I thought it was good, but not great. Some of it is because I think the long arc of the story is more interesting than the structure of the individual episodes, standard whole is greater than the sum of the parts stuff. One thing that does bother me is how Groff plays Ford. It makes sense that his character could become increasingly arrogant to the point of putting himself in personal and professional harm, but if you watch him within episodes he'll vacillate from naive schoolboy to dark quasi sociopath without so much as a cue, like he's unsure what to do with the character. And it's not the obvious moments, like when he's working Kemper, or Brudos, or others for info. It will happen in small scenes where he's standing in a hallway looking outside at Devier, and it really takes me out of the scene. Other times, he can bounce between earnestly confident and cowardly, but that's more a function of inconsistent writing.
There's also little reason why he gets back together with Debbie other than they just wanted to put her in two more episodes.
Overall, I found it enjoying, but it's more of a good show than a great one, IMO. [Reply]
Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins:
I thought it was good, but not great. Some of it is because I think the long arc of the story is more interesting than the structure of the individual episodes, standard whole is greater than the sum of the parts stuff. One thing that does bother me is how Groff plays Ford. It makes sense that his character could become increasingly arrogant to the point of putting himself in personal and professional harm, but if you watch him within episodes he'll vacillate from naive schoolboy to dark quasi sociopath without so much as a cue, like he's unsure what to do with the character. And it's not the obvious moments, like when he's working Kemper, or Brudos, or others for info. It will happen in small scenes where he's standing in a hallway looking outside at Devier, and it really takes me out of the scene. Other times, he can bounce between earnestly confident and cowardly, but that's more a function of inconsistent writing.
There's also little reason why he gets back together with Debbie other than they just wanted to put her in two more episodes.
Overall, I found it enjoying, but it's more of a good show than a great one, IMO.
Two things treated similarly I had very different narrative reactions to.
I really like how they weaved in the
Spoiler!
BTK
stuff without comment. Gave a sense of the gravity of their work in real time, and I trust it will pay off well in future season.
Didn't so much like how they introduced the
Spoiler!
encephalitis
storyline. Making it seem more like a crisis of confidence and a general 'WTF' moment than anything. [Reply]
Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins:
Agreed on your first spoiler, had no idea on your second. Were there cues they dropped, or is that just from his bio?
I took the breakdown after he met Kemper following the suicide attempt as the first solid indication.
If I'm guessing correctly, they'll follow a similar narrative to Will Graham in NBC's Hannibal. [Reply]
Can we comment on how INCREDIBLE Jonathan Groff's singing voice is? Not related to the show, I know. But still - he's one of my favorite voices on Broadway. [Reply]
Originally Posted by SuperChief:
Can we comment on how INCREDIBLE Jonathan Groff's singing voice is? Not related to the show, I know. But still - he's one of my favorite voices on Broadway.
I didn't know he was a singer, so I looked him up. He was on Glee? :-) [Reply]
Originally Posted by FlintHillsChiefs:
I didn't know he was a singer, so I looked him up. He was on Glee? :-)
Yes - he was great in Glee. Spring Awakening is his great work, IMO. Of all the male leads on Broadway, his is one of my favorites (modern era). [Reply]
Just finished it. It was really good. I'm not sure I've got the stomach to binge it. I didn't know about any of the killers in there besides Manson and BTK, so their creepiness and brutality was new to me.
I'll watch S2 as soon as it hits.
Originally Posted by BigRedChief:
yeah he needs to come back next season too. It's hard to play a serial Killer without coming off as a cliche or over acting the part.
yep, real good job creating the vibe in the late 70's.
Spoiler!
I don't understand the betrayal to the internal
Investigators. Cops don't tell others their long time pardners are unfit to be cops. The "breakdown" was unnecessary. Liked the show, not the ending.
Disagree about the ending.
Spoiler!
The breakdown was definitely where he needed to be. A big chunk of his stability dumped him. And he has to delve into the muck to get these fuckstains to talk. Really the only thing left in his life that isn't upset is his relationship with Tench and they aren't even that particularly close. Embroiling yourself in crazy without a real life to escape from it to seems reasonable to lead to a breakdown.
I think this show is best viewed as a whole instead of its parts. When you end this seasons journey and look back at its totality, it looks much better in retrospect than when you are watching individual shows. Great show to binge watch. [Reply]
Found it ironic that this show comes back up on CP after AP-Bio's subplot about the tickle teacher who was in teacher detention this past Sunday. [Reply]
