA BLA BLA while not much of substance comes across. But they are all very easy and fun. If that was the purpose of the whole thing, saying nothing but very casually, then they succeeded.… Expand
  5. Bardock
    Sep 23, 2016
    1
    I had to create an account here just to express how bad this major cringe-fest is, probably one of the worst series I have ever watched onI had to create an account here just to express how bad this major cringe-fest is, probably one of the worst series I have ever watched on Netflix. It surprises me that all of the mainstream outlets are giving this relatively OK reviews because the show is absolutely terrible. The show uses stereotypical forced feminist comedy and it's just not enjoyable to watch unless you are laughing at the show itself.… Expand

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