The Company You Keep

TV review by Joyce Slaton, Common Sense Media
The Company You Keep: Charlie looks defiantly at the camera while Emma clutches onto his shoulder and appears pensive

Common Sense says

age 13+

Crime, drinking, corrupt power in muted family-clash drama.

ABC Drama 2023
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  • The Company You Keep: Charlie and Birdie, in black tie dress, stand next to a couple eating dinner in an elegant space
  • The Company You Keep: Leo, Charlie, Birdie, and Fran sit together at a table in a recording studio, next to a microphone
  • The Company You Keep: Charlie and Emma, wearing eveningwear, stand together against a gold, elegant background

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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this TV show.

What Parents Need to Know

Based on a South Korean series, THE COMPANY YOU KEEP begins just as two natural enemies meet cute. Charlie Nicoletti (Milo Ventimiglia) is a talented con man trying to keep his family of grifters afloat; Emma Hill (Catherine Haena Kim) is a CIA agent from a powerful politically connected family on the trail of criminals like him. Violence is bloodless but characters are often in danger and criminal enterprises thrive. Cursing includes "bitches," "SOB," and "hell."

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What's the Story?

Based on the South Korean series My Fellow Citizens!, THE COMPANY YOU KEEP begins just as two natural enemies meet cute: Charlie Nicoletti (Milo Ventimiglia) is a talented con man trying to keep his family of grifters afloat; Emma Hill (Catherine Haena Kim) is a CIA agent from a powerful politically connected family on the trail of criminals like him. When they meet by chance and spend a night together, they don't know that they're natural enemies. But fate will soon draw Charlie and Emma, as well as their respective loved ones, into a clash that could destroy them all.

Is It Any Good?

The chemistry between Kim and Ventimiglia is strong and the Nicoletti crime family premise is fun, but the exposition-heavy storytelling is hard to follow. The Company You Keep's lack of faith in the audience is striking, and irritating; viewers are much better at putting together narrative pieces and understanding than the show gives us credit for.

Nonetheless, Kim and Ventimiglia are both charming, and have legitimately good reasons not to fall into easy love, so viewers may enjoy focusing on that alone. Their courtship can be a little cheesy, like when Charlie asks Emma a classic getting-to-know-you question "Beatles or Stones?", but romantic stories in which a big plot point keeps soulmates from colliding are classics, particularly in episodic TV. Charlie's larcenous family is easy to love too, and snaring them in criminal complications is likely to entertain. The Company You Keep isn't particularly unique, but it has enough charm for viewers who want to immerse themselves for an hour in not-too-scary crimes and sympathetic characters who make the mistakes we hope they'll make.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Fmilies can talk about dysfunctional characters in The Company You Keep and discuss why writers so often turn to them for good material. Why is a person with serious problems a more compelling character than one with a calm, "normal" life?

  • Is the audience supposed to sympathize with Charlie? How can you tell? How are we supposed to regard his many transgressions? How is a sympathetic character presented, and how is that different from an unsympathetic character?

  • Criminal enterprises are often the setting for dark dramas. What other examples can you name? How does the show keep you invested in characters who do bad things?

TV Details

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