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Locke & Key (2020)
We were on the verge of greatness.
It took me a little while to formulate why this did not feel so good. The events are cool, the world is interesting, and the sets are beautiful. The actors are pretty good but the writing is where it all falls apart. It feels like the writers had a checklist of events and situations they wanted to happen and rather than stop and think how they could set up natural and logical actions of characters to achieve that checklist, they simple chose the minimum cost path to each next line on the checklist. In so many cases rather than the characters spending time and gradually reaching some conclusion either they will randomly decide something and be miraculously right (no matter how little it makes sense in the scope of both real life and the show's world) or have a deus ex machina style of character explain to them what to do in order to hit the next item on the writer's checklist. It almost feels like a closed world video game that stops the characters from making mistakes by not very subtlety forcing them onto the right path. All in all this creates a very bland viewing experience, despite all the stuff the show did well.
Dark (2017)
Incredible
Incredible, binged it in one week then rewatched a bit slower over the next week or two. Very good show, I normally focus on stuff I did not like when writing reviews, but I honestly loved close to everything. Looking forward to future seasons.
Side note: I saw some other reviews comparing it to Stranger Things, while I can see where they might get that idea, it really is not a fair comparison. Both shows are good but they really are not similar.
Lucifer (2016)
Wasted Potential
This show could have been so good, but it just is not. This could have been a show about a celestial entity living among humans using his powers to help solve crime while trying to keep his identity secret from the world. In fact at the start that is what the show feels like, Lucifer is throwing people through walls, etc. By about episode 5 this turns into a generic 'will they, wont they' rom-com masquerading as a crime show. It fits every cliche in the series and does nothing original. I watched and kept hoping that just maybe the show would redeem itself, but no, disappointment after disappointment. At some point early in the 3rd season I just stopped watching, I don't even know what episode it was since nothing ever happens to set aside any one episode from the other.
If you are looking for a detective/crime show this is not it, if you are looking for a 'will they, wont they' type of show, just watch Castle, it has its own problems, but at least the main character is likable and acts like an adult
McMafia (2018)
some good, some bad
Let me start out by saying that overall I did enjoy the show. While I was not gripped or binge watching as I would some others, I still watched an episode a night and for the most part enjoyed the show. The cast is diverse and for the most part good actors. I liked all of the storylines especially the global scale to them.
The problems:
* This one was a big one for me, but most likely a non-issue for others: the Russian. I am a native Russian speaker and while most of the Russian cast speaks good fluent Russian, some of the main characters clearly don't speak a word and are just trying to pronounce words phonetically. Additionally the subtitles for the Russian characters are often very poorly done, while they convey the meaning of what is being said, they rarely/never match the actual words, phrases, or style used. A character might be speaking very familiarly and casually while the subtitles will be bland and formal and visa versa.
* Suspension of disbelief. A lot of the characters, which we are supposed to believe are quite smart, will make absolutely moronic decisions and miss very obvious things. Many, many more cases that I can not list without spoiling events.
* The main character. The main character is referred to as "the only honest banker" and yet from the first episode he has no problem telling lies to his loved ones and has no problem with crimes or violence committed in his name. When I started the show I thought it was supposed to be about how an honest man slowly descends into crime, this was not the feeling I had after watching it.
* The pacing. Some stuff happens way too slowly and some way too fast. While sometimes this is used for dramatic effect, it often seems unintentional, almost an oversight. Some storylines feel rushed and others too drawn out.
* The lead actor. While most of the cast is pretty good, nothing about the main actor is. He seems incapable of displaying emotion and speaks in a very boring manner. Thinking back, I can not remember a single time when I said to my self "wow James Norton is nailing this scene."
Despite all these complaints I still watched all of it, and rarely did I feel uninterested. I do however feel like this show could have been a lot more.