The Shards reviews split after debut

Gold Derby reported on August 6 that reviews for FX’s “The Shards” broke in opposite directions a day after the series premiered with two episodes on August 5. The show, created by Ryan Murphy and Bret Easton Ellis from Ellis’s 2023 novel, stars Igby Rigney as a fictionalized teenage Ellis in 1981 Los Angeles, where a prep-school social circle is unsettled by a new student and a serial killer known as the Trawler. Gold Derby said the early reaction ranged from strong praise to outright dismissal, rather than a clear critical consensus. ### Why are the reviews so split? Variety’s Alison Herman wrote on August 5 that the adaptation “doesn’t work,” arguing that the series starts to falter when it moves beyond the novel’s atmosphere and begins making bolder departures. She nonetheless singled out Rigney, writing that he gets “one crucial” element right as the young Bret. Time’s Judy Berman also reviewed the show negatively on August 5, writing that the series has visual style and larger ambitions but winds up letting “the shallow stuff” prevail. (msn.com) IndieWire’s Ben Travers reached a similar conclusion, calling it a production “filled with potential” that “never comes together.” RogerEbert.com’s Kaiya Shunyata went the other way on August 5, calling “The Shards” Murphy’s best work in more than a decade and praising how Ellis’s material translates into Murphy’s visual style. (variety.com) That contrast — between critics who saw a misfire and one who saw a potent match of source material and filmmaker — is what produced the split reaction highlighted by Gold Derby. (time.com) ### What are critics responding to in the show itself? “The Shards” centers on Bret, Debbie, Susan, Thom and newcomer Robert Mallory, played by Homer Gere, against a backdrop of wealth, secrecy and violence in early-1980s Los Angeles. Reviews across outlets described the same core ingredients: affluent teenagers, heavy narration, serial-killer plotting and a stylized period setting. (rogerebert.com) Time described the series as a story about a killer stalking students at Ellis’s high school, while Variety said the first two episodes closely track the opening of the book before the show starts staking out its own approach. IndieWire emphasized the mixture of coming-of-age drama and murder mystery, with Bret’s hidden sexuality and private life running alongside the Trawler plot. (variety.com) ### Is there anything critics broadly agree on? Igby Rigney is one of the few points of overlap. Variety called him “terrific” as Bret, even within an otherwise negative review. Time described his character as “unnervingly self-possessed,” and Gold Derby’s roundup also pointed to his central role in the series. The period design is another recurring feature in the notices. (variety.com) Variety cited the show’s use of period music and Los Angeles locations, while Time said the series “gleams” with stylish production design and genre pastiche associated with Murphy’s work. Even critics who were unconvinced by the overall adaptation generally described the package as visually deliberate. ### What exactly premiered on August 5? FX said “The Shards” launched on August 5 on FX and Hulu, with the first two episodes available at debut. The official FX page identifies the series as an adaptation of Ellis’s novel and links the show to an official companion podcast hosted by Evan Ross Katz. Search results and review coverage published around the premiere also consistently described the opening as a two-episode launch. (variety.com) Time said the show premiered with two episodes on FX and Hulu on August 5, and Gold Derby’s August 6 story framed the review split around those first two episodes. ### When do the next episodes arrive? FX’s rollout continues weekly after the August 5 debut, according to the network’s show page and multiple schedule reports surfaced alongside the premiere. (fxnetworks.com) Gold Derby’s August 6 item said the season continues through a September 2 finale. As of August 6, no Emmy development tied specifically to “The Shards” was reported in the source material provided for this story. (time.com) The next concrete milestone is the weekly Wednesday release schedule on FX and Hulu, with the current plan running through September 2. (msn.com) (fxnetworks.com)