User Reviews

The Booth at the End was a series created for the web that has been reedited into full episodes. It is simply superb! This is a Faustian tale, rooted in classical themes of temptation, desire and moral dilemma. The Man who brokers the deals is a tormented soul who tries to remain objective, but has an strong moral opinion about his clients. The Man who brokers these deals to "get what you want" is himself on a task for the Powers he works for. A major thematic question is whether The Man fundamentally wants to benefit mankind or not. But the affection The Man feels is an indication his motivations are, if not selfless, at least rooted in his flawed humanity. Whether The Man is the devil or a soul in need of redemption is a question time will tell; if this series is extended. That is certainly my hope because it's the best new show I have seen in years. My sincere credits to the creators.

I had to give it a 9 instead of a 10 because there are only TWO seasons from 2012! GAH!!!! You will definitely wish this show could be resurrected. The cliffhanger was a challenge oozing with so much more story to tell. In this era of so many excellent series to watch, when an awesome one like this slips past us, before it's discovered, before we get a chance to WANT it back . . . Just tell me. . . what's my task?!

'The Booth At The End' has a lot of things going for it. It has an interesting and kind of novel premise about a guy who sits in a restaurant and "provides opportunities" for people. He asks them what they want and they get it, if they do something very specific.

Not only is this premise interesting and has a lot of potential to go into a lot of different directions, it also allows for all of the story to take place at one single location (even if he sits in a different restaurant in season 2). I am a sucker for this kind of show, especially if it is dialogue- and character-driven, which 'The Booth At The End" is.

The dialogue is well-written for the most part and the characters are decently portrayed and mostly interesting. I enjoyed watching the short episodes, which consist of the man talking to about half a dozen characters, who take centre-stage for only 1-2 minutes before the scene cuts to another conversation.

However, I felt there wasn't really enough pay-off in the end to consider it a really good show. I don't think the underlying mystery needs to be resolved, as I can accept a supernatural premise and suspend my disbelief for it, but in the end I think there's next to nothing the show is really telling us. It's entertaining to get to know the different characters and their motivations, but if the point of the show is to show us how far people are willing to go to get what they want, it fails, because we simply don't get to know the characters for long enough to make them really life-like. They are just there in order to trade something in to get what they want, so there's no way for the viewer to relate to the characters and how they got to the point of doing something more or less horrible to get something else. As far as I'm concerned, that's the major flaw with the show, and that makes it merely entertaining instead of outstanding.

I don't generally bwrite reviews. I certainly had to work hard to form a set of thoughts to do this justice.

This is theatre of the mind. Everything takes place in a booth ... At the end. If you need the action shown to you, skip it. If you enjoy a good book because it puts the pictures in your mind and not in your eyes, then this is worth your time.

Rather than summarize the plot I'll attempt to demonstrate its impact. My teen boys caught us in the middle of an episode. We spent 30 minutes watching the last 10 minutes because of all the questions, opinions and commentary.

This show allowed me to talk to my kids about moral ambiguity and grace. Nobody in my home is religious. Please stop and consider the power in that.

Ultimately the boys agreed to watch it all without us. We will rewatch it together in a month with the goal of chatting about right and wrong, good and evil. Ultimately I saw both my kids figure the context of a desire matters as much as the desire itself.

There is much more but other positive reviews cover it.

The acting in this show is truly top notch. It has to be as it is the food for the imagination.

Ultimately I'd like to see a high school theatre group produce this. It lends itself well to the stage in an intimate setting.

SPOILER ALERT

Each episode is maybe 3 minutes long then the credits roll and the logos are displayed. After that the next episode comes up.

Imagine a bunch of adults meeting Santa Clause in a diner to make their wish except this Santa is evil and requires something for whatever he will grant you. So episode after episode you get people making wishes and then reporting back on their progress. I mean over and over with people whining and nothing happening. The narrative stays in one place there is no development there is no motion forward.

At the end of a half hour of episode one, I was exactly where I was at the beginning of episode one: nowhere.

Xander plays the main character is very good here. I watched both seasons. I had to force myself to stick with the first few episodes because it was so different. It was like I was impatient or something but at some point I was hooked. I wanted to see how the many stories would work out but even more I wanted to know what it was all about. Unfortunately that was not to be. This series leaves me with a feeling that I didn't waist my time and it was thought provoking but I guess I'm the kind of guy that wants a conclusion.