Z: Là où tout commence

I am shocked that this series was cancelled! I kept looking for the new season - I'm so disappointed! Amazon, Bring it back! The acting and the storyline was superb. The story of Zelda is intriguing and I would have loved to have seen more!

The Jazz Age Fitzgeralds were such lightning in a bottle, that to try and capture it is audacious: we know the champagne will pour and the fame will come, and the real pain will come with the hangovers and end in despair for the both of them.

But the controversial choice of Christina Ricci as Jazz Baby Number One instead of any other McAdams Barbie doll from the Hollywood shelf gives this pilot a bounce and possibility because she is such a hellcat. I'm already jonesin' for her wild gin-fed car scream rides and Paris fountain dances. And David Strathairn is such a delightfully stolid and formal southern judge for her to bounce off of.

Fitz is such a limp hankie next to her--which was probably true--that watching him ignite into brilliance from her bad girl spark and become the man who could write Gatsby and fall Icarus-like back to Earth in her skirts to face the Depression is very promising.

Most importantly, this is a sumptuous period piece from one of two most exciting decades of the last century. If Amazon orders more of "Z", I will be a devoted watcher. Thanks for letting us review.

That MUST be why this excellent series is gone(?)... I enjoyed the show and every friend that I know who watched it felt the same. Why is it that ANY intellectual program that doesn't appeal to the lowest common mindset has to wind up in the dumpster..? We are now reduced to picking and choosing from the mediocre menu that is served. How do we get any satisfaction when a gem isn't allowed to find it's legs? Anyone out there remember a small tv show named Star Trek..?

Starts very, very strong. And then it begins to meander. I feel it would have been better if it'd been created with the intention to be a limited mini-series rather than a TV series, because then the writing team could have crafted a compelling beginning, middle, and end. As it is, without a season 2 renewal, it just sort of... ends.

This show was apparently developed by Ricci after a book that really focused more wholly on Zelda.

The writers here have opened it up to be more about Zelda and Scott, as emblematic of their moment etc. While the show is beautiful and well paced, and Hoflin is pretty good as FSG, it is at its best when it focuses on Ricci who really gives a brilliant performance and manages to assume the moment and it's obvious touchpoints (cigarette holders, champagne glasses, insouciance etc) without apparent cliche.

She is well supported by the more senior players, but some of the actors playing the coterie of friends and hangers on have been unable to see the wood for the trees and just give arch performances that lean too heavily on stereotypes and the aforementioned props. The writers too are to blame: ultimately it is not quite what we hope for, but it's still a bit mean spirited that Ricci wasn't lauded for this performance. She carry's it as far as it goes, and it goes pretty far.