HBO's 88% RT Thriller Miniseries Is Already One of Its Best

5 days ago 6

Published Mar 20, 2026, 7:45 AM EDT

Erin Konrad's love for everything entertainment dates back to elementary school when she became obsessed with classic Hollywood musicals. When she's not catching up on all her favorite television shows, she's advising her friends and family on what they should binge watch next.

She has her Bachelor's degree in Journalism and a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. Creating content for Collider gives her the opportunity to combine her writing skills with her passion for television and movies. She spends her free time trying to beat her personal record of reading 126 books in a year and cuddling with her dog, Gracie.

HBO has proven over the years that it can churn out plenty of absolutely compelling thriller miniseries. Shows as varied as The Night Of, Sharp Objects, Mare of Easttown, and The Penguin have all earned critical acclaim and ardent fans. Each of these miniseries lasts just one season, but they are every bit as gripping as a long-running drama. Now, HBO's newest miniseries, DTF St. Louis, has already earned an 88% score on Rotten Tomatoes and is gaining a devoted following who are becoming obsessed with the drama.

What Is 'DTF St. Louis' About?

A seven-part dark comedy created by Steven Conrad, DTF St. Louis follows the friendship between the straight-laced weatherman Clark Forrest (Jason Bateman) and the affable Floyd Smernitch (David Harbour). Clark seems to have it all, with a successful career and a sweet family, but his connection with Floyd and Floyd's wife, Carol Love-Smernitch (Linda Cardellini) ends up threatening the perfect life he's created for himself.

From the very first episode, it's easy to get sucked into this triangle of characters, but the show expands from a simple tale of middle-aged friendship to a murder mystery when one of them turns up dead under extremely strange circumstances. Two detectives, Donoghue Homer (Richard Jenkins) and Jodie Plumb (Joy Sunday), arrive on the scene and discover that these seemingly normal suburban parents are actually hiding a whole host of secrets. Many of these secrets stem from Floyd and Clark joining a dating app called DTF St. Louis, where married couples are encouraged to have affairs. Each episode unfolds in a nonlinear way, with flashbacks to the beginning of the trio's bond to the present-day murder investigation.

Jason Bateman and David Harbour in 'DTF St. Louis'

'DTF St. Louis' Features a Wild Plot and a Stellar Cast

DTF St. Louis, on the surface, seems to have a fairly innocuous premise, but as the action plays out, the twists and turns result in storytelling choices that create a surprising and unique narrative. The characters all have multiple layers, so that what you see on the surface becomes very different from who they are at their core, with several unreliable narrators that heighten the series' tension. DTF St. Louis has plenty of dark themes, but the humor underlying many scenes gives the series an absurd sensibility. Plus, the storytelling decision to jump back and forth between time frames results in a thrilling pace that carries through each episode. You won't want to wait for new episodes to find out how this mystery will resolve itself.

DTF St. Louis is a fascinating miniseries because it nails the balance between serious themes and sly humor, and this combination is executed brilliantly by a fantastic cast. Bateman brings all of his comedy background, a la Arrested Development, alongside his experience in dramas like Ozark, to create an enigma of a morally ambiguous character. Harbour, in a huge departure from Stranger Things, is a lovable hero who is trying to leave the world a better place than he found it. The true standout of the series is Cardellini, however, because each episode changes how we see Carol — is she a neglected housewife, or a manipulative femme fatale who is poised to get her way? Cardellini brings a magnetism and darker energy to the character that makes DTF St. Louis even more intriguing. Jenkins and Sunday are equally interesting in their detective roles, and Peter Sarsgaard has a fun, smaller performance as a man that Floyd meets through the dating app.

DTF St. Louis might have fallen flat without such a stellar cast, but luckily, Conrad's insightful and inventive writing and directing allow this twisted story to flourish. As a viewer, you'll desperately want to find out who's responsible for the murder and how it came to pass, but you'll also stay glued to your screen simply to learn more about how this friendship ended so tragically. Because this is a one-and-done limited series, most of our questions will probably be answered by the finale, but it's going to be a wild ride to the ending.

DTF St. Louis is available to stream on HBO Max in the U.S. New episodes drop every Sunday.