DOPE THIEF (Apple TV+)
If you're not watching 'Dope Thief,' why the hell not?
Yes, it's on Apple TV+ but such is the quality of the acting, writing and directing, it's as good an argument as I've seen to subscribe to the streaming service.
Unravelling over eight episodes, Peter Craig's adaptation of Dennis Tafoya's 2009 novel tells the story of two low life criminals who stumble into a conspiracy that is bigger than they could ever imagine.
Brian Tyree Henry's Ray Driscoll and Wagner Moura's Manny Carvalho are childhood friends in Philadelphia who are recovering addicts and low level drug dealers.
They also have a pretty good scam going. Dressed as DEA agents, they stake out other low level dealers and then carry out fake raids, stealing their product and money.
The information on which houses to hit comes from Dustin Nguyen's Son Pham, a successful Vietnamese drug trafficker who lives in a nice house, with a model family but who also has serious connections.
However their enterprise is destroyed when an ex-con who they know, Spenser Granese's Rick Staley re-enters their lives shortly after getting out of prison and suggests they could make more money by moving out of Philadelphia and hitting drug crews in rural Pennsylvania.
Identifying one such operation on a farm, Rick joins Ray and Manny on a fake raid after an initial stakeput but it goes drastically wrong.
In the subsequent gun battle, Rick is killed as well as all but one of the gang, Marin Ireland's Mina who is shot in the neck but crawls to safety.
The meth factory is set alight and explodes after Ray manages to grab a lot of cash and some of the liquid used to manufacture meth.
Fleeing the scene with Manny before the drug den explodes and the cops arrive, Ray drops one of the walkie talkies they use on their raids.
As they head back to Philly, Manny and Ray are contacted on the other walkie talkie and are warned by a sinister voice with a New England accent that if they don't hand back the money and the product they have stolen there will be retribution.
And that is exactly what happens as Mammy and Ray fall into the crosshairs of a biker gang, a Mexican drug cartel and actual law enforcement officers who believe they may be much bigger fish than they actually are.
Add into the mix that Mina is an undercover DEA agent and another agent she was having an affair with, Gabriel Ebert's Jack was killed in the botched robbery and you have another layer of complexity.
Executive produced by Ridley Scott who directs the first episode, 'Dope Thief' is a show that grabs you by the lapels from the beginning and never lets go, giving you a vigorous shake in every episode.
It's violent, very messy and unrelenting.
But the show is also very funny with Henry and Moura in sparkling form as lead characters who are way over their heads.
In addition to Nguyen, Granese and Ireland, there are blistering performances from Amir Alison as Mina's tunnel visioned boss Mark Nader, Will Pullen as another agent Marchetti, Kieu Chinh as Grandma Pham, Liz Caribel Serra as Manny's girlfriend Sherry, Nesta Cooper as Ray's attorney Michelle Taylor and Kate Mulgrew as his no-nonsense surrogate mother Theresa Bowers.
However it is the casting of Ving Rhames as Ray's estranged cancer suffering prisoner father Bart Driscoll and a cameo from his fellow 'Pulp Fiction' alumnus Peter Greene that pitches the series somewhere in-between Quentin Tarantino and 'Breaking Bad'.
While a lot of films and TV shows have over the decades aspired to that ambition, Craig's brilliantly crafted scripts coupled with the high octane directing of Scott, Jonathan Van Tulleken, Tanya Hamilton, Marcella Said and the writer help the show achieve it.
There are several standout action sequences, in particular, including an exhausting chase through the streets of Philly involving bikers, a stunning assault on a biker stronghold and an episode that culminates in an epic gun battle outside a hospital that threatens to rival the LA street gun battle in Michael Mann's 'Heat'.
'Dope Thief' should easily make the top ten lists of TV shows in 2025.
But let's hope enough people watch it, so it can get the second season it so clearly deserves.
('Dope Thief' was made available for streaming on Apple TV+ across the world with weekly episodes between March 14-April 25, 2025)
THE WHITE LOTUS, Season Three (HBO/Sky Atlantic)
Few shows have had the impact that HBO's 'The White Lotus' has had in recent years, with its skewering of the morals of the insanely rich.
Previous seasons have seen writer-director Mike White turn his withering gaze on the super wealthy staying at fictional White Lotus resorts in Hawaii and Sicily and the local staff as well.
Season Three moves to Thailand and what motley crue of characters White has assembled.
On board the ferry heading to the resort in Ko Samui are the Ratliffs - an obnoxious white privilege family from Durham in North Carolina.
The father, Jason Isaacs' Timothy is a financier who we soon realise has gotten involved in a money laundering venture back home which is threatening to come back and bite him hard when the family returns home.
Blissfully unaware of Timothy's wrongdoing is his ridiculously accented snobby wife, Parker Posey's Victoria, their irritating entitled oldest child Patrick Schwarzenegger's Saxon, their awkward youngest son, Sam Nivola's Lochlan and the middle child, Sarah Catherine Hook's Piper whose interest in Buddhism as a college senior has prompted the holiday.
Michelle Monaghan's Hollywood TV actress Jaclyn Lemon is visiting with two longtime friends, Leslie Bibb's Austin wife Kate Bohr and Carrie Coon's divorced New York corporate lawyer Laurie Duffy but behind all the bonhomie lies a lot of resentment towards each other and bitchiness.
Walton Goggins' mysterious Rick Hatchett is joined by his free spirited, much younger English girlfriend, Aimee Lou Wood's Mancunian Chelsea who believes he's her soulmate and puts up with his crankiness.
(SPOILER ALERT!)
A familiar face returns in the shape of Natasha Rothwell's White Lotus Hawaii health spa manager Belinda Lindsey who viewers will remember was hugely let down by Jennifer Coolidge's billionaire Tanya McQuoid and is in the Thai resort as part of a work exchange.
Also hovering around the resort is Charlotte Le Bon's Chloe, an ex French Canadian model who befriends Chelsea but turns out to be the girlfriend of Jon Gries' Gary, who Belinda recognises as Greg Hunt, the man who persuaded Tanya in Hawaii to marry him.
Tayme Thapthimthong's Gaitok is a mild mannered security guard at the resort who is in love with a colleague Lalisa Manobal's Thidapon 'Mook' Sornsin but is also uncertain about whether he is really cut out to do the job.
Dom Hetrakul's Pornchai is a wellness expert assigned to train Belinda who she falls for, while Shalini Peiris' Amrita is an Indian meditation teacher who strikes a chord with an initially sceptical Rick.
Christian Friedl's Fabian is the twitchy general manager of the resort which is partly owned by Lek Patravadi's former Thai movie star Sritala Hollinger.
As with the previous two seasons, we know from the opening episode that some of the guests may not get out of the White Lotus alive as we watch Belinda's college student son Zion Lindsey ducking for cover while gunfire ripples throughout the resort.
Going back in time like previous seasons, we know there'll be a gradual reveal of the various motivations of the characters and that most of them will be found wanting morally and spiritually.
As before, there's a dodgy staff member - in this case, Ardas Fedaravicius' oily Valentin, a Russian health mentor to Jaclyn, Kate and Laurie who flirts with them as they compete for his attention.
While all this often makes for entertaining and frothy drama, Season Three doesn't quite pack the same punch as the previous two seasons and you can't help but feel that it's a bit slavish in following a formula that is growing stale.
Unfortunately, you're not quite as invested in the characters and cast as you were in previous seasons - although there are few exceptions.
Isaacs is superb as an increasingly under pressure dad who is pushed to the brink of a nervous breakdown after a mobile phone call with his business partner, Ke Huy Quan's Kenny Nguyen reveals the mess unfolding back home.
Schwarzenegger is decent too as Timothy's cocky son who vainly sees himself as a ladies man and a mentor to his virgin of a young brother.
Goggins and Wood are compelling as a couple that feel mismatched - the former does a terrific job revealing a back story that fuels his character's apparent nihilism.
Rothwell impresses too as Belinda faces a moment of reckoning, while Gries remains a sinister presence.
The third season is boosted by some starry additions to the cast in later episodes - Sam Rockwell's hard partying Frank, a long time friend of Rick who he catches up with in Bangkok and Scott Glenn's Jim Holinger, the tough elderly American husband of Sritala.
But for all these pluses, you can't help but feel that some of the twists are a bit overdone - a storyline involving incest stretches credulity, while the story arc surrounding Jaclyn, Kate and Laurie just feels jaded.
In spite of these flaws, Season Three is still watchable and is better than most streaming fare even if it feels like the show has taken a step backwards.
With Season Four already in the pipeline, you cannot help but feel that White needs to let go of the formula and shake it up a little.
If he can resist rehashing narrative arcs and character types and come up with something fresher, 'The White Lotus's may become a favourite destination again.
('The White Lotus' aired on HBO in the United States and on Sky Atlantic in the UK and Ireland between February 16-April 6, 2025)
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