Hightown

After reading all the great reviews for Hightown I thought I'd finally give it a chance. I'm glad I did because it was definitely worth watching. It's a crime drama about the war on drugs that has everything from drug use, drug dealers, corrupt cops, murders, etc. This is a lot better than your average crime drama because of its writing but mostly because of acting performances from its two stars, James Dale Badge and Monica Raymond. Hightown will hook you from the very first episode and hold on to you until the end. I'm glad that's it's already been renewed for a third season because it definitely deserves it.

At the time of this review, this show has a 6.8 on IMDb. That's too bad because I almost didn't watch because of that. IMDb users think they are too "high brow" or something. This show is really good. Drug use and sex scenes are in your face and I guess that turns some people off. STOP GIVING SHOWS A LOW RATING BECAUSE YOU FEEL OFFENDED BY THAT! If you're reading this review and you aren't sure if you should watch, take it from me. Give it a chance. For some context, my favorite tv shows of all time are the sopranos, breaking bad, boardwalk empire, game of thrones, the last kingdom, Dexter, rescue me, and so on. If you are a fan of those shows too, then take it from me and check this series out. You won't be sorry. Don't read too much into the hate. I have officially realized that user ratings of shows are not the "end all be all" and now I will begin to broaden my horizon with new series. I understand that everybody is entitled to their own opinion, but if sex and drug use and violence are the reason that you are hating, do us all a favor and keep your opinion to yourself. Lol thanks.

I guess you could say that I am a "townie". I grew up and live on Cape and I work in addiction recovery. Once you get beyond the language and the sexual situations, you are left with 2 stories, the fictional murder/cop drama and the very real story of addiction and recovery which is messy and hard and has a lot of setbacks. It is an important story to tell and I am glad they are telling it even if it's uncomfortable for some people to watch. It's also important to see that this is a very bad problem even if you live in what would be considered an affluent community. Opiate addiction is a very bad problem here on Cape. So for those reviews that say this show is elitist, well, addiction affects the elites as well.

Love the show! Always something to look forward. Street life with good life mixed in one. Not the normal ehh show. Lots of adventures. Jackie keeps you on your turns. She has so much heart but she ants to be a super hero and can't deal with her own issues. It's like good guy bad guy but I'm a great person despite my own demons. She has a great crew around her. Ray Abruzzo is a rude fucccc but he keeps it real and is a great cop! Lots of twist and turns from his egotistical self

MUSIC kills me . I literally have to skip the intro and go past it. Seems like few of the music choices go with the scenes. Thought it would get better with each season .

This was a suprisingly good show that starred a lot of unknown actors. Monica Raymund who was the most widely known character actor headlined this series. One thing that stood out was the two leading characters, Raymund as a Federal Marine Enforcement officer (Fish Police) and James Badge Dale as state policeman Ray Abruzzo are the two most unlikeable characters in the series...yet it works. We still pull for them although they are reckless and both use people. She is a mess but deep down a good person. She has demons, maybe we learn in the next season why she is dead set on destroying herself.

The only thing my father ever told me that I paid attention to was when he said, "If you really hate a character in a show then the actor is doing a really good job". And he was right. Raymund's character is so unlikeable. She's a drunk, a drug addict and she spends way too much time on the hunt for sex with other women. She bedded at least 1/2 dozen women in the series. I'm not a prude but there was too much sex in the series. I'm looking for a crime show about murder & drugs and there's sex in almost every episode. Sex can play a part but thsi was over the top. Still, it was a good series. Ray Abruzzo the cop was a jerk to everyone around him but he was one of the 'good guys'.

There were a couple of hiccups in the series, in the form of silly dialogue but all in all the writing was pretty good.

I haven't watched the second season yet but season 1 is definitely worth watching.