Culprits Is a Bumpy Heist-Thriller that Mostly Gets the Job Done

There’s something irresistible about well-plotted heist fiction. From the elaborate planning phase to how this setup can be used to playfully subvert or transcend expectations, there’s a reason we haven’t gotten sick of watching crooks escape with mountains of loot. But what happens after the big score? Culprits, a British limited series debuting on Hulu (if you’re in the States anyway), aims to answer this question. At its best, it captures the anxiety and concerns of these ex-thieves unable to outrun their sordid deeds as they’re forced to confront the lingering consequences of their actions. However, while the series begins and ends strong, its middle chapters drag under the weight of a caper stretched too thin.

We follow Joe Petras (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), a physical trainer who’s settled into a quiet American suburb. He’s engaged to Jules Burner (Kevin Vidal), and together with Jules’ kids from his previous marriage, Frankie (Maria Nash) and Bud (Baeyen Hoffman), they make an idyllic family. But the truth is, underneath his charming smile and domestic routine, Joe hasn’t been entirely honest. His real name is David Marking, and he used to be a deadly bodyguard in the criminal underworld. In a desperate bid to break free of his old life, he took part in a heist that left each of its survivors millionaires. But years later, David and the remaining members of his crew find themselves hunted by a masked assassin who’s picking them off one by one. Driven to protect his family, he is forced to re-enter a world he’d rather have left behind for good.

The series’ early episodes, written and directed by showrunner J Blakeson, are the strongest, largely because they emphasize the tension between David’s past and present. He juggles an onslaught of issues that range from mundane to existential, attempting to assuage his fiancé’s concerns while also keeping his skeletons stuffed in the closet. At one point, he learns his stash from the heist is in jeopardy, resulting in a procession of borderline-comedic scenarios that come across like he’s trying to plug the holes in a sinking ship. Nathan Stewart-Jarrett’s performance further sells these chaotic circumstances, making it clear that David’s attempts to maintain this new identity come from a genuine desire to make things work with his boyfriend rather than just because he’s trying to escape from previous wrongdoings.

Most painfully, as David is increasingly forced to skirt around the truth to deal with these threats, this puts a palpable strain on his upcoming marriage with Jules. Although there is a deep tenderness to this queer relationship, the series emphasizes Jules’ feelings that their romance is under additional scrutiny due to the biphobic judgments of their restrictive community. These romantic struggles hit even harder because we see how David had become a genuine father figure to Jules’ children before things started to go sideways, making the threat of his hidden past all the more imposing. Unlike many action thrillers where the protagonist is motivated by the perfunctory protection of a nuclear family, this one captures the weight of these bonds, communicating exactly what David has to lose.

However, while the show initially focuses on these compelling relationships, these elements eventually fall on the back burner. As David and his former allies face off against a masked murderer who has been picking them off, the narrative stalls out until its final act due to repetition and a general unwillingness to clue us in on what’s truly going on. During these episodes, our perspective characters meander from place to place as very little actually happens, always a step behind a tracksuit-wearing assailant that has the same preternatural presence as the killer in a slasher flick. Although this may sound like a great premise, if similar to many horror movies that show the monster too often, these sequences ultimately lose their luster as this foe goes from terrifying to borderline silly in their inexplicable ability to materialize out of the shadows.

Perhaps the biggest problem is that, while the start of this story feels tethered to captivating circumstances as David struggles to save his personal life, the next few episodes feel like a non-stop procession of chases that lead nowhere. By its penultimate chapter, I assumed this meandering pacing meant the series couldn’t possibly satisfyingly wrap up all its loose ends. Thankfully, I was at least partially wrong, and the finale offered an interesting explanation for what all this bluster was fought over. But even as I was happy with where things eventually went, this sudden treasure trove of intriguing plot points made me wonder why these riches weren’t more generously dispersed through this journey’s barren segments.

That said, there are certainly boons to these middle episodes, such as ostentatious costuming choices and a general plethora of style that can make these sequences pop. The visual trademarks help sell the extreme personalities of this codenamed crew, such as Professional, a dual pistol-wielding hitwoman who’s always paired with an all-white duster and combat boots. And then, of course, there’s the central heist itself. Sprinkled throughout, we witness snapshots of this botched robbery from different perspectives, these scenes defined by the type of nerve-wracking anticipation one would expect. Even though we mostly know the outcome of these flashbacks, cinematographers Philipp Blaubach and Anna Valdez-Hanks ratchet up the drama through dynamic camera movements that pair well with the frequent use of insert songs. These moments are consistent highlights even during the duller stretches.

Culprits is a bumpy ride that initially hooked me with its well-portrayed domestic tensions before backgrounding these elements in service of more bog-standard thriller beats. While decent execution and chic flourishes ensure its middle section isn’t unwatchable, it should have either been cut down by a few episodes or restructured to focus on the intriguing concepts presented in its introduction and climax. But even as I wish it maintained the pathos of its opening throughout, the series ended on enough of a high note to make me overlook some of its shortcomings. And in a TV landscape where endings are indefinitely delayed as audiences wait for the executioner’s bullet of an untimely cancellation, it’s always nice to experience shows with definitive conclusions. Culprits may not have made an entirely clean getaway, but it still largely delivered a fun contemporary caper.

Culprits premieres December 8th on Hulu. 

Elijah Gonzalez is an assistant TV Editor for Paste Magazine. In addition to watching the latest on the small screen, he also loves videogames, film, and creating large lists of media he’ll probably never actually get to. You can follow him on Twitter @eli_gonzalez11.

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