Writer-creator John Ridley's yearly 10 part dramatic exploration of the ripple effects of a horrific crime (or crimes) across several families of different races and classes in America (examining both victims, and possible perpetrators) is surprisingly strong and political for a network show.
Having an ensemble of amazing actors return each year as new, very different characters in new stories (as is also done in shows like "American Horror Story") adds another interesting layer to a show that asks questions about identity and the roles we play out in our lives.
My notes while watching each year:
Season 1: While occasionally in the middle episodes it slips a bit into making the characters archetypes and mouthpieces for points of view, by the end these people (and performances) all show surprising complexity and depth. Similarly, the reliance on some convenient twists of plot and personalities fades as the show builds to a highly moving conclusion. Very well directed throughout with a cinematic touch that gets away from TVs over reliance on head on close ups, this show is brave enough to take on un-commercial hot button topics like racism (both from one race to another, but even within racial groups against others in the same group), crime and the failures of the criminal justice system, the nature of personal versus societal responsibility, and poverty – all without becoming a polemic, but staying an effective and affecting drama.
Season 2: If not quite up to the very high standard set by the astounding first season, this is still a highly intelligent, challenging and well executed 10 episode closed end series examining some touchy and complicated social issues – rape, homophobia, racial tension, parental failures – by once again starting with a crime, and observing how the after-effects ripple out through various families of different races and socio-economic stations in a small American city/suburb. Unlike last year's story around a murder, this year the central crime itself is a question mark. Was rough sex between two boys at a high school party rape? Or was it consensual?
Like the first season, there is an almost Dickensian sweep to the many characters and to how their individual stories criss-cross as the episodes go along.
One problem for me – I wish Felicity Huffman's Leslie Graham – the head of a high end private school attended by the students involved in the alleged rape – was less of a one note dragon lady. Huffman is a brilliant actress, but somehow in the writing and execution she's the first major character in the 2 years of the series who doesn't seem to have an empathetic side to go with her dark one. And that hurts in a show that's all about how relative truth is. There's a sadistic side to her character that makes her harming of those around her less complicated and emotionally confusing than I wish it was.
But in general creator/showrunner John Ridley once again does an excellent job at getting under the skin of American life, and getting to the truth that nothing is ever as simple as it seems – or as we often wish it was. And that being too sure of one's own righteousness is indeed often setting one's self up for an awful fall.
Overall, the both years of the series are full of heart wrenching and disturbing scenes. This isn't a 'fun' watch, but is an important and intelligent attempt to examine the dark and complex issues pulling America apart in the early 21st century.
Season 3 - As strong in it's way as the amazing 1st season, this is less personal and intimate, but more epic in it's scope, presenting a larger picture of how 21st century American economics and social norms have ensnared and warped all of human behavior. It captures the struggle to find moral balance in a world where the poor are just trying to make enough money to survive, and the better off are clinging desperately to their advantages before they're taken away.
But the power of the show is that while it's political in the sense that any attempt to understand why our communities and country work the way they do is political, creator John Ridley is smart enough to know that any such examination has to go through human characters we can understand and identify with, even when they occasionally making terrible choices or behave in deeply disturbing ways.
Dickens knew this. So did Arthur Miller. And there are echoes of both those great story tellers here as personal morality collides with larger often laudable goals, and relationships are twisted and bent by the pressures of day to day life.
Tremendous performances all around, and this season there's an almost complete avoidance of simplistic heroes and villains, Everyone here has a heart, and everyone goes against it at times.
Having an ensemble of amazing actors return each year as new, very different characters in new stories (as is also done in shows like "American Horror Story") adds another interesting layer to a show that asks questions about identity and the roles we play out in our lives.
My notes while watching each year:
Season 1: While occasionally in the middle episodes it slips a bit into making the characters archetypes and mouthpieces for points of view, by the end these people (and performances) all show surprising complexity and depth. Similarly, the reliance on some convenient twists of plot and personalities fades as the show builds to a highly moving conclusion. Very well directed throughout with a cinematic touch that gets away from TVs over reliance on head on close ups, this show is brave enough to take on un-commercial hot button topics like racism (both from one race to another, but even within racial groups against others in the same group), crime and the failures of the criminal justice system, the nature of personal versus societal responsibility, and poverty – all without becoming a polemic, but staying an effective and affecting drama.
Season 2: If not quite up to the very high standard set by the astounding first season, this is still a highly intelligent, challenging and well executed 10 episode closed end series examining some touchy and complicated social issues – rape, homophobia, racial tension, parental failures – by once again starting with a crime, and observing how the after-effects ripple out through various families of different races and socio-economic stations in a small American city/suburb. Unlike last year's story around a murder, this year the central crime itself is a question mark. Was rough sex between two boys at a high school party rape? Or was it consensual?
Like the first season, there is an almost Dickensian sweep to the many characters and to how their individual stories criss-cross as the episodes go along.
One problem for me – I wish Felicity Huffman's Leslie Graham – the head of a high end private school attended by the students involved in the alleged rape – was less of a one note dragon lady. Huffman is a brilliant actress, but somehow in the writing and execution she's the first major character in the 2 years of the series who doesn't seem to have an empathetic side to go with her dark one. And that hurts in a show that's all about how relative truth is. There's a sadistic side to her character that makes her harming of those around her less complicated and emotionally confusing than I wish it was.
But in general creator/showrunner John Ridley once again does an excellent job at getting under the skin of American life, and getting to the truth that nothing is ever as simple as it seems – or as we often wish it was. And that being too sure of one's own righteousness is indeed often setting one's self up for an awful fall.
Overall, the both years of the series are full of heart wrenching and disturbing scenes. This isn't a 'fun' watch, but is an important and intelligent attempt to examine the dark and complex issues pulling America apart in the early 21st century.
Season 3 - As strong in it's way as the amazing 1st season, this is less personal and intimate, but more epic in it's scope, presenting a larger picture of how 21st century American economics and social norms have ensnared and warped all of human behavior. It captures the struggle to find moral balance in a world where the poor are just trying to make enough money to survive, and the better off are clinging desperately to their advantages before they're taken away.
But the power of the show is that while it's political in the sense that any attempt to understand why our communities and country work the way they do is political, creator John Ridley is smart enough to know that any such examination has to go through human characters we can understand and identify with, even when they occasionally making terrible choices or behave in deeply disturbing ways.
Dickens knew this. So did Arthur Miller. And there are echoes of both those great story tellers here as personal morality collides with larger often laudable goals, and relationships are twisted and bent by the pressures of day to day life.
Tremendous performances all around, and this season there's an almost complete avoidance of simplistic heroes and villains, Everyone here has a heart, and everyone goes against it at times.