fred-659

This sad and offensive series consists of a bunch of very unlikeable people who spend their time yelling at each other. They think it's being witty. The show offers sad caricatures instead of actual characters. Charlotte Gainsboro is not an actress, maybe it's the writing, maybe it's just her. In this poor effort not a single French cliche is.missed. There's same goes for American cliches. There's not a laugh to be found. Cheyenne is not a character, but a bad idea of one. She's underwritten and over actred. Do yourself a favor and skip this train wreck. Go and rewatch Mrs. Maisel instead. A mess and a waste here.

This is a good one if only to spot the "homages" to Dashiell Hammett's novel and John Huston' film of "The Maltese Falcon". Pete gets to be Sam Spade. There's the Fat Man Kasper Gutman, Joel Cairo, Miss Wonderly, Wilmer and the rest are all here. It's a briefcase not a black statuette this time but you will recognize the plot. This version involves a train rather than a ship and Pete has no partner to be killed by Mis Wonderly but it follows the same course. It takes a lot to pack all the elements into thirty minute but they get it done. If you're going to plagiarize then do it from the best. A fun one!

Like most viewers I looked forward to this series. So it saddens me to say it is not very good. The writing and dialog are stilted and rarely sound like something human beings of any age might actually say. This problem results in acting which ranges from acceptable to dreadful. Some of th characters spew lines rather than speak or relate them. The weakest links is Louisa Jacobson, daughter of Meryl Streep. This is her first role and she simply and sadly is not up to the challenge. Her performance is wooden and on the level with a high school production. As her character is the focus of the early episodes the result is a poor performance which harms all the others and the story. The supporting characters suffer the same fate. Rapid fire delivery of clunky dialog. I was surprised by Cynthia Nixon who makes her character believable even sympathetic. Christine Baranski is saddled with lines which are supposed to be witty but come off as brittle and leaden. She offers then with great theatrically. The sets look great so enjoy the view, it's the best you can hope for.