It's a strange mix of good music, tension, great shooting with a story that doesn't really pull the viewer in. After 7 episode we have characters that could die at any moment and we wouldn't care. Justin Theroux after his incredible performance in The Leftovers seems like a misguided 2021 McGuyver with a strange agenda.
Don't get me wrong, it has some nice elements to it. But after season 1 I don't feel I want to learn more about these people. Seems like a fugitive story with a 'we can get out of any situation if we just think' type of a show. I will probably give season 2 a chance (if it comes out) but at this point it wasn't anything great.
Review by DeletedBlockedParent2021-11-17T06:45:39Z— updated 2021-11-19T09:43:13Z
Matt Zoller Seitz is a critic who I follow and adore. So when everyone said "meh" to this show but Seitz listed it as one of the best shows of 2021 (the folks over at Vulture usually list the best of the year as the whole year passes, for all I know his top 10 might not include this series), so I decided to watch. This is a meh show, every other critic was right. So much here that isn't original and feels more like one of the bastard children of Breaking Bad (Ozark being the biggest example). It's another series where a middle aged straight white guy gets into some shady stuff regarding the cartel because he feels as though it benefits his family. Um...yeah this is mostly been there done that territory.
I don't like Allie. As Chuy calls him, he's a complete ass hole who's self centered and doesn't care about what happens to anyone, even his goddamn family. I love Justin Theroux, he's an amazing actor who was snubbed for his amazing work on The Leftovers. Here he's playing an unredeemable Walter White, which is a bummer to say considering Allie Fox was created first and played by the great Harrison Ford (apologies, but I have not read the book nor seen the film). Anyways, I'm not as intrigued by his genius since he doesn't have cancer nor builds any sympathy from the viewers. His family could be described the same way. I don't care for any of them, maybe a bit for Dina since she sees him for what he is.
If you're not Breaking Bad, please stop using Mexico and the cartel to make a show about white families. I'm tired of seeing my people get demonized or depicted in 2-D portrayals that don't delve into the personality of this country that is already attacked by politicians as being filled with monsters. Honestly, making Allie a Latino could've made this more interesting, but instead we get another tread of the mill white anti hero. Guys, the 2000's are over. I will say Ofelia Medina and Bruno Bichir were amazing as antagonists, but I'd rather watch a series about their cartel family tree than that of the Foxes using paper clips to get out of handcuffs in Latin America. Also, I wanted to see Chuy find his daughter more so than whatever happened to the Foxes next.
Anyways, will I tune if for the second season? Depends on whether this creates a huge turnaround with the story and quality. Plenty of cringe moments (trying to make Melissa George look like a badass in Episode 4 or the awful gotcha moment in episode seven). This first season felt like a long pilot more so than the actual show, I know Perry Mason S1 did the same thing but that's gonna have new showrunners and I'd say that would make me more hopeful for this show moving forward since Neil Cross hasn't impressed me much with what he did here and a show is only as great as the people that are behind it. I'd also say Rupert Wyatt's direction in the pilot is really great! Unfortunately, we don't see a lot of it afterwards. Anyways, Apple, all eyes on you if you can turn this over like For All Mankind, seems that Foundation, Invasion and others need the same Hail Mary move if the streamer plans to rival HBO.