Roma73

Impressions after finishing season 3:

* Fine actors (mostly, and save for the occasional over-acting) * Great setting * Effective set design and makeup * Fine camera work * Great idea, too... initially

The Hotel California-like plot is intriguing for sure. Imagine yourself driving around with family or friends, driving into some shady village, only to realize there's no way out. The road just goes round and round. To make matters worse, every nightfall, spooky humanoid monsters slaughter anyone not safely inside a building.

However. As talented writers know, a good idea does not a story make. The hardest part is not that one brilliant idea but the execution, which obviously includes the end. And here's where I'm growing wary. Where is "From" leading us?

I'm starting to suspect either (or both) of these two things could be happening here:

1) producers are pushing to stretch it out for as many seasons as possible.

2) the writers have no idea how to end this. Maybe they don't even have an end - they just had an idea. Much like kids who've created an escape room so complicated they have no idea how to get us out.

I might be wrong. There might be a team of geniuses on it, soon to blow us away with an ending none of us could've imagined. The illusion of investment has taken me this far; I just really hope I won't feel cheated.

In the meantime, questions and mysteries are thrown at us, crazier as we progress. Sometimes things seem unnecessarily convoluted: well-willing phantoms speak in riddles for no good reason, messages supposedly left to help are left in childish codes (like backward letters).

Another issue I have with the series is that few characters are likable or interesting. They're then pushed into soapy dramas I don't really care about because I don't really care about them. Also, a few of them are become more annoying over time: more shouting, more screaming, less substance. The dialogues are often flimsy and lacking in depth.

So. Kudos to actors, set design and camera work. But writing department and whoever is ultimately in charge of this could do better. By which I mean: ending this yesterday. Please, let's have that resolution and let's have it now.

I'm giving it one more season. No resolution in season 4, and I'm out. If the ending is amazing, I'll add some stars. If it sucks, I'll knock some off.

Let me start by saying I knew next to nothing about these people as I tend to steer clear of Hollywood gossip. I saw Baldwin in some movies and of course I heard about the filmset tragedy, that's about it. I don't really know why I checked out the show. But oh, dear God... What a cringing love-to-hate fest. Why would anyone in this situation (privileged and spoilt, rich and white, unhinged and low on brighter braincells) go on a reality TV show? Wait... I guess I missed "narcissist"?

Raised Spanish myself, something about Alec's wife immediately felt off - disingenuous, even. Maybe it was her use of Spanish words, seeming to escape her mouth somehow Not randomly. I googled her and realized my hunch was spot-on: she made up a Spanish heritage. Wow. That's crazy. "Hilaria" is actually Hillary from Boston? BTW, her Spanish isn't half bad, accent included. But it beats me why you'd put on a fake Spanish accent in English, or any language, unless you're acting. I guess that's exactly how she comes across: like it's all just one big act. Unfortunately for us, not a great one.

More significantly though, the talks about the tragic shooting feel very wrong. Maybe, if they weren't so shallow and had what it takes to share deeper and more meaningful thoughts and feelings, I'd be less harsh. But the superficial musings about the incident and the staged family intertwines ("look at us be an endearing happy family here by our pool") do not pull my sympathy. The incident - the victim's child now motherless while the Baldwins strut their parenting - feels terribly exploited here for the benefit of these two self-absorbed people.

No idea what the aim was. But the Baldwins did accomplish this: that I, who had no feelings about them whatsoever, now thoroughly dislike them.

Pretty darn good in my opinion. Why? Firstly, because the makers had the balls to offer the stage to both sides (with O. J. himself somehow taking the back stage for once, deceased since premiere, but still alive during filming, yet allegedly unwilling to get involved unless granted control of the narrative). Which proves to be an interesting move. Both sides get to speak: prosecutors, defense, O. J.'s close friends (with new revelations), a victim's sister, a juror and even the racist cop. And yet O. J.'s guilt is as apparent here as it was back in the day, or more so even. It will be very hard to watch this and still believe O. J. was innocent (even if you choose to believe some evidence was planted).

Back in 1995 I was horrified at the acquittal, for the victims' families, for the injustice and danger of a wife-battering narcissist psychopath walking free. And yet at the same time, I felt a poetic justice in it all as a race case. Inevitably, this docu teems with the issues of inequality and discrimination that this case is so famous for. I'm referring to both race and gender (domestic abuse, femicide). It was scary to catch myself thinking - as the empathic prosecuter Christopher Darden points out - how little has changed since then. But I sure hope there are plenty of decent human beings out there who will agree with me that both matter (as in, BOTH matter, and both MATTER).

What made the series especially memorable to me were the unexpectedly poignant last 20 min, which covers the "life after" of some of the case's major players. I greatly admire the honesty and introspection of those on screen during that time. To them, I say: chapeau to you all. Life has not been easy on most of you. I wish you the best and I think you all very brave.