The Outlaws: Seven Strangers Walk Into a Building

June 16, 2023 1:47 PM - Season 1 (Full Season)

Seven people are doing community-service -- a lousy lawyer, an influencer-aristocrat, a woman about to go to Oxford, a young street criminal, an activist, a right-winger who runs his father's business, and Christopher Walken (who's probably playing a part, who can tell) -- when they stumble on a sack of cash hidden in a ruined building.

"This can be hokey, but mostly it’s humane, merging the experiences of people from different backgrounds without thoughtlessly equating them." -- Judy Berman, Time

"Ignore the convoluted plot about a deadly turf war and enjoy the witty banter between the lovable misfits." -- Neal Justin, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

"The characters may not feel as fully considered as they should be, and the points the series is trying to make with them too pat; one hopes that the already-announced season two will do a better job of actually subverting the well-established stereotypes it lays out." -- Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter

The Outlaws streams in the US via Amazon Prime.

posted by Etrigan (7 comments total)

This was an interesting dance between comedy and drama/thriller. The expected pairings held up pretty well, and I wasn't too annoyed at Brexit Bob's obligatory face turn. Merchant (who co-wrote and directed) even managed to keep Christopher Walken from chewing up the entire thing without making it obvious that he was doing that, so well played there.

A second series was filmed at the same time, and I look forward to it.
posted by Etrigan at 1:53 PM on June 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

I remember watching this because of Walken and ended up super charmed by it. I didn’t know there was a second series, excellent.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 6:48 PM on June 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

I really enjoyed this! I watched it because someone recommended it in a thread where I asked for things similar to Slow Horses: I wanted a show with a band of misfits who work together to solve a mystery or do spy-type things.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:52 PM on June 16, 2023

It's been a while but I enjoyed this! Both seasons are on Amazon Prime and a third one is supposedly coming.
posted by mmoncur at 11:15 PM on June 16, 2023

This was mostly enjoyable (enough so that I watched both seasons) and it had a lot of great moments, but it went in a slightly different direction from what I was hoping. I wanted to see more of an unexpected mix of flawed-but-redeemable people learning from each other in humorous ways by way of a madcap plot; instead the show put more and more emphasis on the thriller plot and exposing everyone's faults rather than their redeeming qualities, to the point that I felt that I couldn't really root for most of them.
posted by dfan at 5:15 AM on June 17, 2023

I loved this. If I'd heard much about it beforehand I'd have thought it could never work – the mix of drama/thriller/comedy, the various plots, the mix of un-starry British actors plus Walken – and yet they somehow held it all together and it seemed wonderfully coherent. Although some characters were a little cliched, it didn't really matter because they were all pretty self-aware.

I particularly enjoyed the performance of Rhianne Barreto as Rani, seeing conflicting emotions flicker across her face.

Bonus: nice views of Bristol, a lovely city, where Merchant grew up.
posted by fabius at 2:34 AM on June 18, 2023

Oh wow, never knew this existed. Thanks for posting this!

And there's a second season!
posted by porpoise at 10:34 PM on June 18, 2023