It's not as good as the astonishing season five but it's a return to form after a troubled sixth year and it's a strong and bold finale for what is probably the best network series of the last... I don't know... fifteen years?
The first two episodes are basically crap, but then the series finds its feet and suddenly becomes consistently great, even better than in season 1.
The first few episodes are honestly sub par, but then the season takes off and gives us a great finale for one of the best series in the last few years.
The longer season makes the overarching story feel a bit streched at times, but it remains really solid and the single episodes are almost always quite brilliant, so who cares? Plus, the last four or five episodes are really great, with a gripping crescendo and a closing cliffhanger that promises a more ambitious third season and the will to keep things fresh by shaking up the status quo. Thumbs up.
Pulpier, bloodier, campier, more romantic and more fucked up than season one. A beautiful second season, more daring both in narration and visual style. Plus, the native american Mazinger and Julian Sands almost compensate for the loss of the albino guy.
It uses all the most adorable cliches of the action/thriller genre with no shame at all ("They picked the wrong fucking town"), but at the same time it's pretty smart in how it actually manages to subvert a couple of them. It's got a very passionate and romantic drive and it expresses it through violence, while telling a story in which relationships are all based on eruptions of blood. The action is fine, but rarely spectacular in a traditional way. The real entertainment comes in the way Banshee uses insisted violence to express basically everything. And that's the reason why these first ten episodes are really great. Also, the albino guy.
A really, really good third season, with quite a few standout episodes (4,722 Hours, Closure, Parting Shot, Spacetime, Ascension... ) a compelling storyline, some nice character evolution and a villain that's much better than what I expected. Plus, finally we're seeing a bit more superpowers.
After the disappointing season 5, this is a return to form and a great ending for one of the best series of recent years.
An amazing step forward from season one: it's still really funny, but it gets much better when it mixes laughs with some surprisingly deep and touching reflections on loneliness, survival and the need for others. Jason Sudeikis is great and the season finale is amazing.
After the amazing fourth season, this feels like Louis CK was satisfied and decided to use a final bunch of episodes to fuck around and try everything that came to his mind. And it's great.
This is probably the best season of TV I've seen in a very long time. An astonishing bunch of episodes that mixes drama and comedy in an organic, deep, unpredictable and striking way. I've been laughing my ass out while I was crying. Amazing.
Here the series is really going on full steam and there's so much to love. It's still as funny as always, but there's also an incredible depth, a great sense of melancholy and some spectacular ideas. Plus, the Late Show storyline is amazing.
This is where it starts to really get better, with more experimentation and a tiny hint of the dramatic storylines that will be in later seasons.
Basically, this is Louis CK using his jokes as the foundation for fun vignettes. It' really funny, but there's also the hint of something much deeper that will come out in the following seasons.
The usual laughfest, but now with more storyline.
Lots of great moments, both in terms of action and storytelling, a wonderful take on the Punisher (he's got most of the great scenes) and a decent Elektra, but there's not enough stuff to fill 13 long episodes and as a result it feels stretched. And too many fights against anonymous enemies I couldn't possibly care about: they become tiresome and when the action that really matters came up I couldn't bear it anymore. Plus, it lacks focus and a strong antagonist, even though I gotta admit that following up the wonderful Wilson Fisk from season 1 was a tough task.
It's still a good series, really watchable, with strong production values and a couple of really great episodes at the beginning and near the end, but the rest would have been much better if the season was shorter, maybe around 8/9 episodes. And dear God, people, cheer up! Foggy is the only character that feels human, while being surrounded by depressed sociopaths.
