The Bad Guy

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!

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!

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.

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.