I linked a Roger Ebert review in case some people are interested.
I liked it, but couldn’t bring myself to finish it once I realized that Sly’s character literally only ever hurt people. It felt like it was supposed to be “old man, set in his ways, criminal, doesn’t know how to live in this world, says the wrong thing, but has principles, does the right thing.”
But in the end it was just “old man, set in his ways, criminal, doesn’t know how to live in this world, says the wrong thing, but has principles, but he’s still an asshole and makes everything worse all the time, and of course he does, he’s a criminal and a jackass.”
It’s still fun to watch him go Mike Ehrmantrout on a situation, but Mike’s plans usually end well for the people he’s helping.
Yeah agreed. I liked the series overall, but enjoyed it more for the first half, before sly starts killing people. It also felt like he picked up this ultra loyal group of people too fast—he basically show horns himself into these guys lives and immediately they’re all willing to go to war and die for him. Yeah, in theory they see a way to make money and a “family” to belong to, but it never quite gels to me. Same deal with the daughter reversing course in the late season. Basically it felt like they crammed 2-3 seasons of story arc into one season, and the story suffers for it.
But it was enjoyable, the supporting cast is good, and the concept / setup is pretty interesting.
What he does to Martin Starr’s character might have been the biggest issue. Classic shakedown, a little bit of useful business advice… Except it ends up getting him into trouble, both with the law and without. Starr’s life falls apart, and instead of saying fuck it and ratting on the guy who forced him into it and saving his own ass, he goes all in on the criminal conspiracy that only ever hurt him.
