While it's not as cinematographically perfect as Deadwood, it's light years better than the Filmed Before A Live Studio Audience lifelessness of Weeds.
I think it certainly has a consistent style that, while not as flashy as a Breaking Bad (oooh I wish we got a Screwdriver Cam!!!) I think it fits the tone of the series quite well.
I get what you mean though. It leans on played out shit like Single-Shot-Of-Stage-While-We-Cut-Through-Different-Auditions stuff here and there, and the last scene of the series, stylistically, is completely out of place, but I think the effectiveness of literally everything else on the show elevates a slightly unflashy show to the same status as a show like Deadwood, which might have been a little more visually audacious.
Something like The Sopranos or The Wire went for quieter visual styles and while they never gave us a shot as perfect as Bullock kneeling at Wild Bill's demise or every frame of Jesse's monologue in Problem Dog, they certainly weren't any less of a Master Tier show.
Holy shit I knew nothing about this show before an hour ago. What a great pilot. Hope it continues to deliver. Netflix is on a roll. Love the Regina intro song too.
Fuck me. Nine episodes in and I'm loving the shit out of this. Did not see this coming. Easily the best show Netflix has done so far and a shoe-in for my top ten of the year.
Breaking Bad tier is madness, but I'd say it's A tier if Breaking Bad is SS tier. I liked the season finale and just overall surprised with how good the cast is. I definitely wasn't expecting a set of characters this well written when I watched the first episode.
; definitely did not expect it to go the way it did...
Amazing show though, super excited for the second season. The more I watched through the season, the more it started to felt a little bit like Weeds to me in terms of characters and plot developments.
Is there a Crazy Eyes episode this season? I sort of loved how it was just there and they were these WASPy white people, but I'd love to know more. God! This show!
Oh my God, I love this show. Friend recommended it to me and I ended up watching the entire first season over the course of two days. Alex is a fox, Taystee and Poussey are hilarious, and I'm loving everyone's back stories. Very impatiently awaiting season 2.
I really hope the show doesn't mirror reality. I want Piper and Alex to end up together.
Is there a Crazy Eyes episode this season? I sort of loved how it was just there and they were these WASPy white people, but I'd love to know more. God! This show!
Unfortunately, there is not. I hope they really explore her character next season. I want to know more about her, Taystee, Pusse, and the woman who doesn't talk.
Surprised at how much I enjoyed it at the end. Piper seems a bit too close to Nancy for my liking. I actually enjoy the other inmates' stories to hers.
I've misplaced my keys before. I've left a jacket somewhere and forgot about it. It happens. It's something people do. It just is magnified in prison, which was the problem.
I'm guessing they fire Healy, Tucky lives and is scared shitless of Chapman now, and they find the screwdriver and give Chapman more time for having a weapon.
Just finished the series and it was awesome, completely compelling throughout. It was a little shaky at times - the chicken episode was kinda WTF - but it finished strong in the last 5-6 episodes. Loved pretty much everything about it except Piper, heh. Not sure why Kohan is retreading the whole dislikeable main character thing.
One of my favorite things was how detailed it was, some favorite examples being showing how Sophia made her own lipstick, Piper actually using the advice from the black girls in the final fight scene (knee to groin, elbow to back), Pornstache calling the silent lady Silent Bob foreshadowing her moment in the finale and the fact that Pornstache is enough of a douche to have nunchuks in his car. Of course he's that much of a douche!
The performances were also pretty amazing throughout. Sophia, the trans girl, was impossible not to feel for, as was Claudette (and Baptiste was one smooth, charming pimp), the nun, Crazy Eyes in her emotional moments, hell... Everyone! Even Laura Prepon and Jason Biggs put in the best work I've ever seen from them. I've never seen the girl who played the petite girl with the bright red lipstick before, but if she isn't just a character actor who wasn't really acting and was just being herself, that was perhaps the most natural performance I've ever seen. 100% convincing in every scene. Also absolutely adorable, especially when she tried to act in the play. Girl who played Tricia also did an amazing job for someone I've never seen in anything before. The actors and writers collaborated beautifully on humanizing these ladies and making us empathize with them even when they're not being the nicest people. Loved how they made you like Red instantly by showing her backstory.
Oh, and another favorite thing, as a former fan of Weeds who loved the good first seasons and then stubbornly suffored through the five crap ones, was the jab at Nancy. In the scene where the warden's assistant hands over the found cellphone to handlebars dude who no one can igure out what his actual job is, handlebars dude makes fun of the assistant for drinking coffee with a straw. Hah! (For anyone who didn't see Weeds: Nancy does that in pretty much every scene in every fucking episode. It was obnoxious as shit.)
Some things I didn't like and/or understand:
- They couldn't get some background extras? They mention having 250 inmates but we only ever see like 2 people in the yard, the ones actually talking in that scene, and the lunch room was tiny as shit. I know, Netflix budget, but don't extras work for like $5 and free food? Really need to work on the sense of scale for season 2.
- Healey's turn from nice guy with a suspicious and weird thing for lesbians into full-on cartoon villain was kinda sudden and unexplained.
- Why did Boo get to have a dog? wut
- Kohan did this in Weeds too and I know it's supposed to be satirical but I think it's just silly that authority figures are always cartoonish clowns in Kohan's work. Tone the incompetent buffoonery down a little bit for the drama's sake.
- Why did angry track girl get a backstory episode when they didn't even tell us what Red, Nicky and Tricia (and more) did to end up in jail? Angry track girl barely speaks outside of that episode. That was kinda random and frustrating.
I'm guessing they fire Healy, Tucky lives and is scared shitless of Chapman now, and they find the screwdriver and give Chapman more time for having a weapon.
I can't believe there are people that don't like the opening credits. The imagery + "remember all their faces, remember all their voices" is hauntingly affecting..
I can't believe there are people that don't like the opening credits. The imagery + "remember all their faces, remember all their voices" is hauntingly affecting..
Even for amazing intros I don't want to watch 1:30 seconds of it while binge watching. I find it so weird how Netflix thought that was a good idea when you're watching 4 episodes at a time.
The only part with the track star that I like is when Yoga Jones tells her what she did and the female guard walks in and tells them to stop and the track girl yells at the guard something to the effect of "WE'RE HAVING A MOMENT!"
Tricia ended up being the character I felt most attracted to, in various ways. I wish they gave us more of her back-story. The finale was fantastic, those last few minutes built well, and added some strange tidings. Loved this series so much. So far Netflix has knocked it out of the park with House of Cards, and this. AD was serviceable but not the best. Anyway, there's so much to love about this series.
Wish we got to know a bit more about some of the other recurring characters. Boo, Lorna, Tricia, Susan(Crazy Eyes); Tricia and Lorna were favorites of mine. Very much anticipating the next season, if it's coming.
Pensyltucky became so unbearable I couldn't stand it.
This show is the best parts of weeds realized into a really good show wih only a few flaws. Really solid season though clearly low budget. Didn't matter though. Well written and compelling and VERY well acted by everyone except Biggs in some scenes and whatever the name of the actress who plays Donna/Alex.
This show is just so much like Weeds except the acting is good, the pacing is good, the villains are sensical and yet baffoons but they still hold so much power and are threats.
Honestly that never even crossed my mind. Obviously the setting helps.
I just tried to make a list of my top 5 characters in order, and I just can't do it. It's easier to write the poorly-written characters than try to list all the greats. I will say that Nicky, Crazy Eyes, Pennsatucky, Miss Claudette, Sophia, Poussey, and Taystee are at the top though.
This show does such a good job ping ponging between really fantastic humor and serious drama.
EDIT: Also, it should be less than a year before Orange comes back, hence the early renewal. Probably in the Winter/early spring for Emmy nominations. Wouldn't be surprised if Hemlock Grove becomes their summer show with Sense8 (stupid fucking title) in the fall.
Very nice list and essentially where I'd place them.
And while Larry is an understandably frustrated/annoying character and Jason Biggs is probably the most bearable he's ever been in this role, is everyone cool with him being off the show going forward? (if he actually is)
It's so weird going from whatever the hell Weeds turned into to this show. Really nice surprise. Hopefully this one doesn't have a similar nosedive in quality after a season or two.
Even for amazing intros I don't want to watch 1:30 seconds of it while binge watching. I find it so weird how Netflix thought that was a good idea when you're watching 4 episodes at a time.
I'd agree if not for that little quiet bit in the middle. I dig it every time because of that and then there's the little shot of the birds and the sign for a second and then it come back in and like
I'd agree if not for that little quiet bit in the middle. I dig it every time because of that and then there's the little shot of the birds and the sign for a second and then it come back in and like
I can't believe there are people that don't like the opening credits. The imagery + "remember all their faces, remember all their voices" is hauntingly affecting..
