Dope Thief Review: An Addictive New Crime Drama Is Born At Apple TV+

"Dope Thief," the new Apple TV+ series created by "The Town" writer Peter Craig, comes out swinging. There's an immediate sense of not just swagger but edge to this story of two best friends who steal from the wrong people — it's so pronounced and laced with bravado that you forget, at exactly the right moments, how much the show is playing with classic crime formulas.

If you're well-versed in crime thrillers and what they can offer, you're eventually going to recognize a lot of common tropes laced through "Dope Thief," but it's not the kind of show that rests long enough to leave you lamenting that fact. Thanks to an outstanding cast, rock-solid writing, and a two-episode premiere packed to the rafters with big moments, humor, and twisty action, the show is easy to fall in love with, and by the time you realize how familiar it all is, you're so hooked that the familiar feels brand new.

Ray (Brian Tyree Henry) and Manny (Wagner Moura) are lifelong best friends who first bonded when they were locked up together as kids. Their decades-long bond is so potent, so founded on trust and care, that they could do just about anything together and move as one. But in 2021 Philadelphia, they've chosen something very specific: combat the city's drug problem, and make some cash along the way.

When we meet them, Ray and Manny's scam is posing as DEA agents, complete with windbreakers and ball caps, and knocking over drug houses around Philly. They come in; they grab "evidence" in the form of cash, weapons, and drugs; and then they get out without ever actually arresting anyone. If they stick to small-time operations run by relatively inexperienced and timid dealers, they can make out like bandits and no one's the wiser.

But of course, eventually the operation is bound to meet with challenges. For Ray and Manny, those challenges come along when a newly released convict friend (Spenser Granese) tells them about a drug house out in the country where they can get a bigger payout than the city could ever offer. It's supposed to be another quick hit, one that'll help Ray get his adoptive mother Theresa (Kate Mulgrew) the money she needs to get by. By the time the job is over, though, Ray and Manny are hit with the realization that so many thieves in classic crime stories face: they've stolen from the wrong people.

The two-episode premiere (critics were given access to eight episodes, but everything else is still under embargo) sets all this up, and digs into the inner lives of Ray and Manny, their bond, and of course, the forces lining up against them, from a mysterious drug kingpin to federal agents trying to pin down exactly what's going on. It all feels very classic in terms of the kind of crime narrative it's playing with, and anyone who's seen "The Town" knows that Peter Craig can write urban cops and robbers stories with the best of them. Here, adapting Dennis Tafoya's novel, Craig is on point, delivering a script that's full of tactile details, humor, and heart.

Peter Craig's writing is only part of the larger picture that makes "Dope Thief" so immediately entertaining and fun, and to see the rest we have to start with the directorial prowess of Sir Ridley Scott. He takes on the director's chair for the series premiere, and it's clear from the beginning that he's out to milk some very specific pieces of dramatic tension. You've got the expected stuff, of course, from the intercutting between various parties in the drug dispute to the way the show slowly doles out information about how just deep the trouble is for Ray and Manny. But where "Dope Thief" really shines is in the dramatic tension that comes from watching these two men — who've never really dealt with any deadly consequences for the little scam they're running — come to the realization that they're in way, way over their heads. No matter how prepared they might think they are to handle what's coming, Ray and Manny are flailing, doing their best to cope with a situation that gets stranger by the minute, and Scott's direction drives that point home. The tension is always there, but we never feel like the chaos extends behind the camera. We're in capable, masterful hands the whole way.

This sense of mastery, of tonal precision and vulnerability, extends to Brian Tyree Henry and Wagner Moura, who are magnetic in this two-hander crime drama that's also stealthily a little bit of a buddy comedy. One of the key bits of narrative intrigue that comes along in "Dope Thief" is that we're not just watching two small-time crooks, but two guys who've been in and out of trouble their whole lives, who've built their own kind of code together and now find themselves challenged in ways they've never been before. They didn't ask for a thrill ride or to provoke the biggest challenge of their lives, and yet they are also just trying to protect their families while getting to the bottom of a criminal conspiracy and somehow escaping alive. There's an Elmore Leonard quality to the way that what counts as normal for these two men constantly shifts, as does the way they deal with those changes — and both Henry and Moura rise to that challenge with wit, heart, and genuine chemistry. They're a joy to watch together, even when the show occasionally drifts into flashbacks and side stories that aren't as compelling as watching the duo, together in a car, trying to sort out the world.

"Dope Thief" is not attempting to break new ground in crime storytelling. It's wearing its influences, tropes, and its pacing proudly on its sleeve, delivering a story that'll be perfect for fans of shows like "Justified" and "Ozark." What sets it apart is its attitude, a feeling that from the very first moments it's going to embrace the quirks of its characters, the wildness of its scenario, and the chaos of its storytelling with open, earnest arms. There's a sincerity to it, and a genuine roller-coaster feeling that makes it one of the year's must-see new thriller shows. You'll come for the talent involved, and you'll stay because it makes you hang onto every single second of the action.

"Dope Thief" premieres March 14 on Apple TV+