Not being American the number of episodes, and 'missing' parts don't bother me. We're well used to short runs that don't drag out everything and don't have to have everything on the nose.
For this; the reality is replace Trump with Linburgh and there's your show. It would be interesting to see how this would have been received if it were produced before he started campaigning.
Just had to comment about the nugget above,
The reconstructed reality to warn about the dangers of fascism. Philip Roth wrote the novel when the "War on Terror" was raging. David Simon and Ed Burns serialize it in the middle of the Trump era. It is the danger of indifference. And the series has the hallmark of Simon's big productions. His miniseries, such as the splendid "Show me a hero" (HBO, 2015) are short, but they are enough to create the uneasiness of reality (or supposed reality) made fiction.
Really enjoyed this show. There was always a underlying tension that I really liked.
The opening song is a banger.
This was an excellent show. I think it captures the slow burn of increasing anxiety perfectly. The acting was amazing, especially the performances from Morgan Spector and Zoe Kazan. Even though they had different opinions on the same side, you couldn't help but identify with both. I do wish the show was a few episodes longer; it did seem like the last 20 minutes or so was a little rushed. Nevertheless, I highly recommend it.
The overall premise and story is interesting and serves as a cautionary tale in any time. I don't think the actual plot really taps its full potential, though. So much meat is carved out of it that the series revolves more around establishing the setting itself than around telling much of a story within that setting. And as a result of that, the show somehow feels too long and too short at the same time.
Where you would normally expect larger subplots, this show basically just gives you a peak at them and leaves it at that. All of the necessary filler parts remain, though, and the deliberately slow pace on top of that can sometimes make it a bit hard to stay engaged. But then there are so many time-jumps forward, often skipping fairly significant events, that can make the viewing experience feel a bit jarring and unfocused. This also creates more perceived distance to the story than there should be.
While I think the miniseries format was the right choice for the story, I'm not sure that the limitation to only six episodes was. There may be a great version of this show that makes six episodes work, but it's not this one.
There are many great elements in here, though. The acting is really good (Zoe Kazan's performance especially is fantastic), there are some truly intense individual scenes and overall, from a technical standpoint, the series is very competently made. But the scripts often make it feel like someone took all the slower parts from a longer and better version of this story and just presented that as the whole thing.
I don't regret watching the show, but I don't think they did the best they could with the premise and source material, and I don't see myself rewatching it.
A good show. However six episodes don't cut it. In a world where people like happy endings more than anything (hi comments) this show ends being a pro racism show.
Story seemed great... until you realize it is 6 episodes. Then it just comes off pro Nazi, pro anti semitism, hate filled and message is clear. The Nazis and racists and fascists win no matter what. Give up folks. Shame on HBO one season. Same message as Bezos running the pro Nazi show for several seasons just a new twist at it.
Don't bother. Pro racist when it comes right down to it. They'll argue that last super rushed episode is anti racist. But no. it's garbage. More I think about it. Close to reality? Maybe. But do we really want the racists to win? Aren't we all sick of it? Sure we are. That's why we don't want to watch it on TV
Non spoiler comment. Seems to play the fence for anti racism, anti semitism, anti hate.... but six episodes? It seems to dance against those ideas while just skirting whether they were wrong. . I'm not even Jewish but it's so pro racism and very pro white male. Don't watch episode 6 if you bother.
Shout by SvenBlockedParent2020-04-29T23:28:32Z
I figured I was in for a hell of a ride with a mini serie of only 6 eps. Truth be told, it's not. It's a slow folding of what happens if you let fascism let into your country. A good one at that to be fair. I'd wish their would either be a second season or they would increase the episodes so we could actually see more of the upcoming time period. Anyhow, a great show for anyone interested in the subtlelty of what makes a society and how fragile it is. A good life lesson even in modern age. Maybe especially in modern age.