The first episode arrives on Irish TV this weekend, but the series has already been screened for American critics.
Maybe it is because of that killer cast, including Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones), Ciarán Hinds (There Will Be Blood), Clare Dunne (Herself), Charlie Cox (Daredevil), Emmett Scanlan (Peaky Blinders), Maria Doyle Kennedy (Outlander) and Sam Keeley (The Cured).
Maybe it is because of the early comparisons to The Sopranos.
Or maybe it is because we’re just hungry for new and great homegrown content, but it feels like Kin has generated the amount of buzz that we haven’t really felt for an Irish show since Love/Hate.
Kin will debut on our screens later this week, but the show has already screened for US critics, before being broadcast on AMC – the same channel that brought Breaking Bad and Mad Men to the world – and the early reviews have singled out two performers in particular as being spectacular highlights.
One of those standouts is up-and-coming Irish actress Clare Dunne, who we caught up with recently in the run-up to the release of her new movie Herself.
You can check out our full interview with Dunne right here:
Meanwhile, you can also check out the first reviews for Kin right here:
The Playlist – “Every time it threatens to recede into tedium because of its overwriting, a performer brings it back. Hinds and Gillen are perfectly cast as opposing Godfathers, but the show really belongs to the next generation, giving most of its screen time to the younger Kinsellas. Keely and Scanlan are strong, and Cox will have his fans even if his performance can feel a little too low-key at times, but it’s Clare Dunne who really walks away with Kin.”
Slash Film – “The show is an epic tragedy, an exploration of how love and grief are entwined, how a horrific loss can shape you into someone else. […] And the acting is outstanding, particularly Cox’s Michael, a stoic man recently released from prison with a maelstrom of emotions roiling just beneath the surface.”
AV Club – “Ultimately, Kin isn’t going to reinvent the wheel, or offer much beyond some solid direction and the familiar beats of a mob potboiler. (There is a wrinkle to Cox’s character introduced in episode three that suggests there may be at least one semi-novel element to this story.) Instead, it’s simply an opportunity to watch some gifted actors do what they do, very well, with a story that glides along in entertaining but unoriginal manner. … The performances keep Kin engaging.”
We can all decide for ourselves with the first episode of Kin arrives on RTÉ One on Sunday, 12 September at 9.30pm, with catch-up available on RTÉ Player.
Clip via RTÉ – Ireland’s National Public Service Media
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
