The series stars DeWanda Wise, Anthony Ramos, Lyriq Bent, Cleo Anthony, Margot Bingham, Chyna Layne, De'Adre Aziza, Kim Director, Joie Lee, and Wallace Shawn. The characters are engaging, the humor winning in its seriousness. There was enough to appreciate in the first episode that it made me eager to see more. The characters, the sympathetic ones, are rounded enough so that you feel for them a little when things threaten to go or go bad. It has more of a moral center. There is more plot building, more characters that captivate and more progression that keeps us invested as the series goes on.
It seems the series may have some trouble distinguishing itself from the original film, though spread out over ten episodes, it does promise to take the concepts deeper. Lee turns the pattern upside down so frequently that, of course, we quickly anticipate the opposite ending for various characters. That's probably fine with Lee because he knows he already has our attention. Yes, the show continues with a mix of characters old and new, but whatever novelty there was has worn off, leaving little worth digesting for all but true connoisseurs and diehard fans of Lee. I suppose you could save time by just going back and watching the original movie, but if you liked that one, you'll almost certainly dig this. It's engrossing, watching the series, to try to find all of the references to the original film. The series has far better production values, and a spare style that is reminiscent of other prestige crime shows. The occasionally snappy dialogue, twisted humour and cinematic direction - all Lee hallmarks - bode well for the rest of the series. Comparisons to its bigger-budget, higher-profile predecessor do the show few favours and the storytelling offers no surprises for those who know the tale. And so enjoyment of it becomes a matter of execution, which is a mixed bag. Starting from right before the original movie's storyline gives them the time to get us used to the new faces of Nola, Mars, Jamie and Greer, and to give us the backstory that the film didn't have time to do anything more than hint at.
It seems the series may have some trouble distinguishing itself from the original film, though spread out over ten episodes, it does promise to take the concepts deeper. Lee turns the pattern upside down so frequently that, of course, we quickly anticipate the opposite ending for various characters. That's probably fine with Lee because he knows he already has our attention. Yes, the show continues with a mix of characters old and new, but whatever novelty there was has worn off, leaving little worth digesting for all but true connoisseurs and diehard fans of Lee. I suppose you could save time by just going back and watching the original movie, but if you liked that one, you'll almost certainly dig this. It's engrossing, watching the series, to try to find all of the references to the original film. The series has far better production values, and a spare style that is reminiscent of other prestige crime shows. The occasionally snappy dialogue, twisted humour and cinematic direction - all Lee hallmarks - bode well for the rest of the series. Comparisons to its bigger-budget, higher-profile predecessor do the show few favours and the storytelling offers no surprises for those who know the tale. And so enjoyment of it becomes a matter of execution, which is a mixed bag. Starting from right before the original movie's storyline gives them the time to get us used to the new faces of Nola, Mars, Jamie and Greer, and to give us the backstory that the film didn't have time to do anything more than hint at.
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