SNEAKY Pete is the best new TV series I've seen in ages – so good in fact that Roy Towers put The Man In The High Castle's second series on hold in order to binge watch the entire 12-episode run in just under a week.
The Amazon Instant Video show stars Giovanni Ribisi as career conman Marius, who adopts his cellmate Pete's identity at the end of a three-year stretch in order to dodge a sizeable debt to New York crime boss Vince (Bryan Cranston, also series co-creator).
Having been a captive audience for the still incarcerated Pete's endless stories of idyllic childhood summers spent at his grandparents' Connecticut farmhouse, Marius uses his unwillingly accumulated knowledge of the apparently well-to-do Bernhardt family to pose as their long lost relative, out of touch since Pete's alcoholic mother took him away 20 years ago.
It's a good cover and the quick-witted Marius has the skills to make it stick while he hides out – unfortunately, Vince is holding his little brother Eddie (Michael Drayer) under threat of dismemberment if that debt isn't repaid in full within the week.
As 'Pete' grows closer to the Bernhardt clan and the chance to rip them off for the required sum, the hardened grifter is forced to decide just how ruthless he really is.
Featuring a superb turn by Ribisi, a great cast – look out for familiar faces from The Americans and Caddyshack's Michael O'Keefe as a corrupt cop with a time-warp wardrobe – and plenty of compelling twists and turns, Sneaky Pete's dark comedy-laced drama is near-perfect 'just one more episode' TV.
:: Available now on Amazon Instant Video.
