# Phony breaks the thriller mold with genuine surprise

> Hulu's new series defies genre conventions by grounding a mysterious crisis in the messy reality of teenage life.
- Title: Phony breaks the thriller mold with genuine surprise · TIME
- Summary: Hulu's new series defies genre conventions by grounding a mysterious crisis in the messy reality of teenage life. Phony, a Hulu series starring Sam Nivola…
- Keywords: phony, hulu, sam nivola, connie britton, nick paley, anthony king, television, thriller, coming-of-age, news, world, breaks
- Source: TIME — https://time.com/article/2026/10/20/phony-review-hulu
- Author: Judy Berman
- Published: 2026-10-20T12:00:04.285+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: phony, hulu, sam nivola, connie britton, nick paley, anthony king, television, thriller, coming-of-age, news, world
## Sonny Cooke is everyone's friend
Sam Nivola plays a popular high school student who knows what people need to hear and makes everyone feel at ease, even though his mom Ellen is the principal.

> I actually love high school. I know what people need to hear, and people trust me with their sh-t.
## A crash changes everything
Driving to his girlfriend Chloe's house, Sonny crashes into a pond. When he wakes in the hospital a week later, his mother looks subtly but decisively different.
## No one else sees the change
Sonny insists his mother is a phony, but everyone else dismisses his concerns as lingering effects from the accident. His best friend Vogel is skeptical of his claims.
## He finds allies in outsiders
Sonny drifts toward Mallory, a junior-high love interest back in class after years of homeschooling, and her geeky cousin Weldon, who help him investigate the mystery.
## Thriller bones, dramedy soul
Phony has cliffhangers and deceptions, but showrunners Nick Paley and Anthony King give it the vibe of a coming-of-age dramedy with awkward-adolescent humor grounded in real teenage life.
## Characters resist tired tropes
The show avoids clichés through specific details: Sonny and Chloe call each other Bobo, his mom cooks Chicken Nummers, the school counselor is a frustrated musician. No love triangle.
## The real story is self-discovery
Beyond the mystery of Ellen's transformation, Sonny's crisis reveals how he's been faking it socially, shifting views to please others and ignoring his own needs and opinions.

> I don't even have strong opinions!
## Something genuinely new on TV
Phony approaches the coming-of-age story from an unexpected angle with perceptiveness that surprises. In rigidly genre-bound times, it offers genuine novelty and surprise.

> Phony is something genuinely new on TV.
## Key takeaway

Phony, a Hulu series starring Sam Nivola and Connie Britton, blends thriller mystery with coming-of-age comedy to create something genuinely new on television.