Reviews

Something happened between the first and second seasons. It's like it was meant to be a limited show that accidentally got renewed, and a bunch of writers were brought in on spec. The authenticity is gone. They've utterly lost control of the main characters and who they were in the first season. There was something exciting if ultimately hopeless in the first season, much like Japanese society's relationship with the Yakuza. Now it's just another serial where there's no consistency, no voice, no urgency. In this episode, the head of one of the big crime families who was introduced last year as ruthless and brutal, takes a meeting with the gaijin night club owner, concedes everything to her in the negotiation, and then wishes her "good luck".

Why even have a story editor if the "story" is so transitory?

Despite other reviews, I felt like everything actually works really well. It's light and dark, but never so serious or jokey that the tone shifts are off-putting. The writing is really effective - it's a bit of a morality piece, but each scene is so well constructed and enjoyable and never heavy-handed. Nothing over the top, all very low-key. And the lead roles are so well delivered, there's something very Fargo-esque about how everything unfolds and the quality of the performances. The sweet, effective cop, and the spiraling criminal. Perfect stay-at-home date night movie. Can't help but wish the Jon Hamm character becomes recurring.

And you'll find a movie that's actually pretty sweet. The stars are outshined by the supporting cast, notably Tig Notaro and Steve Zahn. Comments about the lack of chemistry between Kutcher and Witherspoon are fair, but the have so little time on screen together, it's not detrimental. The soundtrack is generally strong, with an unexpected but welcome feature of the Cars. While the relationship aspects are formulaic, the best lines are delivered by Zahn and Notaro. Tig's lines feel like something out of her own standup set, and Steve Zahn is as sweet as he was in That Thing You Do. Give it a chance.

Movies like this are hard to pull off. A single set, a tiny cast, it has to be paced well, the handful of characters have to be interesting enough to draw you in and make you care enough to stay in the room with them. It's tense, sometimes funny, embarrassing, and ultimately makes you think about your own secrets. How many of us would survive this scrutiny? Have these little phone is our pockets made us even more comfortable with hiding ourselves, or have we always been a little duplicitous and perhaps more than a little miserable?

I was really impressed with this - and maybe the bar was so low because most holiday movies are tire fires. But the writing especially was fresh, sweet, and surprisingly funny. Jimmy Yang was a brilliant casting move.

The story plays true to the narratives established in the show, and while it does feel very rushed and tries to fit in perhaps too many call-backs to the show, it was a marvel to watch the acting. Gandolfini's son was very, very good - but perhaps the best performance was Vera Farmiga, who just owned the anger, the resentment, the suppressed intelligence, and the bitterness of the person who essentially made Tony the angry, resentful, and brilliant man he is.

Not to spoil anything, but we laughed hard during this episode. It still vacillates between the zaniness for which the leads are known and the deep introspection and pain that each character has gradually reveals, but the comedy crystallizes really well this episode. There is less art here, and I think they perhaps tipped their hand too far in that direction during the first episode if they weren't going to sustain it, but that's not to criticize this episode.

There's a very strange, almost suspicious resistance to embracing this last season. I just finished the first episode and it totally holds up. The aversion others seem to have just isn't based on the show itself-it seems coordinated to undermine the accusations against Spacey. The episode was well written, introduces some intriguing new characters, and is held together by Wright's intensity and her inherited fourth wall-breaking relationship with the viewer. It's really good. Don't trust for the mob.

It should have been better, but with this much money, it could have been worse.

This episode reminds you why this show is so excellent - it rarely gets wound up around a morality bobbin wherein hides some grand redemption. Much like the Wire, it never lets you think for one minute "maybe, this time, we're making progress ridding some small bourough of evil." The incessant malaise of human imperfection - and the constancy of evil - are always rooting from the trimmings of the constant gardener, God as it were, personified in this case by Catherine. The last scene, a very welcome allusion to Steinbeck, suggests that the only justice, the only mercy, is death.

Netflix needs to get it green light approval process checked. I can't imagibe how someone reads this script and imagines this would need to be seen. By humans. With eyes. The narrative runs as if it were being told by a five year old recounting something that happened at school a week earlier. Completely without sense, sequence or purpose. And unlike a five year old, it doesn't even try, and it is devoid of any charm.

That Bowie's publisher allowed Life on Mars to be used in this celluloid shart is heartbreaking.