“Ride or Die” — Episodes 1 & 2 Could Have a Winning Formula
To have an ever-reliable friend is a gift, more special and profound than any romantic relationship. The love between two friends often endures beyond dating, engagements, and marriages. Tessa Coates’ upcoming Prime Video series, Ride or Die, is about a friendship that’s put to the test in more ways than one. All eight episodes of the series will premiere on Prime Video on July 15, and they’re sure to take viewers on a globetrotting journey in the name of best friends.
When the audience meets Judith Burton (Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham), she’s on top of a snowy mountain with a sniper rifle in hand. She’s locked onto her target, but doesn’t shoot. Instead of abandoning the mission, she takes matters into her own hands, killing the target with a knife. Her shadowy agency is growing tired of her rule-breaking and wants her to retire after one final mission.
Credit: Dušan Martinček/Prime
On the flipside of this friendship is Debbie Claybourne (Octavia Spencer). She’s married to a Member of Parliament, but it’s clear that Debbie is the one calling the shots and the reason for his success. When she learns just before a gala that he wants a divorce, her whole world starts to fall apart. To make matters worse, the gala is the location of Judith’s latest assignment, which goes south and forces the two best friends to learn the truth about one another.
The first two episodes of Ride or Die make it clear that the series is going to be riding a very fine line between high-stakes espionage and comedy. It’s a tone that doesn’t always work because it’s so clear that Waddingham and Spencer want to push the humor further. Ride or Die is begging to be a moderately high-stakes, joke-forward buddy comedy about a highly-skilled assassin and her fish-out-of-water best friend. While Debbie doesn’t seem like she could be an asset in the field, the first two episodes have alluded to the fact that she’s quite adept at solving mysteries.
Credit: Dušan Martinček/Prime
In 2007, NBC had a series called Chuck about an unsuspecting pseduo-Geek Squad member who is accidentally sent thousands of government secrets. He’s paired up with CIA and NSA agents and taken along on missions, with often humorous outcomes. That’s the tone Ride or Die should be looking to emulate. Spencer and Waddingham are more than game, but the first two episodes try to keep them reigned in.
There are a few driving themes in Ride or Die. Debbie wants to discover the shady things her husband has been up to and Judith wants to finish her last mission while finding the person who has marked her for death. There’s a Serbian mob element and a shadowy organization, led by Bill Nighy, that looms over Debbie and Judith’s journey. All these topics are fighting for attention in the first two episodes, with somewhat dizzying results.
The breeziness of Judith and Debbie’s dynamic is Ride or Die’s biggest selling point. Unfortunately, because of Debbie’s perceived betrayal, their friendship is fairly rocky for most of episode two. This makes it hard to embrace the series with open arms. Between the heavy plot points and the iffy tone, Ride or Die’s first two episodes are enjoyable, but not a clear home run. The friendship of Judith and Debbie is delightful lightning in a bottle, but it deserves to be fully unleashed.
Follow me on BlueSky, Instagram, Letterboxd, TikTok, YouTube, & Facebook. Check out Movies with My Dad, a podcast recorded on the car ride home from the movies and I Think You’ll Hate This, a podcast hosted by two friends who rarely agree.
Support Your Local Film Critic!
~
Support Your Local Film Critic! ~
Beyond the Cinerama Dome is run by one perpetually tired film critic
and her anxious emotional support chihuahua named Frankie.
Your kind donation means Frankie doesn’t need to get a job…yet.