The first two episodes held real promise for this show. Billy Bob Thornton with his usually great performance. A few new interesting characters coming on the scene revolving around Thornton. And some really solid actors in Maria Bello (she's always beautiful and really is a quality actress), William Hurt, Olivia Thirby, and Molly Parker (in a pretty similar role from House of Cards). And there were a number of unexpected twists and several explosive scenes early on.
The show does borrow heavily from House of Cards' cinematography (some of the dark blue tint as well as the time-lapse video (a clear rip off of HOC). Nothing wrong with that. It works. Might as well use it.
But, as the show moved on - it slowed down. The dialogue was slow and didn't seem to have any real sharpness in the rhetoric. For example, it doesn't match the rhetoric of a Mr. Robot or several other shows. The writing just isn't there.
It seemed to morph into a standard Network TV legal-drama - Law and Order has better courtroom rhetoric than this. There were moments of good legalese which was appreciated but generally arguments were weak on both sides.
Thornton's character in particular seemed quite inept - for a lawyer especially - at arguing his case in defending himself to various individuals. This is not Thornton's problem - but the writers - who are way too sparse on dialogue. Even in court, one is expecting fireworks or strong argumentation from both sides and I just found it rather weak.
(Compare this to Darlene in Mr. Robot matching wits with the FBI in the next to the last episode of season 2; and both sides provide stellar one-up-man-ship. This just doesn't happen in Goliath).
I started to feel like I was watching a maybe-better-than-average Network show from the 90's.
The show's overall narrative is a great one. And the setting is also excellent. Hard to beat seedy, coastal LA. But, the actual dialogue writing lacks a great deal. Further, characters just don't develop and many of the character relationships and interactions almost seem ancillary and unnecessary. The plot and character interaction just don't all fit well. It seemed like the writing is basically rushed.
This show held truly great promise. But by the last few episodes it just did not continue to flash nor live up to what could have been. It had the potential for greatness but falls well short. It reminds me of a stock with a great IPO opening ... spikes high ... then slowly ramps downward to reality.
Unfortunate.
The show does borrow heavily from House of Cards' cinematography (some of the dark blue tint as well as the time-lapse video (a clear rip off of HOC). Nothing wrong with that. It works. Might as well use it.
But, as the show moved on - it slowed down. The dialogue was slow and didn't seem to have any real sharpness in the rhetoric. For example, it doesn't match the rhetoric of a Mr. Robot or several other shows. The writing just isn't there.
It seemed to morph into a standard Network TV legal-drama - Law and Order has better courtroom rhetoric than this. There were moments of good legalese which was appreciated but generally arguments were weak on both sides.
Thornton's character in particular seemed quite inept - for a lawyer especially - at arguing his case in defending himself to various individuals. This is not Thornton's problem - but the writers - who are way too sparse on dialogue. Even in court, one is expecting fireworks or strong argumentation from both sides and I just found it rather weak.
(Compare this to Darlene in Mr. Robot matching wits with the FBI in the next to the last episode of season 2; and both sides provide stellar one-up-man-ship. This just doesn't happen in Goliath).
I started to feel like I was watching a maybe-better-than-average Network show from the 90's.
The show's overall narrative is a great one. And the setting is also excellent. Hard to beat seedy, coastal LA. But, the actual dialogue writing lacks a great deal. Further, characters just don't develop and many of the character relationships and interactions almost seem ancillary and unnecessary. The plot and character interaction just don't all fit well. It seemed like the writing is basically rushed.
This show held truly great promise. But by the last few episodes it just did not continue to flash nor live up to what could have been. It had the potential for greatness but falls well short. It reminds me of a stock with a great IPO opening ... spikes high ... then slowly ramps downward to reality.
Unfortunate.