The series was created by Frank Darabont, a name The Walking Dead fans will recognize as the creator of the hit series who was fired amongst a lot of controversy at the start of season 2. Darabont reunites with a few killed-off cast members from the zombie series, namely Jon Bernthal (Shane), Jeffrey DeMunn (Dale), and Andrew Rothenberg (Jim). TWD fans will get a kick of seeing Bernthal and DeMunn working together under very different conditions - on a police sting to catch some mobsters - seeing as Shane and Dale had a very complicated relationship on TWD.
The series has thus far centered on L.A. Police Detective Joe Teague (Bernthal), a man who describes himself as neither a “white hat,” nor “black hat,” referencing characters in Western movies who are out to shape the world in their own image, but rather a “gray hat.” Like the character Bernthal played on TWD, we learn that Teague's world is in fact very gray, with a twist that comes at the conclusion of the first hour of the series. He’s far from a boy scout, but he has his own rules and follows his own code. Just how successful he is in surviving under that code in a world of notorious criminals including “Bugsy” Siegel, Sid Rothman, and Mickey Cohen, remains to be seen.
The standout scenes for me so far have been Teague’s interactions at a smokey and sultry blues bar with old friend and former Marines brother-in-arms Ned Stax (Milo Ventimiglia, Heroes). While Teague is now a cop, Stax works for Siegel. The two share a history and bond, and knowledge of each other’s secrets. Their bond has survived their transition from the WWII battlefields to their new roles on the streets of Los Angeles.
I think my impression may have been largely due to having watched this in a two-hour block. The story was obviously structured to be seen as separate one-hour episodes rather than as a two-hour movie, so if you have yet to watch this series, I recommend splitting up the first two hours. Another criticism is that the story didn’t have a strong hook that pulled me in. Right now, I’m curious to see more, and think this might lead to some great TV entertainment, but to be honest, I’m not really sure what the story is yet.
I read a review elsewhere by a critic who had seen more of the series, and acknowledged that parts of the first two hours were slow, but said if you can get through that, the rest is worth it. So I’ll be back to watch more. Also, the promos for next week look great!
If you’ve watched it, or if you haven’t but just want to talk about it anyway, please let me know what you think in the comments.
Finally. I've been waiting for L. A. Noir, now renamed Mob City, for a couple of years. Don't know why it took so long. Will definitely check this one out.
ReplyDeleteGreat! As I said in the review, I wasn't completely blown away, but I did really enjoy some parts, and it seems to have a lot of potential. Plus, it's only 6 hours, so what do you have to lose?
ReplyDeleteFor Darabont's sake, I hope this one works out.
ReplyDeleteWell, the critics seem to really like it, even if the rating have been unimpressive. If the next couple of weeks blow people away, maybe will get picked up for more episodes.
ReplyDeleteAgree on almost everything...
ReplyDeleteI found it good, but not great and I think the attempt to create an obvious "Noir" style possibly led to the pacing feeling slow.
I think the two episodes could have been designed to air together though.... Maybe.
In the first hour we heard about the story of Mickey taking a bat to the movie ticket booth and in the second episode we flashed back to that event and saw other characters were involved in that event. And of course the main connecting arc was Teague and (without spoiling anything) his past history and the reason for his actions in both episodes being a girl. That reveal in the second hour really changed how I subsequently look at Teague in the first hour.
I think the two episodes combined provide a great deal of insight into Teague, more than just the first episode would have. However, I guess all series get deeper as they progress and have loose connecting points. Each episode could have worked on its own like you said.
I think what threw me off was that I went into it expecting this to be one two-hour story. Instead, It felt like the pacing climaxed about an hour into it and then immediately slowed to a crawl. At that point, we also started seeing more of other stories that were tangential to the storyline we had been following in the first hour, although we did circle back to Teague's story. I agree with you that Teague's story in the second hour added more insight into what we saw in the hour, and did connect. But second episodes of a series are usually slower than first episodes, so this structure just felt jarring to me. I think if this had been a series of single episodes, I probably wouldn't have expected to get much more than teases for the first few episodes, but because it was a two-hour event, I had expectations that it would be packaged as such. This probably isn't Darabont's fault, as it seemed pretty obvious that it was written as two distinct episodes.
ReplyDeleteThere were parts to love, though. Jon Bernthal is fantastic in this. I really, really hated Shane from TWD, but really, really missed him, so that speaks to his strength as an actor. And Teague's friendship with Stax and his history with Jasmine is intriguing. I think I'll have a better sense of what I think of this after next week.
I haven't read the book either. Right now I have more questions than anything else, which I guess goes hand-in-hand with the noir theme. Hopefully this will start to come together more next week.
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