Preteen girl looking at a cell phone with her parents

Personalized picks at your fingertips

Get the mobile app on iOS and Android

Get the app
Parents' Guide to

Reprisal

By Marty Brown, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

Trippy revenge drama favors style over substance.

TV Hulu Drama 2019
Reprisal Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

Community Reviews

See all
age 18+

Based on 1 parent review

Feminist
Feminist Adult
February 16, 2020
age 18+

Sexual content indeed

The common sense media reviewer must not have watched this show. Within the first few minutes we enter a strip club that is a major part of the rest of the episode. Many women are in pasties and extremely revealing lingerie, and shots of their breasts are close up and sexualized. If you are uncomfortable with strip club scenes then you wont make it through the pilot. Please have a new reviewer actually watch this show and write a review that includes the sexual content. Saying it has "none" is extremely incorrect for a site that is meant to give advisories.
See all 1 parent review

What's the Story?

Katherine appears to witness a mass murder that her boyfriend and his gang seem to have committed. The gang tries to torture and murder her, but years later she resurfaces with a husband, who is ailing from an unspecified illness, and extended family, who do not seem fond of her. Meanwhile, Ethan (Mena Massaud) joins a faction of the gang called the 3 River Phoenixes, who are in charge of collecting money and enforcing agreements for the gang. It seems that Katherine may be playing the long game to enact revenge on the gang; while Ethan may also have an ulterior motive for joining.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1 ):
Kids say (1 ):

One of the side effects of the streaming era is that platforms will mess around with subgenres that wouldn't typically get air time on TV. In this case, Reprisal is modelled after the revenge thriller, a problematic story type that usually begins with a woman being abused and left for dead. The plot then follows the woman through rehabilitation and revenge. Typically considered an exploitative genre uses abuse as a stylistic choice, there have been some quality revenge thrillers (Kill Bill is probably the best known) but they require a sense of self-awareness and purpose that counters some of the latent misogyny present. Reprisal has the potential to overcome those issues, but it needs to flesh out its two-dimensional characters and find more actual substance within its many stylish choices.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the layers of action going on in Reprisal. What is the central mystery of the show? What does Doris seem to want from her husband and family?

  • Why do you think so many TV shows and movies are centered on crimes, crime families, and people who make bad choices?

  • Why do you think revenge stories appeal to audiences? Is there value in them?

TV Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

See all recommended tv lists

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

See how we rate