flutesandroots

I'm too young to have any emotional connection with the original show, although I have caught a few episodes on TVs in randoms hotels over the years. I can only really base my opinion on the quality of what I see before me, and the quality is incredibly high. The cast is uniformly superb and the storyline is gripping. Direction is tight and fat-free. The show is indebted to noir, without being beholden to it - a tribute rather than a pastiche. I am grateful that they made the choice to set the show in the 1930s, rather than bring it into modern times, which has been done with other classic franchises, usually with a poor outcome. This is thoroughly worth your time. Ignore the whiners and naysayers who watched one episode before they decided to be offended or disappointed because of the shows divergence with the original. If anyone doubts that people spoke or acted like this in the 1930s in that world, they've been watching too much old network TV. This show is great and will continue to improve, I am sure.

I have started to watch countless DC TV adaptations, inevitably abandoning them after a handful of episodes due to the dreadful writing, disjointed plotting and mediocre acting. I have decided to switch my game up and jump ship on this one after one lousy outing. What a lame, unimaginative, exploitative bucket of fish innards. It's just ridiculous stereotype after lame boilerplate. Just because it's 'woke' don't make it good, kiddies. If you want an example of how to do a feminist anti-hero, go watch Stumptown, which has more intelligence and integrity in its end credits than this crock has in a whole episode.

I was not certain I was going to like this. As a white, middle aged, married, cis male, I am guessing I am not the target audience, but I ended up adoring it. I confess that a few scenes had me squirming, but that is just a reflection of my own limitations and social conditioning. I am guessing that some of those scenes sent a few alt-righters and fundamentalist religious types to the hospital, though. Oh well, so sad, never mind. What helps immensely here is that the cast is superb across the board. In particular Kathyrn Hahn, of course, but all of them are just great. I was engaged and invested in the characters before I had time to second guess myself. I just had to know they all ended up OK. At its heart, it's a love story - but not as we know it. One has to overcome several challenges to one's own deep-seated prejudices and preconceptions to get that far. If you can get past those, you are rewarded with something that is, dare I say it, sweet and almost old-fashioned. The payoff is superb and the ending, although you can see it coming (literally :), is gorgeously, sensitively and tastefully done. Erotic, but not prurient. It is a very brave show and thoroughly enjoyable. I desperately hope for a second season, but given the sheer volume of content out there and the probable difficulty of the material for some of the more uptight citizens among us, I have my doubts. I really hope I am wrong and that HBO sticks by this one. It is a gem.