Black Rabbit – Netflix’s latest exercise in misery, and I loved it

There’s a new show on Netflix called Black Rabbit. It stars Jason Bateman and Jude Law, which means immediately you’re dealing with more furrowed brows than a field of freshly ploughed soil. The setup is simple enough: Jude runs a fancy New York restaurant and nightclub, Jason turns up like a drunken uncle at Christmas, and within minutes you realise this family reunion is going to end with bodies in the bin.

Now, the first thing you’ll notice is the lighting. Or rather, the total absence of it. Every scene looks like it was filmed inside a coal mine during a power cut. You’ll spend the first episode fiddling with your TV brightness settings, then eventually accept that this is just what New York looks like now: murky, brooding, and about as cheerful as a funeral in Wolverhampton.

The story itself? Imagine The Godfather had a one-night stand with Ozark in the back of a nightclub kitchen. There are debts, gangsters, broken loyalties, and the kind of tense conversations where everyone speaks so quietly you lean in, convinced they’re whispering state secrets.

And here’s the thing — not a single character is remotely likeable. You wouldn’t have a pint with any of them. You wouldn’t even let them borrow your lighter. Yet, much like watching a motorway crash, you simply can’t look away. Bateman is superb as the walking catastrophe of an older brother, while Law paces around his club like a man who knows everything he’s built is about to be set on fire.

Yes, it’s slow in places. Yes, it tries far too hard to be dark and meaningful. And yes, everyone frowns so much you start to worry the Botox industry will collapse. But it’s gripping. Properly gripping. It’s the kind of show where you sit back with a whisky, mutter “good grief” every ten minutes, and then let it ruin your sleep because you need to see what happens next.

So yes, it’s dark, it’s miserable, and everyone in it is awful. But like a V12 Lamborghini, you don’t watch Black Rabbit because it’s sensible. You watch it because it’s bloody brilliant.