ukgreek

This show has me scratching my head, and partly at my own response to it. There's definitely something (or a few things) not quite right, but I'm not sure if it's the occasionally disastrous acting or actors (the actor who plays Arch's boss Marcus is abysmal, with one and only one facial expression in his toolbox), their inability to rise above sometimes mediocre and/or clichéd scripts, or simply bad direction. So I don't want to blame it all on the writers or actors, because direction has got to have something to do with it. And yet despite all that, I watch the show religiously every week and continue to be entertained by it. Maybe it's the earnestness of the leads, IDK, but I still enjoy it and I hope they can work out the problems for a better S2.

I know what to expect with DiP. A setup for context, a murder, and cut to jolly reggae music. That part always makes me laugh. Then a frequently uninspired plot that doesn't challenge us when we want mindless entertainment. I (sometimes) watch for the island ambience, the characters (except Dwayne, who is painfully OTT ATT), and a little fun guessing who might have committed the crime.

This episode was probably the worst I've seen. It should've been no longer than an hour. The writing was cringeworthy and inexcusably nonsensical too much of the time. Production values were low (pay for a few more extras, please!). The plot is ridiculously convoluted, even for DiP, and the scene where the new DI "figures it out" is simply painful as it strives for meaning.

Worst, as some have noted, is the terrible new DI. The otherwise-talented actor is forced to overact to compensate for such a poor script, and is made to be so unlikable that I have no desire to watch more of him chewing up the scenery while turning off every other character in the show. This one is a total miss.

I wasn't familiar with Taylor Sheridan's work, but I love Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Hamm. It started out entertaining enough, and if the statistics BBT throws out in the first scene are accurate, it could've hooked me. I like the perspective the series takes, but I don't think I can finish it. Sheridan appears to have a real issue with women. The daughter is 28 going on 12 but is supposed to be 17. Don't even get me started on the mother. The male characters are mostly pretty interesting, but his characterizations of these women are so flat, stereotypical, unrealistic and cringey that I can't watch it. Might give Lioness a chance just to see if it's more of a problem with the show than with Sheridan, but I'm doubting it right now.