TL;DR – A solid, engaging romp that felt like it would have been better in a more contained version.  

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime service used to view this series.

Ride or Die Review Introduction

I have been wanting something new in the spy genre for a while now to scratch that subterfuge action itch I have been having in a world where we still don’t know who the new Bond is. But while I am happy to dive into something old, I am also always ready for something new, and today we look at the latter.

So, to set the scene, Debbie (Octavia Spencer) is an American who married a British politician and has been content to follow that world, building up power bases for her husband behind the scenes, while also enjoying her love of aggressive antique hunting. Her best friend is Judith (Hannah Waddingham), who is an assassin, but not that Debbie knows that. They enjoy a world that includes not making fun of the lady in book club with the awful new haircut, well at least not her face. But all of that slightly falls apart when Judith is tasked with taking out Billy Donovan (Ed Skrein) and accidentally walks into an Albanian mob deal that includes David (Jamie Parker), Debbie’s husband. Now from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

Bonds

This season lives or dies on Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham selling the fish-out-of-water dynamic. Both women bring valuable skills to the mission, but their unfamiliar surroundings constantly expose new blind spots. Well, they make it work. It is a real joy to watch them fumble through their very dangerous mission where everyone is out to get them, and Judith likes getting poisoned quite often. You need this to work because you have to believe that they are real friends because their friendship is the real sacrifice that feels on the cusp of falling apart, and it needs to have true emotional weight to work. The show is full of these truly fun moments, like using the local Instagram network to hunt down Billy Donovan.

Narrative

I will say that this is a very familiar show from a narrative and worldbuilding perspective. Judith works for a shadowy not-government organisation that only kills bad guys but just don’t look too hard at the collateral damage. Also, it is shocking how that organisation can always find orphans to mould into their agents. We start every episode with a convenient flashback that reveals a nugget of everyone’s past that will be important for the episode. The main antagonist, Ana (Sylvia Hoeks), is a former agent with a grudge to pick against those who betrayed her and left her to rot in a Turkish prison for five-odd years. Now, it never feels like they are straight cribbing other shows; indeed, other similar shows like Citadel are also building on the genre that has come before. But there was only one moment that truly surprised me in the runtime, which is a touch of a shame.

Structure

While I did enjoy my time here, I think Ride or Die did suffer from a very common issue in Hollywood at the moment, in that this should have been a movie. There is a tight ninety-minute to two-hour idea here that has been stretched out into an eight-episode miniseries. I know this is because of modern engagement methods in the era of streaming. But it does mean that we do get a lot of padding and resets that we need to extend the season. Also, the crescendo of the season comes in the penultimate episode, making the finale feel quite deflated. There is a ‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard but better’ style film sitting in this miniseries that I think really could have let the core friendship shine.         

Recommendation

In the end, do we recommend Ride or Die? While it has its stumbles towards the end, I still did have a fun time with the show. The bond between Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham is clear, and I will happily watch many more outings featuring the two of them, because this season demonstrates just how well they work together. Also, Ed Skrein, you are so much fun; well done. Have you seen Ride or Die yet? Let us know what you thought in the comments below.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Ride or Die
Directed by – Peyton Reed, Demane Davis, Allison Liddi-Brown, & Lauren Wolkstein
Written by – Tessa Coates, Matt Miller, Katherine Kearns, Liz Friedman, Laura Jacqmin, Alison Barton, & Bonnie Dennison
Created by – Tessa Coates
Production/Distribution Companies – Paramount TV, Amazon MGM Studios,
Starring – Octavia Spencer, Hannah Waddingham, Ed Skrein, Calam Lynch, Savannah Steyn, Jamie Parker, Jacky Ido, Sylvia Hoeks, & Bill Nighy
With – Cathy Tyson, Camille Chamoux, Lazar Dragojevic, Kathryn Drysdale, Liviu Cheloiu, Simon Nagra, Simon Wan, Bill Bailey, Inès Naoun, Livi Birch, & Youssef Kerkour
Episodes Covered – The Book of Judith, The Yellow Wood, Strangers on a Train, The Spanish Prisoner, The Count of Monte Carlo, Moonlight on the Bosphorus, The Geneva Convention, & The Song of Deborah