Post broadcast of The Dovekeepers, the reaction from critics and fans alike has been anything but glowing.  The show earned a 33% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 46 on metacritic.  The majority of the reviews were average to mixed, noting the talent of the actors but panning the writing and story structure of the script.

Mark Perigard of The Boston Herald said “The miniseries frames the story in a way that robs it of its power. It opens with Jewish historian Josephus interrogating two of the survivors of the siege, Shirah and her surrogate daughter Yael…The repeated cutaways to their confessions across the two nights dump gobs of exposition. Relationships begin and end off-camera.”

Mary McNamara of the LA Times praised the actors but was baffled at how terrible the story was despite the source material.  “De Pablo and especially Brosnahan do their level best, but the camera is far more interested in how great they look beneath their head scarves than anything else. It quickly becomes difficult not to long for the terrible finale and just as difficult not to hate yourself for longing for it.”

Fans had mixed reactions as well, as evidenced by the 10% decline in the 18-49 demographic and 2.6 million viewers lost between night one and night two.  Though Twitter was abuzz about the talent of Cote dePablo, with fans praising her talents, there were an equal amount picking the story apart, tearing down Roma Downey’s attempt to adapt a beloved novel.