I think they didn't really get it right, but I still liked it. And the director kinda fumbled the action scenes. Felt like she hadn't done them before. Beautiful setting, but they didn't crack like they should. The shootings should be sudden and brutal, and not that drawn out. No fist fighting. The setting and logistics were confusing to me.
what didn't work:
-The idea that the two main rivals at the same time would face off and fight each other hand to hand. Come on. That was like some childhood playtime shyt. That's straight out of like playing James Bond on the 64 with your boys.
-The way Lizzie died was just weird. I get the set up and the guilt, and her hearing, but it just felt off.
-They retrieved the bag of notebooks from the river? At night? How would that work? Even the implausibility of finding it, unless it was like a waterproof bag, the product would be ruined.
Adopting the kid is way too cute for my tastes. That was ridiculous. I know it all requires some suspension of disbelief, but they kinda sank under that weight for me.
What I liked:
is the production value, the acting, the themes, the attention to detail, when it's more realistic, and grounded. I still really like it overall, but the episode felt like the worst moments of Tokyo Vice. Even sometimes how they held the guns, or fired them, just didn't seem right. It felt like Sons of Anarchy, which was a dope show for a few seasons, but a long way from the taut, realistic tension of Episode 1. Seems like the show really went away from being grounded, to being somewhat too melodramatic, soapy. It didn't seem the same show, as when they were hitting the stash houses and pistol whipping people. That violence had the punch to it, the weight.
