Such a great idea for a mini-series ... the North American fur trade of the late 1700's ... the Hudson Bay Company and its death grip on Canada ... and the struggle to break the HBC monopoly by a diverse group, centered by First Nations people of Canada. Not many know this history and when you add in the incredible setting ... northern Ontario and the James Bay ... where winter lasts 8 months a year ... you have the potential for a great mini-series. One that can educate and entertain in unison!
Sadly Discovery Canada & Netflix failed to seize this opportunity and delivered a program that is remarkably week in historical context and is downright childish and sensationalist in content.
The production values were good ... especially the cinematography ... but the writing ... the story line was pathetic and desperate. As a matter of fact, a large portion of the 3rd season takes place in Scotland ... a proverbial "jumping of the shark." Can you say Outlander-envy!
The cast was solid ... many delivered exceptional performances (notably Zoe Boyle ... Jessica Mattan & Alun Armstrong) yet Jason Momoa's portrayal of the central character Declan Harp and Evan Jonigkreit's Captain Chesterfield were horrible! Seriously, they almost sunk the series!
Finally, there is the non-stop excessive violence that was totally overplayed by the producers & directors. There were even several long violent scenes that were set to music and presented in slow motion. Talk about appealing to the lowest common denominators!
This was a long difficult watch ... that got more tedious as time went on. And season 3 was an absolute disaster. That said I highly recommend skipping this steaming pile cow dung ... unless you like a miserable lead ... poor historical context ... excessive violence ... gratuitous sex ... and way too much swearing.
POST: And what's with the mostly irrelevant quotes at the beginning of each episode? Was that supposed to add legitimacy or be scholarly? If so epic failure!
Sadly Discovery Canada & Netflix failed to seize this opportunity and delivered a program that is remarkably week in historical context and is downright childish and sensationalist in content.
The production values were good ... especially the cinematography ... but the writing ... the story line was pathetic and desperate. As a matter of fact, a large portion of the 3rd season takes place in Scotland ... a proverbial "jumping of the shark." Can you say Outlander-envy!
The cast was solid ... many delivered exceptional performances (notably Zoe Boyle ... Jessica Mattan & Alun Armstrong) yet Jason Momoa's portrayal of the central character Declan Harp and Evan Jonigkreit's Captain Chesterfield were horrible! Seriously, they almost sunk the series!
Finally, there is the non-stop excessive violence that was totally overplayed by the producers & directors. There were even several long violent scenes that were set to music and presented in slow motion. Talk about appealing to the lowest common denominators!
This was a long difficult watch ... that got more tedious as time went on. And season 3 was an absolute disaster. That said I highly recommend skipping this steaming pile cow dung ... unless you like a miserable lead ... poor historical context ... excessive violence ... gratuitous sex ... and way too much swearing.
POST: And what's with the mostly irrelevant quotes at the beginning of each episode? Was that supposed to add legitimacy or be scholarly? If so epic failure!