Black Rabbit starts with a bang — or at least the threat of one. Jake Friedkin (Jude Law) is toasting his beautiful New York City restaurant, which unfolds over three elegant stories, celebrating all the hard work his cooks and crew have put into making this special night happen. He’s no stranger to a corny declaration, telling those dining that he wanted to make a restaurant that would be “a home for our family, our friends, our people.” Before Jake can end his toast and continue the festivities, his dream becomes a nightmare, as two armed men start to rob the place, and hold Jake at gunpoint.
It’s an exhilarating starting point for the new Netflix series, created by Zach Baylin and Kate Susman (who also wrote four of the series’ eight episodes). But it comes with a caveat: before anything else happens, we’re taken back to a month before the robbery. It’s here we see the introduction of Jake’s brother Vince (Jason Bateman), who Jake hasn’t spoken to in 7 months since their mother passed away. Vince is stuck in Reno, and is in need of cash bail out so he can make his way back to New York. Jake agrees and buys Vince a plane ticket to JFK, and with the Friedkin brothers back together, things begin to rapidly spiral out of control. Well, not rapidly. Black Rabbit unfolds over a brutal eight hours, which often has the show treading water as it repeats familiar beats ad nauseum, and fills its dialogue with so many f-bombs that you start to wonder if the writers ran out of things to say.
