Sneaky Pete (2019) ★★★★★

I thoroughly enjoyed all three seasons of Sneaky Pete on Amazon Prime. Starring Giovanni Ribisi, who otherwise you may remember as Phoebe Buffay's brother in Friends, does an excellent job as a con man who fakes his way into Bernhardts and Bowmans, dysfunctional families running a bail bonds business. Although all three seasons are great, the first one is primarily perfect because of Bryan Cranston, who plays the perfect villain. He also is the creator and executive producer of the show, his first foray after the epic Breaking Bad.

The rest of the cast is stellar, including the inimitable Margo Martindale, whom I had loved in Justified. I wasn't too surprised to find that the showrunners involved in Sneaky Pete had also worked on Justified and thus share plenty of actors. The same dark comedy feels make it the perfect binge-able show. What makes the show so captivating is that the characters cannot help but keep messing up and digging into a deeper hole. There are no "good" characters, but you root for the slightly less bad ones. The best draw of the show, however, is the con aspect and how confidence and self-belief are the keys to make people give you their prized possession. The perfect con, as Pete explains in one episode, is to make the "mark" willingly give you the thing they're being conned for a while, making them feel as if they gave it to you of their own free will.

Characters fade in and out over the three seasons, and there is an overarching villain that the people conning the mark are running from. In the meantime, family secrets from the two families intertwine with the con to keep things interesting. If you are looking for a show to chill out on the couch on busy weekdays, check out Sneaky Pete but don't blame me if you run through all three seasons within a couple of weeks.