The Bad Guy

This is almost psychedelically trippy. Forget the first episode which is sort of dull and confusing. By the second episode you're into something you haven't seen before. Like a Sicilian world you hadn't imagined. But not realistically - more like a weird director's version of that. Intense action and suspense. So many characters you can't quite follow them all, including a baby. Gotta keep in mind where the main character comes from and what he's up to, because sometimes he doesn't even know. He's "not quite himself" so to speak. If only Christopher Walken was in this in his character from "The Kindness of Strangers" it would be perfect. Not kidding you, this is a fun movie!

I am about 5 episodes in and I am enjoying this gritty mob-com.

There are some great interactions between the characters, a witty script astutely delivered and there's plenty of action (not Hollywood spectacular, but more contained and appropriate)

I like the best lawyer in the world character and there are some funny court scenes and lawyer client interviews. I like the fact that the Sicilian police force appears to be comprised of one woman on a motorbike. The magistrate is a great central character. Some characters that at first appeared to be peripheral are coming into their own. One, who at present in my viewing time line is in a hospital bed is very funny indeed, a great comic actor.

I was delighted to hear Se Telefonando by Mina in the first episode. What a song! Mina was recommended to me by an Italian student some years back and I am very grateful as she is dynamite. A nice touch was that in episode 3 Se Telefonando is reprised by one of the characters whistling it.

Featured reviewer says he didn't know who was who, the bad guys, the good guys, he was confused, he couldn't follow the action, it was too fast., and not funny. First off, maybe that reviewer has trouble telling Italian faces apart, I dunno. Secondly, it's not a comedy. There are comic aspects, but they are are inherent in the subject matter...Italian Mafia and Italian law and justice and Italian society at large. The humor is baked in, it's sarcasm regarding the whole lurid mess that it treats here. He complains about the slapstick. It's slapstick only in the sense that feeding the guy into the chipper at the end of Fargo was slapstick. It was humor like it was funny that Farmer is in bed with her screen husband at the end, and she's a cute Midwestern Momma again after shooting the guy in the field. Fargo was funny. This serial is definitely funny, like when the parents open the giant doll box and its full of cash. It's a shame I have to waste my time pointing out how clueless the "featured review" was. The director, the writers, they play all the right notes that makes a great operatic serial. They know how to peg your attention, unlike some Amazon stuff I've watched where they just throw in tired old gimmicks, and dialog that was tiresome a hundred years ago and almost at random thinking that's good enough. But this...this really is good enough. Great stuff, love it, you will too. The only complaint I have is that there's no hint as to when or if we'll see a season 2. That is disappointment, I'm trying not to seek revenge.

Luigi Lo Cascio became one of my favorite actors in La Meglio Gioventù. Man, did the first episode remind me why.

This surprised me in many ways. Stylistically it is really fresh. It is polished, certainly, but the unusual camera angles and rhythm infuse a kind of humor that doesn't detract at all from the drama or storyline.

Speaking of story. There are so many twists that the whole first episode can be considered one big one. But the transitions are handled really smoothly and the changes never feel forced. This to me indicates some really good writing.

It's not panning out to be another back handed glorification of mafia violence. Something different seems to be afoot. Can't wait to find out.

Grazie Italia!

1. These episodes seems disjointed. The movement from scene to scene and character to character happens so fast and frequently, that you do not know who is who. I kept having to rewind several times to figure out what was going on.

Also, in many of the 'action' scenes you do not know who is the bad gauy vs good guy. This renders the entire sequence of events anti-climatic because we cannot tell if we are supposed to be happy or sad when someone gets shot.

Trying to put together a mafia story with comedy is a hard sell, and this show does not find the correct balance. The comedy is never funny and borders on slapstick which in turns makes it hard to take the drama seriously.