Reviews

Great series overall, as anticipated. The performances are stellar. Direction, creative and editing are excellent. The series surely tries to convey multiple messages about trauma and what one is willing to sacrifice, in order to avoid dealing with it, as well as corporatism, the human mind etc. The premise reminded me of one of the greatest films ever imho, the eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, but they clearly differ in every other aspect. Every episode is great, but episode 4 was building tension from the start, with the harrowing experience in the Break Room for Helly, to the, not so subconscious after all, yearning between Irving and Burt and finally to Petey's funeral and the last scene in the elevator (idw to spoil this for anyone). After watching the first 3 episodes I was certain the Microdata Refinement Department's "severed" employees were guinea pigs for this severance procedure, but after the latest episode I'm not so sure anymore. And that's the beauty of a great series. It engages you, it makes you constantly devising and revising theories. Turturro and Walken were a delight. Patricia Arquette is absolutely creepy. I'm a very big fan so far, kudos to everyone involved!

...with this preachy, self-righteous show. I was, and still am, a big fan of the first season. It truly was a punch in the gut. All the seasons that followed were absolutely unnecessary. Second season tried to recapture some of the magic of season 1 but failed miserably. Seasons 3 and 4 were just...horrendous. They were an insult to the viewers' intelligence, and IMO that is the greatest "sin" a tv show can commit. In season 3 u have a who-dun-it mystery, an incredulous plot twist who everybody saw coming, an even more unrealistic cover-up, a super annoying new character and an inadvertently convoluted message. It not only doesn't add up to much, but after all the ups and downs and backs and forths, the minute u start preaching that rape is worse than murder...i can't even. Season 4 attempted some kind of weird redemption with some of the characters feeling guilty and being tortured by said guilt, but overall it was cliched, exploitative, ridiculous and absolutely, unequivocally unrealistic. Not even heart warming, not even poor justin's death, whose depiction was medically inaccurate, to say the least. I never became convinced that clay's or tony's or justin's bond with alex was so deep and strong that they covered up a cold blooded murder for him. The show tried to deal with too many things at the same time and convey some kind of message or philosophy about every single one. That is a huge target to hit, the game is rigged against you and you fatefully confuse the viewer who doesn't know what he got frim all this in the end. The actor playing alex needs to find another profession asap, very annoying and stiff. I could go on about a million other flaws but I don't have the time. Future viewers, I know it's nearly Impossible but do yourselves a favor and watch the first season only. Please for the love of God just stop right there.

Don't get me wrong, I am indeed a lover of "The Affair". But I couldn't give its finale a 10, nor say that it was the best series finale ever. It was probably the best they could do with their choices, but I have seen better. Overall, I'd say that this final season was the weakest season of the series. A must-watch series in its 2nd,3rd and 4th seasons, became somewhat of a drag for me this year. I did not like the addition of Anna Paquin, I think she is a decent actress but not The Affair-worthy and I found the "intrusion" of Eddie James Ullah pushing unnecessarily the story and the scenario. The scene between Old Ben and Joanie was one of the worst written and executed scenes I have ever scene on TV, it really made me cringe. The creators and writers did not manage to make me care about her, her story, her life. So, in the end, I found her heart to heart with Old Noah boring and saccharine at best, although I liked the general idea of trauma and love being passed down to future generations. I also liked the episode's main song in both its versions, each one fitting perfectly its timing. What I absolutely loved was that in the end, the titular affair was the one between the original husbands and wives, even if two of them were missing. And they were truly missed by me throughout the season. I do not know the reason behind Wilson's departure, but the show went downhill after that in my opinion. That's why I said it was probably the best they could with their choices. Other things I didn't like: Julia Goldani Telles and everything about her and her character's portrayal, that I didn't get to know what the future held for Noah's and Helen's children, besides Stacey, the #MeToo storyline. Other things I liked: the warped but endearing Solloway family dynamic (the children drink champagne and eat cake outside the room in which their parents make love), the redemption of Bruce Butler, Montauk in every version, present or future and that it ended as it begun, with Noah. A deeply human man, like any average person. In the end you can't really peg him as good or bad, just human.

From the beautiful symphonic score of Nicholas Britell to the perfect synergy between casting, acting, writing, directing and editing, one can easily posit that SUCCESSION has rightfully earned its place among the must-watch serieses right now. To be frank, I never expected a series about the stormy dynamics of a 1% dysfunctional family to have such an appeal to me. But then, again...at the core of this brilliant tv project is that very shaky balance between comedy and tragedy, right and wrong, hysterically funny and profoundly sad, and of course its creators' uncanny ability to walk that tightrope. For me, the whole season was superb, much more superior than the first one, and its finale was the perfect culmination of all things Roy. An irredeemably decadent super yacht, with a bunch of outrageous people on board, in outrageous relationships, spewing outrageous insults to each other. Watching Roman grow, Shiv shedding her mask and revealing her true colours and Kendall growing a pair has been a pleasure all season. The patriarch is the best-worst of them all...Kendall got it in the end and better late than never...the old man was never gonna give it up on his own, someone had to pry it away from his clenching hands, and violently at that. The whole thing set up perfectly the stage for Season 3 and the only thing left for me to say at this point is "I CANNOT F...ING WAIT!!!!".

This show is not bad,it has great direction,filming and casting. BUT...the only real characters seem to be those of Rue,her mother and sister. The writers/directors seem to have decided to surround her with a bunch of cliches: the jock with daddy issues,the boy in transition to be a girl,the overweight girl who is fat-shamed her whole life and finds her female empowerment and a bunch of horny,vapid cheerleaders. Character development is practically nonexistent,except Rue,up until this point(episode 3).Even the parents,the little that we see them,are two-dimensional cliches...u have the sassy cool mother who drinks,the riddled of guilt father who tries to satisfy every wish, the secretely gay alpha male father...this show is supposed to be about teens trying to make sense of life,the world and their feelings in the age of technology and social media...and to an extent it is,but it seems to lack direction..Where does it go?Is there a point somewhere?What is the freaking story besides the drugs and the parties and all the stories? And can someone plz tell me what is the point of the story of the college jock with the high school girlfriend? Why am I supposed to be watching these people hooking up,going to frat parties etc? All that said,I find Zendaya mesmerizing but I have my reservations for the girl playing Jules, exactly because she's a girl and doesn't look like a boy in transition at all...i would prefer an actual boy in transition. I will watch the 1st season and I really hope this show actually has something concrete to say.