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They sent out screeners for 8/9 episodes, supposedly critics will get the finale ahead of airing as well, so the articles are based on critics having seen the majority of the series. Seems that reviews were embargoed until today, I've seen a few of them released.

Speaking of, Decider came out with its own glowing article about Darren:

Darren Criss an Emmy winner and other 2018 pop culture predictions we hope come true

Darren Criss an Emmy winner and other 2018 pop culture predictions we hope come true

I just finished watching this-- and have come to the conclusion that, all in all, I don't really like it much. I agree Gillian Jacobs is great. And I really enjoyed Bertie's character and the actress playing her, I found her far funnier than anything else in the show. I thought the pilot was not good but liked the second episode, and everything after that was mostly middling. My biggest hang-up is Gus (and Paul Rust). I never heard of the guy before watching this, but the series seems way too much like Paul Rust's fantasy fodder. It is incredibly unconvincing that a guy that ugly, awkward, and dorky is not only scoring with but being actively chased by all of these model hot women. The sister threesome, the girl at the housewarming party, Heidi, and of course Mickey. It'd be one thing if he had an interesting personality or any charisma but he really doesn't; the most charm he showed was when singing and playing guitar, which is maybe why they had so many scenes of him doing so. Still not enough to justify him having such pull with the ladies. He and Mickey were only mildly interesting together and got less so as the series went on. Another problem was the diversity. Tracie Thoms was the only actor of color given a substantial role (and she was wonderful). They tried the whole meta thing with the black craft services guy and the Dave Chapelle/You've Got Mail reference, but I didn't find it cute when the show just perpetuated it. Mickey with Bobby Lee's character was more of the same thing. Lame. It was an easy enough watch but nothing about it made me excited to see more. Master of None had its flaws but at least I was invested in the end and left wanting to see where everything goes-- with this, I can't imagine it going anywhere very interesting. I probably won't watch a second season of this unless I'm really bored.

Well, I saw Darren opening night, and just saw him again today (unplanned... a friend of mine won lottery and asked last minute if I wanted to tag along, I figured why not). Shockingly (or, well, not at all), contrary to some here's "concerns" that the book would be "dumbed down" for Darren, that was not at all the case. There were no major changes. Jokes have been tweaked and added as they have been for Hedwigs past but that's it. For comparison's sake, I saw Andrew Rannells do the show last summer and saw JCM do it four times (including his last show). So, I know Hedwig pretty well and love it dearly. No one can touch John Cameron Mitchell's performance-- not in the technical sense, since his own voice is not as strong as someone like Andrew's, and his pitch is not perfect (and occasionally fell back on speak-singing rather than straight belting), but he is the embodiment of the character. But Darren has had a good start and from the first night to his fourth performance, I could already see a noticeable improvement both in the acting and vocally (his Origin of Love was bounds better today, and he had adjusted some of his line deliveries to be less emphatic). I have never been to a Darren Criss concert or listened to him sing live outside of videos and am aware of his limitations, but his voice has been strong for all of the songs, more than I expected. His vocals on Wig in a Box are particularly fantastic. Darren is not shy in tackling these numbers and as they are rock songs rather than straight-up Broadway he seems much more comfortable here. Supposedly he has a cold but you could not tell onstage (aside from one moment where he had to clear his throat, but immediately quipped a joke about lubricant). It's a good performance and he is really committed. He nails the climactic scene which is the most emotional (the intense bits were his strongest and the parts he could improve on are more the comic timing). The last fifteen, twenty minutes of the show he truly shines. I'm looking forward to seeing him again later in his run when he is even more settled into the role.

Agreed. Darren also always makes sure to temper any comments about fans with complimentary remarks and stresses how appreciative he is, unlike some other cast members. I made a remark a few weeks ago about guessing John Cameron Mitchell may be referring to adding meta about Darren's age into the show, and just saw a recent video interview where he alluded exactly to that (paraphrasing from memory but when the subject of Darren being young for the role came up, he said something along the lines of "having fun with that" and adding a bit to touch on it in the show). Hedwig doesn't need to sell out shows to be profitable at this point and rarely has since NPH's departure from the production. If you look at the weekly revenues, the show has gone as low as 55% at times, so really if he can keep the numbers 60% and above during his run he will be doing well.

You may have seen many shows, but obviously you don't know Hedwig very well. I've seen NPH, Andrew Rannells, and JCM. NPH and Rannells stuck more or less to the same script (though performed it very differently) and JCM rewrote a big chunk of the book for himself. Not only to take into account his knee injury, but other jokes and added audience participation bits. You can't really "dumb down" Hedwig. It's monologues interspersed with songs. There is no one else to take the brunt off of Darren; he still has to fill that time himself. And the big emotional beats can't be taken out of the material because they're necessary for the song setups and the plot. JCM's quote sounds way more to me like he is talking about tailoring jokes and bits to Darren. I bet anything there will be meta about his age because he is without a doubt very young for the role. Part of the fun of Hedwig is how each performer embodies the character differently and puts their own twist on it. As someone who knows the show pretty well, this is exactly what I'm asking myself when I read these doomsday "well the rewrites are because he clearly can't handle the material!" proclamations. I don't think these people understand how the show works. Yitzhak is a great role but aside from a very small intro at the start of the show, and performing some songs, Yitzhak literally has no dialogue. They're not going to suddenly expand that role so Darren has less to do. I'd say a little over half of Hedwig's monologues are discussing her life and past-- alternating between hilarious and heartbreaking-- and have to stay intact because it's necessary exposition. The other less-than-half is cracking dirty jokes for the most part. I really don't know what people think can be changed to make it "easier" for Darren, aside from removing things completely. The show is already only 90 minutes, I don't think that's going to happen. Choreography? It's a rock show setup, the dance moves are not incredibly intricate and if Darren has anything on his side, its energy. Lowering the key on some songs is not "writing stuff just for him" either. But of course, this assumption from someone who is practically salivating over the idea of him not doing well and has decided that since JCM used a bunch of complimentary adjectives but left out "talented" (even though he's already gushed about that) he's now suddenly changed his mind and deeply regretful and embarrassed by casting Darren. Of course, if he had said "talented" he'd just be overcompensating, wouldn't he? Hmmm.

I have no idea how you could say this is typecasting when Blaine and Hedwig could not be more different characters. One is a straight-laced young gay guy, the other is an outrageous transsexual rock goddess. You could make more of a typecasting argument for Blaine and J. Pierrepont Finch than Blaine and Hedwig. Unless you think it's typecasting because neither character is straight? (That'd also be ignoring that Darren was cast as the straight love interest in his first film, in a role that is also different both to Blaine and Hedwig. So far there's no sign of typecasting for Darren.) I'm in NYC and yes, it's a very popular show. I see updated posters plastered in the subways every time a new Hedwig takes over. Why I found Darren being announced as the replacement surprising is because even this far into the run, a lot of actors more proven on the stage would still love to have the chance. Darren is younger and less seasoned than the actors before him, but the fact that Stephen Trask mentioned wanting him months ago shows that this has been in the cards for a long time. Well, and the fact that Trask flat out said as much. It's not a stunt casting move or a scraping-the-bottom-of-the-barrel decision at all; it shows that the creative team has a lot of faith in Darren, which is extremely impressive. Hell, it's impressive that his name would even be mentioned ina Hedwig conversation, never mind that they are considering him in the same league as NPH, Andrew Rannells, MCH, and JCM, who are all hugely talented. It looks like Darren has found people who think he is worth investing in. A lot of people posting here seem strangely invested in him failing. Maybe residual, misplaced bitterness in believing he doesn't deserve it because of xyz, he got xyz over [insert Fan Favorite here], whatever. A lot of thwarted schadenfreude going on. Well, I'm happy for him. I've seen Andrew Rannells in it, it's an amazing show, and Darren will have to work his ass off, but I think he'll do fine. I think those who are fixated on him being a failure will find a way to frame this venture as one no matter what happens. In the end, doing the role is only going to raise his profile, and hopefully let him leverage into whatever future projects he's interested in.

Really now? Why on earth would she even think about contacting the police. Sexism in the workplace is not, actually, illegal. What would HBO even care? It's the last season of the show, Sorkin is at the top of the chain, they're not going to reprimand him over an argument. Alena did not allege "overbearing sexism". She described the feeling of getting drowned out when she tried to speak up about a storyline and yelled at for questioning him, and indicated she felt Sorkin had pegged her in a role she did not appreciate. Given Sorkin's history of misrepresenting conflicts with his writing staff (Rick Cleveland anyone?), personally I don't trust his take on what happened.

I don't think it is all that common for cast members of any show to be collaborative with the writing staff, with a few exceptions (Parks & Rec, The Office come to mind, since those series allow for an element of improvisation). Sorkin especially does not come across as the kind of show runner who is receptive to much nput from anyone. That's been pretty well established in his past, not just with this show but others. He is known for being obsessive over creative control and wanting only his name on scripts. He does not want to give others credit unless he has to. Considering Sorkin's reputation in the industry (brilliant, but difficult to work with), I don't believe she has done her career much harm. If she has, she probably doesn't care. It's tough for women writers in male-dominated rooms (not just Sorkin's) so I think it's a good thing for people like her to be vocal about their experiences. Maybe she felt morally obligated to share what happened (and make it clear she was distancing herself from the storyline and did not approve), damn the consequences.

This was absolutely my issue as well. Not to mention, Don is supposed to be smart and should know that "not guilty" does not equal "innocent". "Not guilty" means "there isn't proof you committed this crime beyond a reasonable doubt". And as a reporter, with the Troy Davis case and the thousands of other examples that exist, he should know better than to have blind faith in the justice system getting the answer right every time. When it comes to rape, even more so, when you look at not only false rape accusation statistics but the amount of assaults that go entirely unreported. If someone close to him, like Sloan, ever revealed that they had been assaulted in the past but chose not to seek legal recourse for whatever reason (the stigma, the circumstances, the trauma...) would he have the same reaction and assume they are lying by default because he is "morally obligated"?

Alena is claiming that Sorkin's take on what happened is very different from hers. One reviewer, Emily Yoshida of The Verge, posted this with her review: Of course Sorkin at the end of the day is the one with his name on the script and has authorial control. He can do whatever he wants as far as deciding where the story goes. But it does not reflect well on him to dismiss the perspective of a woman in the room over the writing of a women's issue, especially considering his history of arguably sexist writing in this show.

One thing I haven't seen brought up is the actual story the campus rape plot was based on. Last year Occidental College set up an anonymous reporting system for its students to report campus rape. This system was set up in response to Occidental's poor handling of assault claims (and I mean, extremely poor handling). This reporting system did not name the accused person publicly or result in any real consequences. All that happened was the person named would be merely read the school's policy on sexual assault, and told that if they are assaulting people, they should stop. That's it. Men's rights activists (the ones who populate Reddit and 4chan) decided that it was too easy for innocent men to be reported and their lives ruined (...somehow), and so their response was to flood the form with false accusations. They wanted to cripple the entire system. They chose to fill the forms out with a lot of sexist garbage slurs as well. The internet erupted over this for a brief period. It was big enough for Occidental to have to have a spokesperson comment on the story. Sorkin clearly adapted this story and mutated it to fit the message he was trying to get across. I find it pretty disturbing but not at all surprising to hear that he kicked a female writer out of the writers' room for objecting to this storyline.

I just finished watching the first two episodes on a whim. I agree with those who feel the pacing is way too rushed. I don't need gritty realism with my shows, and I'm especially willing to hand wave the believability if the show is otherwise entertaining and compelling, but instead those plot holes really hurt the storylines. I had a difficult time figuring out how much time had passed between events, some of the dialogue was way too heavy handed, and a lot of things just didn't make sense if you thought about it for two seconds. I think they just tried to pack way too much into two episodes, when stretching it out and letting things breathe as we get to know these characters would've been more effective. Hardly any of them act like actual human beings. I didn't actually hate Carter. I'm not saying I liked her, exactly, but at least some of her behavior is understandable given the traumatic series of events happening in her life. I kind of thought in some ways she handled the super shitty way everything unfolded better than expected. Plus, she's supposed to be sixteen, so I give her a little leeway in not seeing things rationally and erring on the self-absorbed side. She's seeing the situation as to how it has hurt her instead of realizing the trauma this family has endured. That said, they definitely need to expand her compassionate side. I like the actress playing her, though. I get where Elizabeth is coming from, but she is really not a likable character. I also hate to say it, but I find it hard to look at the actress's face. I don't know what's going on there. The overprotectiveness is fine, but really, railing about what a monster this daughter's kidnapper is in front of her-- when it's apparent the girl only has memories of being raised by this woman and understandably believes her to be her "real" mother-- is just stupid. Save the shit talk behind closed doors with your therapist or your husband. Who you're cheating on. I liked the father, until the reveal about the book at the end. That's the lowest of the low on a show with a lot of characters doing pretty deplorable things. Also, you don't pay back an advance-- publishers give you that money with the expectation that you will earn out in sales. The worst that happens is you don't earn out, don't get royalties, the publisher takes a loss and you aren't able to get another book deal in the future because you're a flop and nobody wants to touch your work. Unless the idea is that the advance was for a book he hadn't written yet, except it sounds like he got the $500k before she was discovered and the "sequel" was planned, so... none of this makes sense. Anyway, the twist at the end with recording the therapy session and going forward with this after hearing what his daughter is going through... what a sociopath. Speaking of sociopaths, Gabe. "Maybe you need to take no for an answer." "I can't." Let me swoon!! Except no, that's completely gross. And the whole stunt in the food court was just beyond-- I know kids can be cruel and thoughtless, but that was just next level. The only character I actively liked was Max. I already liked the actor from his role as Wyatt on The Fosters, and I guess he's doomed to be typecast as "non-endgame love interest who is clearly the superior option". Not that it takes much on this show. Just don't be a sociopath and you've won. Taylor and Grant are fine, but boring. It's too bad they had to immediately throw in boy drama with the girls. There is so much else there that would've been way more interesting to delve into. And come on girls, Gabe is annoying and has stupid hair. Not worth it. I don't think I'll keep watching. I love teen dramas, even the soapy ones, but I need at last one character to latch onto, and this one is a barren wasteland of sociopaths.