Stephen King has publicly ranked Apple TV+’s Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed above Widow’s Bay, calling it even better and praising star Tatiana Maslany for her rapid shifts between comedy and terror.
Stephen King didn’t just recommend Apple TV+’s latest dark comedy thriller—he compared it to another show in the same conversation and picked a clear winner.
On X, King wrote, “WIDOW’S BAY is good. MAXIMUM PLEASURE GUARANTEED is even better.” He added that the show feels like “Hitchcock came back to do it one more time. ” before singling out Tatiana Maslany for what he described as an “incredible” range. “The play of emotions on her face is pretty incredible. She goes from comic to terror in an instant,” King wrote.
Then he went one step further in a follow-up post: “Whatever they’re paying her, it’s not enough.”
King’s enthusiasm hasn’t been limited to a single moment of praise. Earlier on June 10. he returned to the show with another X post. calling it “Some goofy plot holes. but very entertaining.” He also made a dig at the editing process: “Copy-editors are an unused fictional resource. Who’s a better detective than a good copy-editor?”.
At the center of King’s new verdict is Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, created by David J. Rosen and starring Maslany as Paula, a divorced mother living with quiet dissatisfaction. Paula works as a New York City fact-checker and gets pulled into a mystery she “never saw coming. ” tasked with figuring out who attacked a young man named Trevor—someone she had grown close to online.
Trevor is played by 13 Reasons Why actor Brandon Flynn, joined by Jake Johnson, Jessy Hodges, Jon Michael Hill, Charlie Hall, Kiarra Hamagami Goldberg, Nola Wallace and Dolly de Leo in other roles.
Maslany’s performance is the part King clearly can’t stop talking about. And in her own words, the role came with a built-in uncertainty. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, she said, “I just kept thinking, who is Paula?. It was a constant search for me all the way to episode 10. But she’s asking herself that exact same question.”.
When asked how audiences might read the character. Maslany said. “I don’t know how people are going to read Paula. I don’t know how they’re going to feel and that’s exciting.” She added. “My hope is that by the end you’re uncertain about Paula. That there are questions about her choices that are uncomfortable. She’s reckless and impulsive and I love that.”.
Even before King’s latest post, the show was already drawing strong industry-and-audience attention. Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed currently holds a 93 percent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, alongside an 85 percent audience score, earning it a Certified Fresh badge.
The series, Apple TV+ notes, follows “an ordinary woman caught up in an extraordinary situation.” For King, it appears that ordinary-to-unexpected shift—paired with Maslany’s rapid emotional pivots—is exactly why this one stands out.
Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed is streaming on Apple TV.
Stephen King Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed Apple TV+ Tatiana Maslany Widow’s Bay X Rotten Tomatoes Certified Fresh David J. Rosen Brandon Flynn Paula Trevor