sleeplessinyorks
Joined Apr 2012
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Ratings2.1K
sleeplessinyorks's rating
Reviews16
sleeplessinyorks's rating
The Residence is what happens when style tries to masquerade as substance and fails. It wants to be a murder mystery with bite, but ends up feeling like a lukewarm cocktail of clichés, hollow tension, and forced quirkiness. It's like watching a dinner party where everyone's pretending to be clever, but no one's actually saying anything worth hearing.
The only thing stopping this show from being a total write off? Uzo Aduba, who delivers a performance so good, it feels like she wandered in from a much better series. Giancarlo Esposito, too, brings his usual gravitas, though you get the sense he knows exactly how thin the script is and is doing his best to make it look better than it is.
Beyond that? It's all smoke and mirrors. The plot feels recycled, the tone wobbles between satire and soap, and whatever black humour it's aiming for, lands with all the grace of a brick. As for the writing, it has that trademark Shondaland gloss: flashy, overworked, and trying far too hard to be clever. It's more interested in its aesthetic than in telling a coherent, engaging story.
For quite some time now, it's difficult to ignore the increasingly formulaic fingerprints of Shondaland Media productions. Shonda Rhimes, along with long-time collaborator Betsy Beers, seems to have lost that sharp, culturally attuned voice that once defined her earlier work. What we get here feels like a familiar repackaging, lacking freshness or depth.
In short, The Residence is a shallow binge dump, dressed up in prestige TV clothing. If it weren't for Aduba and Esposito holding the whole thing together like duct tape on a collapsing set, I'd have bailed after episode one.
The only thing stopping this show from being a total write off? Uzo Aduba, who delivers a performance so good, it feels like she wandered in from a much better series. Giancarlo Esposito, too, brings his usual gravitas, though you get the sense he knows exactly how thin the script is and is doing his best to make it look better than it is.
Beyond that? It's all smoke and mirrors. The plot feels recycled, the tone wobbles between satire and soap, and whatever black humour it's aiming for, lands with all the grace of a brick. As for the writing, it has that trademark Shondaland gloss: flashy, overworked, and trying far too hard to be clever. It's more interested in its aesthetic than in telling a coherent, engaging story.
For quite some time now, it's difficult to ignore the increasingly formulaic fingerprints of Shondaland Media productions. Shonda Rhimes, along with long-time collaborator Betsy Beers, seems to have lost that sharp, culturally attuned voice that once defined her earlier work. What we get here feels like a familiar repackaging, lacking freshness or depth.
In short, The Residence is a shallow binge dump, dressed up in prestige TV clothing. If it weren't for Aduba and Esposito holding the whole thing together like duct tape on a collapsing set, I'd have bailed after episode one.
Where does one start and where does one finish? I mean, I have nothing more to add, than what it has already been written here by other fellow reviewers.
Why oh why, in the 3rd decade of the 21st century Hollywood still keeps pushing their historically inaccurate representation of USA's contribution to WWII?
Don't start me on the later end of the final episode where the USA flag is raised and all the allied forces worked around the Americans. Really?!?! I mean come on!
Why oh why, in the 3rd decade of the 21st century Hollywood still keeps pushing their historically inaccurate representation of USA's contribution to WWII?
- USA won WWII.
- UK could not function unless the Yanks were involved.
- The whole of Europe cheers USA for saving them.
Don't start me on the later end of the final episode where the USA flag is raised and all the allied forces worked around the Americans. Really?!?! I mean come on!
