Rather than writing three separate reviews, it makes more sense to me to batch mini review the three shows I finished this week. In order of my favorite to least favorite...heeeere we go.
Ozarks: the Final Season
This show has to go down as one of my favorites of all time. After finishing it, I realized that all my favorite shows have a very specific thing in common. Across all mediums, all genres, and all types of shows, I love a well done morally grey character. I find that when the main character is not cut and dry good or bad, it allows the creators to have a much more compelling plot and just a richer show in general. Everyone loves rooting for the good guy and wants the villain to fail, but those type of stories do tend to grow old after a while. When things are neither black nor white, it also provides better discourse.
Morality aside, Ozarks was such a great show. Marty Bird, while not a good man by any means, did want the best for his family. The series began with me feeling sorry for him as he was roped into laundering money. However, as the show went on we see him and his family committing atrocities. He was portrayed as the ultimate anti-hero, much like Walter White in Breaking Bad. He is absolutely immoral, there is no denying that. But at the same time, he makes you want to root for him.
This finale was everything I had hoped it would be. There was high stakes, high tension, and amazing acting. Ozarks will definitely go down as as near a finale as you can get. So many shows butcher the ending, and while this butchered (in a different way 😉), I loved the way this ended.
Russian Doll: Season 2
After the way season 1 ended, I wasn't altogether sure if there would be a second season, and if there was, where they were going to go with it. And boy, did they go from strange to straight up wacky. In a good way. This season once again follows Nadia, but instead of a twisted Groundhog's Day, she finds herself transported back to the eighties to inhabit her mothers body as she is pregnant with herself.
This is one of the strangest concepts I've seen play out so successfully. Natasha Lyonne does such a fantastic job of selling this character. She plays the fanatical nature so perfectly. I loved the humor and the contrast with Charlie Barnett's character, Alan. The two leads play so well off of each other, even when they aren't in scenes together.
While I didn't think this season was as compelling as the first, it definitely kept my attention as Nadia searches for her families lost treasure. I find myself wanting another episode. The season finale didn't feel as final to me. I thought there was another one but when the trailer started playing instead, I realized there wasn't going to be one. Overall, solid second installment that leaves me thirsty for the next season. Hopefully we won't have to wait as long this time.
Moon Knight
I will preface this by saying I am unfamiliar with the character Moon Knight as I have not read it's source material. Whew, now that's out of the way. Man was this show a disappointment. I rarely say this, but I was glad there were so few episodes. It's not that the story wasn't interesting, but I felt it focused on the least compelling character there. Yes, Oscar Isaac's character(s) were the main character and his various identities should have made an interesting show. But Steven Grant (the first we are introduced to) is about as milquetoast as a character can get.
I would have much rather watched as show about Ethan Hawke's character, Arthur Harrow. I don't know how much they paid him to be in this limited series but he was by far the best actor there and the rest of the cast just didn't match him. Plus, his character was way more interesting. We didn't get nearly enough of his back story but when we were first introduced to him, I was wondering why the show wasn't focusing on him instead. Yes, technically he was the "bad guy" but it would have made for a much more interesting show.
It also tried to do way too much within six episodes. Too much was going on and the pacing of the show did not allow for full expansion of everything it was trying to explore. I also found it interesting that the main character had dissociative identity disorder (DID), but why is that such a common disorder to be portrayed in Hollywood. They could have expanded on that more for sure rather than doing it in, what felt to me, to be a rushed explanation. Overall, this show was not as good as I was hoping but at least it was short.
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