Natalie Portman's Apple TV+ Mystery Thriller Gets Rotten Tomatoes Score For Her First Led TV Show

Summary Lady in the Lake debuts on Rotten Tomatoes to a 75% score with 12 reviews, though this score is sure to fluctuate as more reviews are added.

Critics generally praise the show for the strong performances from Natalie Portman and Moses Ingram, and the compelling recreation of 1960s Baltimore.

The negative reviews take issue with an over-stuffed plot and slow initial episodes.

Lady in the Lake's Rotten Tomatoes score is in, with critics sharing their thoughts on the new Natalie Portman series. Based on the 2019 novel of the same name by author Laura Lippman, Lady in the Lake stars Portman as Maggie Schwartz, an aspiring investigative reporter who butts heads with a local activist during an investigation into a murder. The Apple TV+ miniseries, which takes place in 1960s Baltimore, marks Portman's first leading role in a TV series.

As of writing, Lady in the Lake enjoys a positive 75% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with 12 reviews. This score will almost certainly evolve as more reviews are added and could drop, but the early response suggests Portman's first major foray into the world of streaming TV shows has been a successful one. There's no audience score for the series available just yet, but one will arrive after more viewers get a chance to dig into the show.

What Critics Are Saying About Lady In The Lake

The Apple TV+ Show Gets A Lot Right

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While it's challenging to discern a clear consensus from the small number of reviews released thus far, a main point of praise is Lady in the Lake's cast and the powerful performances from both Portman and Moses Ingram. The show, which is created by Alma Har'el, is a two-hander, in many ways, with Ingram's Cleo playing a prominent role as a local activist that Maggie interacts with throughout the narrative. The two stars are said to have a compelling on-screen dynamic as their characters experience constant friction.

Ingram will be best known to many viewers for her starring role as part of the Obi-Wan Kenobi cast, but she has also appeared in The Tragedy of Macbeth, Ambulance, and The Queen's Gambit.

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The show's setting and world-building, too, is another positive aspect of the series that has been singled out in some Lady in the Lake reviews. In her review for Screen Rant, Kate Bove describes the show's version of 1960s Balitomore as "real and lived-in," praising the show for not shying away from the race and class issues of the time. This world-building does, however, come at the cost of a slower opening few episodes.

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While the response may be generally positive so far, Nick Schager is far more critical in his review for The Daily Beast, arguing that Portman's performance is exaggerated and uncompelling in Lady in the Lake. He describes the show's plot as being full of "busyness and nonsensicality," generally criticizing the show for being too stuffed full of ideas. While it's certainly possible that more reviews like Schager's will drag Lady in the Lake's Rotten Tomatoes score down, the show, at least so far, seems to hit more than it misses.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes