greg-beaulieu

Like @Charlie_Chocolate and others, my first reaction to this was that it was misplaced in the running order, and maybe it was for some unknown reason. It (with some editing and small tweaks) have made a reasonable S3E1, but to land in the middle of S3 makes little sense. I wonder what happened.

It's a real shame, because if you stretch credibility a bit (like the Bradley last-minute space shot) I've enjoyed this season so far. Although new episodes get released on Wednesday, I hold them to watch late on Friday night as has been my routine since S1. It's a bit of a tradition in my house to let it roll around 11PM on Friday, sitting in a darkened room with my cat to keep me company and a single malt scotch at hand. It's one of my favorite nights when a new episode becomes available because the show is just so much fun to watch, starting with the opening with the battling balls and the great theme song. Even with the overly large cast that's hard to keep track of and the breakneck pace of things happening, it's great fun, and such a treat for the eyes thanks to the tremendous production values.

So, to have this one land with a thud was disappointing. Too bad, because things were going so well...

Nothing succeeds like excess, and the Gaines are living proof of that, having leveraged their down-home image into an empire of Magnolia-branded merchandise and a purchase of DIY Network to carry even more shows produced by them, all built on excess. Excess exposure of the couple themselves, an excess of sameness in their design idiom, an excess of shows featuring Joanna, the princess of fake charm and smugness, an excess of Chip's cornpone buffoonery, and an excess in their opinion of their skills. I don't want to see Joanna showing off her cooking chops, because I don't believe she is authentic in anything she does. I cannot stand her. I can't stand her husband either, but she is on another level of cringe entirely. It is hard to understand their popularity. Maybe P. T. Barnum was correct.

I was disappointed when I learned that the most recent season of Bosch would be its last, and was hopeful but somewhat concerned when I learned that Amazon had given the go-ahead to the Legacy follow-on series, because sequels are seldom as good as the original. I delayed checking Legacy out for a while until last weekend when I decided to watch episode 1. At the end of that episode I had to watch the next, and continued until the first 4 episodes on offer were finished.

My dislikes are few: the replacement of the original "Can't Let Go" theme music with something that sounds like a mashup of hip-hop and TV commercial music is a mistake. The Stephen Chang character as Bosch's tech guru is a bit of a cheap plot device like what one finds in a lot of TV shows like the modern version of The Equalizer as a quick fantasyland fix to allow things to happen that are close to impossible, so that is disappointing. So far I am sorry that I have not seen any reference to Bosch's old partner J. Edgar, Lt. Billets, or Chief Irving but it is still early.

I was glad to see the Crate and Barrel characters make a return here as they were among my favorites from the original. I know some like to gripe about Madison Lintz but I think she is playing the part well - a young person who is finding her way, still uncertain but learning the ropes, and unsure of what the boundaries are. She's fine. I was also happy to see the producers still showing off some iconic old L. A. locations and hope that continues, as that is one of my favorite things about the series.

Four episodes in it is difficult to give a score until we see how the plot threads evolve but I am optimistic that those involved will use their experience with the previous series to do the same good job with this. I seldom give scores of 10 here because far too many reviewers offer that score up far too easily, but I am confident this will deservedly achieve that level. Looking forward to future episodes!