TV Review: ‘The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey’

Devils aren’t exclusive to crossroads. Sometimes they have medical degrees (see the Tuskegee experiments). In The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, the name of Ptolemy’s devil is Dr. Rubin (Walton Goggins), but Ptolemy (Samuel L. Jackson) calls him Satan. Dr. Rubin is running a medical trial for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients that will help them regain their memories but, like any deal with the Devil, there’s a price (and, like any devil, Dr. Rubin does a lousy job laying out the risks beforehand).

Based on the book by Walter Mosley (who has a writing or co-writing credit on every episode), Ptolemy always recognizes Dr. Rubin as a devil and the series never tries to humanize or bothsides his actions. Dr. Rubin’s methods are wrong and the outcome doesn’t matter. But it does matter in the sense that the show doesn’t assume all deals with the Devil must be mistakes. It’s easier to paint them out that way because then there’s a clear, moral message. No good can come from the Devil, but Ptolemy isn’t a doomed man, and The Lasts Days of Ptolemy Grey isn’t a series interested in having other people decide what’s best for him.

That, of course, isn’t a luxury all people who develop Alzheimer’s and dementia have. What feels revelatory about The Lasts Days of Ptolemy Grey is that it’s the rare show centered around a senior citizen that also lets Ptolemy call all the shots. Sometimes Ptolemy’s priorities are different. Besides the larger question of whether it’s better to have more time at a reduced capacity or less time with all your faculties, Ptolemy sometimes focuses on the past more than the present, which results in the series lacking urgency. That would seem hard to do, especially since there are only six episodes, but for someone who doesn’t know how long his memories are going to last, Ptolemy is very comfortable saying he’ll explain later and putting things off for another day. Other characters do this, too, and then there’s the memory that needles at Ptolemy the most before starting treatment: a treasure he was given as a boy. Treasure is always exciting and makes for good television, yet the hunt for it is anticlimactic. No National Treasure-like clues here.

While The Lasts Days of Ptolemy Grey includes a lot of flashbacks, they don’t really bear much impact on the present day (which is usually why flashbacks appear on TV shows). Here, it’s more about Ptolemy’s right to his memories, whether they’re significant to anyone else or not. Even if it means taking the good with the bad, as is the case with Ptolemy’s memories of his wife, Sensia (Cynthia Kaye McWilliams), Ptolemy deserves to have them.

Of course, all the events in this series are facilitated by a sci-fi medical treatment that isn’t available in real life. If it weren’t for Dr. Rubin’s treatment Ptolemy wouldn’t be able to get his affairs in order the way that he wants. The show also tries to cram a lot into a few weeks, including a romance with Shirley Wring (Denise Burse) which, while very sweet, seems a little too well-timed. Even Robin (Dominique Fishback) coming into Ptolemy’s life so soon after Reggie (Omar Benson Miller), who was Ptolemy’s original caregiver, doesn’t necessarily feel realistic. The first episode is devastating, and whenever the show zeros in on the need for there to be more services available for senior citizens that can’t depend on family members, it’s helping to start a conversation that’s been long overdue.

As a screen persona, Jackson often comes across as ageless. Occasionally the series plays into his reputation for playing badasses (and it could’ve dropped the opening tag, which teases what Ptolemy will get up to in the season finale), but it’s otherwise a really vulnerable performance, where Jackson gets to play a character who’s older than himself.

The first two episodes of The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey will premiere March 11th on Apple TV+. I’ve seen all six episodes.