USA's Briarpatch has a wonderful cast and some inspired ideas, but it tries to cram too much plot and wackiness

The A.V. Club

"Part of the difficulty is that Briarpatch wants to be a deeper show than it is," says Alex McLevy of the Sam Esmail-produced drama starring Rosario Dawson and written by Andy Greenwald. "There are several moments of eerie, almost supernatural portentousness that slot in awkwardly alongside the affable Southern-fried dramedy. And the show continually tries to drop in quirky symbolism and load meaning onto clunkily staged imagery that comes across more forced than fanciful or effective. It ends up being several shows in one—gumshoe mystery, political intrigue potboiler, and small-town soap. Each one has its pleasures, but sit together uneasily, like the series couldn’t bear to not be all things to all people. Still, when it calms down and manages to settle in to a single story for sufficient lengths of time, Briarpatch is alive with wit and style."

ALSO:

• Like fellow oddballs Claws and On Becoming a God in Central Florida, Briarpatch tries to get by solely on quirk at times — but, sadly, man cannot live on quirk alone
• The foundation for a compelling, hard-boiled noir is in place on Briarpatch, but the narrative never quite rises to the occasion to bring it to fruition
• Briarpatch's characters feel real and worth caring about thanks to first-rate performances
• Mad Men alum Jay R. Ferguson on co-starring in Briarpatch: "This was a lot out of my comfort zone. It’s certainly way bigger and broader and some could even say more ridiculous compared to anything I’ve ever done."
• Rosario Dawson joined Briarpatch because she got to play the lead role for a change: "I’ve never done anything like this," she says. "So often I’ve played the girlfriend or some story line device kind of character, and not that main protagonist in this way. This woman has made some very clear choices about who she thinks she is and what her ambitions are, and to see it all kind of deconstruct and being able to explore that was very exciting, challenging, and intriguing. It was really good for me and my spirit to know that I could take advantage of an opportunity like this and rise to the occasion."