‘DMZ’ Is a Second-Civil-War Drama Without the Drama: TV Review

variety.com:

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticIt’s not hard to see why a story about a U.S. at war with itself might have seemed especially piquant to producers over the past several years.

And, indeed, “DMZ,” HBO Max’s new limited series based on a comic serial, feels capital-R Relevant, as if trying to fit in a civics textbook’s worth of ideas about who we are and what citizenship means into four episodes’ worth of action.It’s not always seamless.

Indeed, the pivots between different areas of “DMZ’s” universe often land thuddingly. We’re following Rosario Dawson’s Alma Ortega, who lost track of her son during a rapid evacuation of New York City as civil war began; some eight years later, she’s broken into what is now the wilds of Manhattan, abandoned by authorities and governed by warlords, in order to find him.

Along the way, she finds herself colliding with the two major political figures — kingpins of Harlem (Benjamin Bratt) and of Chinatown (Hoon Lee) — who, wouldn’t you know it, are about to stand for democratic election to determine whose cabal will hold sway over the island. “DMZ” can feel overstuffed, and as if it’s fighting to wrench depth out of its source material.