# Aquarius (2015)

> A Los Angeles police sergeant with a fractured personal life pursues a small-time criminal who is building a cult of vulnerable women in the late 1960s.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/54609

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 26
- Episode runtime: 43 min
- Status: Canceled
- Genres: crime, drama
- Created by: John McNamara
- Network: NBC
- Cast: David Duchovny, Grey Damon, Gethin Anthony, Fabianne Therese, Emma Dumont, Claire Holt, Michaela McManus, Brían F. O'Byrne
- TMDB rating: 7.0/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3768572/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: brooding, tense, atmospheric, eerie

## What critics say

Audience reception is mixed, with viewers praising the period atmosphere and David Duchovny's performance while finding the series uneven across its run.

## Synopsis

Aquarius (2015-2016) is an American crime drama series created by John McNamara for NBC. David Duchovny plays Detective Sam Hodiak, a Los Angeles police sergeant whose troubled personal life grows more tangled as he tracks a petty criminal drifting into a budding cult. That small-time figure is Charles Manson, played by Gethin Anthony, who gathers vulnerable young women into his circle. Grey Damon plays Brian Shafe, a younger officer working the same missing persons cases, while Emma Dumont and Claire Holt appear among the women drawn toward Manson's cause. The engine of the show is the slow accumulation of clues, dead ends, and fragile leads, with each episode weaving case work into the domestic strain of the officers' home lives. Across two seasons of thirteen episodes each, the story stays in one continuing investigative arc rather than a case-of-the-week format. Set in late 1960s Los Angeles, it captures a sun-bleached city where counterculture optimism sits uneasily beside rising menace. The tone is brooding, tense, and atmospheric, with a documentary-leaning unease that draws on true events. Fans of Mindhunter and Twin Peaks will find resonance in its blend of procedural patience and eerie American dread.

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