Welcome to my now daily blabbing about films and TV shows that I watch. See, I’ve been quarantining in a hotel because of various reasons and there is literally NOTHING for me to do besides watch shows and movies. So this is what is happening. Yep. This is how I managed to binge both seasons of this amazing show in two days. Well, the amazing first season and the mediocre second season.
Season 1:
I have to say, I walked into this show with a lot of expectations. I had seen so many people going on and on about how amazing this show was. And I was all like “psst, yeah right. It’s a show about killing and murder; how amazing can it get?”
Boy, was I wrong.
All three different years were able to portray completely different characters and completely different sets of circumstances, but also somehow managed to tie all of the characters together in a way that was completely unexpected, but also expected, the way O. Henry’s stories are. Yes, I loved this show so much I pulled an AP Lit reference out. This is how much I loved the show.
So, by decade.
The 1960s were amazing because I think Beth Ann had one of the best arcs. We watch her go from a happy housewife who had no other wish in her life than to keep her husband even though he was downright misogynistic and also just generally a piece of scum. This decade also had some of the best side characters. I mean, the best friend that just kept talking crap about Rob? Sign me up. Beth Ann’s transformation has to be one of the most logical and best written, and the final culmination of the various things she suffers at the hand of Rob just… Makes sense. And it feels good, honestly, as a viewer, to see Rob get what he deserves. Beth Ann also had the best murder plot. And, this era didn’t have any glaring flaws that I really wanted answered when it ended, though the April’s daughter being raised by Beth Ann thing is a little sketchy, so I enjoyed it.
The 1980s were amazing because of Lucy Liu. She really carried her section of the show, though the plot and all the other aspects of this era were also top-notch. I mean, her clothes? Yes. Just yes. I also loved how the story explore the AIDS epidemic and homosexuality, as well as how being really, really deeply closeted can harm both the people who are in the closet and the ones around them. However, there are some pretty glaring flaws in this era that I think was only able to go unnoticed because of Lucy Liu’s amazing performance (honestly, I don’t blame Tommy for falling in love with her, the magnetism and charisma she brings to the screen is just beyond this world). For instance, we never truly get to know how Naomi’s arc ends, and Tommy just sort of disappears? Also, how did Simone get away with murder? Many questions, Marc Cherry.
The 2010s were pretty good. I say pretty good because, maybe this is because I prefer the aesthetic of the previous two eras, but this era just felt rather bland and common compared to the first two. I will say though, Alexandra Daddario did a wonderful job with Jade. She was really able to play the creepy and sweet and also super manipulative character really well. I think she deserves more recognition for her acting abilities, honestly, Jade was and will forever remain terrifying. Now, though, the flaws were a lot more glaring. For instance, why is it that Kirby Howell-Baptiste constantly looked like she was mad and jealous of Jade, even before she had the reason to? I loved her performance generally, and when I found out she was British I was honestly shocked by her accent because she did an amazing American accent in the show (which honestly isn’t that hard but still, her accent was kinda like, really good), but I just didn’t feel the attraction that the character was supposed to have for Jade. Instead, even when it was just the two of them, it felt like Taylor didn’t like Jade. Also, why is Taylor still with Eli? Honestly? There is nothing in the show that makes me understand why such an independent woman who has to keep putting up with various crap this man puts her through would still stay with him. I just don’t understand that.
Overall, though, I have to say, Season 1 was brilliant. Each episode was roughly an hour long, and usually with a show with episodes this long, I get bored and have to skip stuff. I didn’t for this show. It was just so captivating, both the plot and the suspense and the acting. Ugh, this is such a good show. Especially the ending! The tango at the end was just masterful, the way the characters sort of cut into each other’s world… Pure brilliance.
I also really really liked the scenes at the end where the characters hand off the keys to each other. And Simone is honestly such a bad bleep (*wink*). That’s all I have to say about this season.
Season 2:
This much I’ll give the second season: the aesthetic was on point. Whether it was Rita’s wardrobe or Alma’s, the clothing and the color schemes were absolutely brilliant. But. But. This show just felt so much more… Boring. It didn’t have any of the new ways of storytelling the first season had, and it just felt so much more lacking in answering the question the title poses, while the first season was able to do that so well.
But there are also pros to this season. For instance, Lana Parilla. I loved how her character Rita goes from a snarky lady to a person who is stripped down to her core and reveals that she’s not that bad of a person. And her love for Isabel was really touching. It made her character so much more complex and 3D. I also loved the shots of all the women together with Rita in the middle. It felt so much like a coven of witches, and I loved that.
Now for the many, many cons of the season.
I will say that maybe I have really high expectations for the second season considering how much I loved the first, so maybe that’s why I didn’t like this season as much. Or maybe it just wasn’t as good. I’ll let you decide.
First of all, HOW. This is the forties, not free-for-alls. I don’t understand how so much death and murder could just HAPPEN. At least in the first season there are reasonable reasons. This season? There are none. Even if one or two of the people that Bernie killed were deemed to have died of natural causes, how did all of them get diagnosed like that? HOW? And also, Isabel’s suicide note? No one thought to check her handwriting? Just in case? Because, I mean, she was leaving town, which could be implied by the fact she was staying at a hotel and quit her job, and there was a person inside jail who would’ve taken all the blame, and for all the authorities knew, Rita was just a really mean boss. So how is it that her death was just decided as a suicide? I don’t understand.
I also don’t understand how Rita was just killed. Just. Explain to me please? She was just… Stabbed? Just like that? Rita felt like she had so much up her sleeve, but that’s all that happens? This is the end you give to the woman who literally kept promising to pay back the people who wronged her? Geez, maybe she really was just a dumb evil person.
And please explain to me why was the lesbian couple we get to see in Grace and Joan are just basically useless? I mean, you made me feel like they would have some sort of significance because Rita spoke to Grace, but that’s it? Nothing? It ends just like that? Okayyy…
So yeah. Had many many questions for this season. Will not lie, still liked it, but am still very disappointed because I expected so much more from this amazing show. Oh well. It’s a rare show that can be amazing even after one season.
Happy Thursday/ Friday!!
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