The reviews are almost entirely warm, and they agree on where the warmth belongs. Most critics single out Edgar-Jones and Mescal, whose performances as the two leads are described as vulnerable, closely observed and well matched. The sex scenes come up in nearly every review, and the consensus is that they are explicit without being gratuitous, with as much attention paid to awkwardness and consent as to desire. Readers of Sally Rooney’s novel find the adaptation faithful, and several critics think it captures the embarrassments of first love better than most television about teenagers manages.
Reservations are few and small. Den of Geek notes the middle episodes drag, and the Evening Standard feels some of the book’s edge is lost to the slow-burn pace, even while counting that pace a strength. The one real dissent comes from The Hollywood Reporter, which finds the series handsome but muted, too anaesthetised to feel young. Otherwise the spread is narrow.