User Reviews

Not sure the show's writers and producers did themselves any favors with fans taking as long to build to this end, but holy cow what a finish. If you're one of those who's complained the show was moving to slowly and not doing enough to keep it interesting this episode should make the wait worthwhile.

There's everything you could ask for in a gangster story packed into one hour, drama, action, violence (a lot), treachery, surprise twists and turns and most surprisingly not many loose ends left hanging. Just enough to give them something to work with for next season while allowing them to change the direction of the story without making seem drawn out or tedious as can often happen.

If the show ended tomorrow it would feel complete, but it doesn't so there's something to look forward to.

I'm a writer. I don't fole out compliments at the drop of a hat. The setup in episode 11 left me thinking it would be a struggle for our protagonist to simply break even. For the season finale our protagonist not only breaks even, but comes out way ahead. A convoluted plot that evolves mellifluously.

After a very strong second season and a very impacting finale I was looking forward to the third season while also not being sure how it would be able to pick up all the different pieces and move forward. The answer turned out to be "mostly successfully" as we have another engaging and violent season where the various twists and turns in the plot easily engage and mostly grip. The characters are a little fragmented out over the show though and this is one of the areas where the third season is weaker than the second. Everyone continues down their narrative path but for some of the characters it seems they are so disconnected that we are following them for the sake of it, not because they really fit into the show. This is not to suggest that I needed everything to be in one very rigid line, but it hurt the flow of the show to have several threads drifting off in different directions.

The events of the season are ultimately strong enough to negate this to a certain extent and it does still satisfy as a narrative, but it is a very event-driven season and this is a little disappointing after the second. I was surprised for example how much less characterization there is in here; not to say that the characters have become wooden cutouts, but there was very little development of them as people beyond the actions and events in which they take part. This is probably the aspect of this season that disappointed me most; the writing seemed so focused on the events that they really didn't bring along much from within the characters and, while they are solidly developed from previous seasons, it did limit my interest in them to a certain extent. It basically felt like the show was too busy "doing" things that it forgot to "say" things as well. With less detail in the characters it is telling that by far the most engaging character is the OTT violent randomness of Rosetti and the show lifts when he is on screen as he brought intensity, color and tension in almost every scene.

Although there is a bit less for them to work with, the cast remain very good. Buscemi is convincingly worn and affected by everything around him, he brings out more than the material gives him. Macdonald is a bit sidelined but remains an engaging turn but it is hard not to feel like Shannon is a bit wasted as his character moves away sideways. Cannavale is tremendously violent and frightening and gives a lot of life to the show (ironically). The supporting cast remain very strong with good turns from Graham, Williams, Mol and others too many to name. There is a lot of quality in the cast and it is matched behind the scenes as the sets, costumes, direction etc are all excellent; it was only the cinematography that bothered me as so much of the show was very dark and hard to see (except when there was nudity, then it suddenly seemed like the sun had been turned on).

The third season doesn't manage to be as good as the second but it is still an engaging and satisfying show. The season is very events driven and it did hurt it that there was less in the way of characterization and that the events in the various threads didn't really fit together, giving the show a rather distracting fragmented feel. Good, but hopefully the fourth season can have more cohesion and focus on the characters as much as the events.