The Bad Guy

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!

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.

Slowly got into this series. Set direction and the whole gritty feel is addictive. Hopefully we get a season 2 before too long as I really want to see where the characters end up. The willingness to kill off characters and to surprise the viewers is appreciated. The water park set is a great location, the quirky vehicles, the costumes, it all creates a cool look and feel for the series. Some of the script is over the top and a bit silly, but somehow you get drawn in and accept the excessive scenes. The soundtrack is also used for good effect at several stages of the series. Just waiting to see if series gets green lit for season 2. I hate getting involved in a series and then it gets chopped.

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.

I loved the dramedy tones of the whole series. A dystopian (but not so much) present day Sicily where a good magistrate goes from defender of legality to bad, very bad, guy just to seek his vengeance. The cast is fantastic, the music score is perfect, even action scenes are top notch. But, most of all, I really enjoyed the general mood, very far from the usual cliches of mafia related movies: light, tarantinesque, comedic that lets you forgive the blatant exaggerations of the plot and the numerous "poetic licenses". Spoken in Sicilian dialect, even Italian speaking viewers are compelled to use closed captions. This adds to the fun. Please start working on season 2, I want to go on!