Sweetbitter

I love a show that can make you feel something and this does not disappoint. It's about creating an experience. Feeling and learning new things for the first time and growing into the you that you want to become. Girl in the city working at a sexy restaurant growing into her own. I also love the breakdown of the taste and sexual sensation aspects. Can't wait for more.

I managed to watch the entire first season in one day. It was good. Not great. Not terrible. IMO, if you want a fair review of this series, ignore all the one and ten star ratings. They simply are not realistic. It moves a little slow at times but the characters all become likeable in their own way. Never having worked in the food service industry, I can't say how accurately life is portrayed. Most of the characters seem depressed and without hope (and high :) all the time however, so that seems a bit over-played. The one aspect I found exceptionally annoying is how Tess is constantly portrayed as the "wide-eyed country bumpkin" stepping foot into the big city for the very first time. It was sort of cute in the first episode. It gets pretty old by the 6th episode. Started Season 2. Seems on-track so far.

A marvelous series that shouldn't have finished (cut off) so soon and quickly. It was ripe for at least 4 seasons. The build up, endearing and juicy intriguing developments in that tight world and on top of that the acting and the marvelous score.

Loved Simone above all. Her magnetism, soft commanding voice and superb fragile presence. A pity that mumbo soap operas last for two-digit seasons while that gem of a restaurant world bearing so much dramatic realism breathed out its last gulp of air after just 14 episodes.

New York is magical. Even the poster makes you dream.

• Screenplay/storyline/plots: 7
• Production value/impact: 7.5
• Development: 8
• Realism: 7.5
• Entertainment: 8
• Acting: 8
• Filming/photography/cinematography: 8.5
• VFX: 8
• Music/score/sound: 8
• Depth: 6.5
• Logic: 5.5
• Flow: 7.5
• Psychological/workplace drama/coming of age/comedy/drama: 7
• Ending: 7.

Have made it through 3 episodes which I think is a reasonable shot but that's as far as it goes. Careers from one cliche to another. Perhaps in other hands a show set behind the scenes in an upmarket New York restaurant could yield something a little more than on offer here, but then again perhaps not. It looks great but moody lighting and sultry acting isn't enough. A sit com might have worked better with this material or at least a plot with somewhere to go.

A familiar story of a young girl heading to the big city to find herself and grow a personality. Ella Purnell is the sweet girl who has not yet revealed the bitter but shows hints of a steel core. She is taken on to train at Howard's (Paul Sparks - last seen in Waco) posh restaurant and her future family (one guesses) is there in the kitchen and front of house. Speaking as a former restaurant manager, she is given a surprising amount of freedom as a probationer (scoffing oysters in the cold store while quaffing champagne?) but I guess that can be called poetic licence. All told I will be giving it a chance to grow on me.