34-dihydroxyphen
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2007
- Messages
- 2,362
Absolutely.
Television critics as a whole are pretty good (as opposed to film critics who are often overly mainstream to the point of lacking any nuance at all, and video game critics whose "reviews" are essentially disguised commercials they write on behalf of the video game developers who pay them), and I am continuously amazed at how often I decide to read a review and find that myself and the critics agree with one another to the letter. They often add some top rate literary analysis, as well, displaying real thought and legitimate qualifications for the positions they are in, and helping me to understand what I am watching with greater depth than I had before I read their review or article.
However, I think they are wrong on Snowfall. While I agree that it oftentimes could benefit from an increase in focus, with the multiple plotlines being a little distant or disjointed, and there is some roughness around the edges I can't quite put my finger on well enough to express, I highly disagree about the degree to which these degrade the quality of the show. They feel it brings it down to a 60/100; I feel it brings it down to at worst an 80/100, with massive potential for growth as it moves along and smooths out these rough edges.
I think you also can't rule out the puritanical views and bias of some individuals with regard to drug use and distribution; they see the use and sale of drugs as inherently morally wrong, and as such, have trouble relating to the characters, whose decisions to enter the drug trade do not come about as a result of the extreme, sympathetic desperation of a Walter White, or the economic and institutional destitution faced by characters on The Wire. Moreover, a few of them may even feel so strongly about anti-drugginess that they have an agenda to bring down any show that may display drug users and/or dealers as sympathetic. I think this group only represents a tiny minority, but even a tiny minority can be enough to bring down it's Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic score from a low 70 to a high 60, which has a significant impact on its viewership.
Personally, I think the show is already pretty good, and will only get better with time. They are playing the long game with regards to plot and character development, and as such gratification will take longer to find. Would definitely recommend it.
Speaking of myself and the critics agreeing with one another, we are both in agreement that The Americans is unanimously the greatest show currently on TV. I cannot recommend it enough. It's like Breaking Bad, but even more emotionally visceral and heartbreaking (earning the nickname "Breaking Sad" by some), to the point where events in the show have set off literal trigger warnings for people. Not by displaying some brutal rape or graphic violence, but by subtly conveying the toll espionage, secrets, and manipulation can place on human lives and a person's soul. This is believed to play a part in the low ratings it receives - the emotions are so real, some people just can't handle them. This isn't to say that it beats you over the head with (or even deploys) cry porny sadness - there is plenty of levity and suspense and action along the way, and people rather enjoy cry porn anyways - just that when tragedy does occur, it occurs in such a way as to leave the viewer with a sense of the same existential despair and dread the characters themselves must feel. Which I think is a much more difficult and thought provoking type of sadness to come across; one that people aren't as comfortable or familiar with, that exists beneath the surface of our everyday lives, and that they are reluctant to have to confront.
The male lead, Mathew Rhys, puts on one of the greatest acting performances I have ever seen, week after week after week. The female lead, Keri Russell, is just as excellent. As is every single member of the supporting cast. And the guests. They even manage to make the teenage daughter both likeable and interesting, which is either an extreme rarity or the first of its kind for a premium drama, both with teenage girls (teenagers in general, really) being almost unanimously unlikable IRL, and women in general being written poorly in television up until quite recently.
I literally cannot talk about or recommend The Americans, if you haven't seen it already. It's elite tier quality combined with its near record setting low viewership leave me with a sense of obligation to promote the show whenever I get the chance. I enjoyed it when popular culture and literary merit intersected, at seasons 4 of both Breaking Bad and The Wire, and am saddened to see that it didn't occur with the likes of The Americans or The Leftovers. Instead, people watch the objectively terrible The Walking Dead, or overhype the very good but not quite great work put in by Game of Thrones, which I don't have a particular problem with other than the hordes of people who claim it is the greatest of all time or in the class of Breaking Bad and The Wire. Meanwhile, The Americans absolutely is. One of the top 3-6 greatest shows of all time.
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