A slickly done, beautifully filmed, gritty reimagining of the ESG character. It's very watchable, but equally frustrating.
While the producers claim Perry Mason was always noir, the truth is he was hard boiled and never this dark and morally gay -- gray, sorry! Matthew Rhys's portrayal is good (although his bright, big chompers are a distraction). He's stuck in the middle of an origin story, so we have to see how much of a schmuck he is before he becomes . . . Less of a schmuck, I guess, with modern storytelling. The episodes are much more enjoyable when he's on his game, being clever, solving things, confronting witnesses. You know, Perry Mason stuff. Often, it's a slog to see him drink to excess and insult people. Realistic, yes. Fun, not so much.
I get it. Every other lawyer show in the world has cloned Mason's courtroom theatrics, so this has to do something new or it risks becoming MATLOCK: THE EARLY YEARS. But the excavation of his character isn't always nuanced or enjoyable. Love the clothes though.
I do appreciate the deconstruction of the mainstream male hero archetype, although here you can see the seams and sometimes it's quite clunky. Characters are given thin or uninteresting arcs but still get long scenes that add nothing except checkboxes. "Did we spend enough time with the Latinx family?" "Give them two more lines and then cut back to Della." Sure enough, whenever Paul Drake talks to his wife or Della Street talks to Hamilton Burger, it's a good time for a bathroom break because the stuff of their conversations is always the same. Equal time and representation is clearly a principle of the show, but it can be tough to pull off and still have the narrative and drama work, as when Perry and his (not sidekicks, not cohorts, but equals!!) all show up to confront the lawyer who orchestrated the murder in the last episode of Season 2. The trio crowd the scene and everyone gets a bit of dialogue like it's a sitcom. It feels unrealistic and forced.
Also, the producers clearly want to have strong LGBTQ characters, so we spend a lot of time on Della's love life, which, frankly, isn't very compelling. In Season 2, there is a hint that it might be relevant but that seems to just be a beard, I mean, unsatisfactory red herring. In a mystery show, why spend so, so much time with Della's wisecracking lover unless the lover were somehow involved in the mystery? But, spoilers, she's not at all, and so it's just feels insubstantial. Expectations subverted, I guess, but snooze. And while the show wants to herald these characters, it also seems to fetishize Della's lesbianism, lingering on sex scenes and the female form, so much so that it feels a little exploitative.
While the producers claim Perry Mason was always noir, the truth is he was hard boiled and never this dark and morally gay -- gray, sorry! Matthew Rhys's portrayal is good (although his bright, big chompers are a distraction). He's stuck in the middle of an origin story, so we have to see how much of a schmuck he is before he becomes . . . Less of a schmuck, I guess, with modern storytelling. The episodes are much more enjoyable when he's on his game, being clever, solving things, confronting witnesses. You know, Perry Mason stuff. Often, it's a slog to see him drink to excess and insult people. Realistic, yes. Fun, not so much.
I get it. Every other lawyer show in the world has cloned Mason's courtroom theatrics, so this has to do something new or it risks becoming MATLOCK: THE EARLY YEARS. But the excavation of his character isn't always nuanced or enjoyable. Love the clothes though.
I do appreciate the deconstruction of the mainstream male hero archetype, although here you can see the seams and sometimes it's quite clunky. Characters are given thin or uninteresting arcs but still get long scenes that add nothing except checkboxes. "Did we spend enough time with the Latinx family?" "Give them two more lines and then cut back to Della." Sure enough, whenever Paul Drake talks to his wife or Della Street talks to Hamilton Burger, it's a good time for a bathroom break because the stuff of their conversations is always the same. Equal time and representation is clearly a principle of the show, but it can be tough to pull off and still have the narrative and drama work, as when Perry and his (not sidekicks, not cohorts, but equals!!) all show up to confront the lawyer who orchestrated the murder in the last episode of Season 2. The trio crowd the scene and everyone gets a bit of dialogue like it's a sitcom. It feels unrealistic and forced.
Also, the producers clearly want to have strong LGBTQ characters, so we spend a lot of time on Della's love life, which, frankly, isn't very compelling. In Season 2, there is a hint that it might be relevant but that seems to just be a beard, I mean, unsatisfactory red herring. In a mystery show, why spend so, so much time with Della's wisecracking lover unless the lover were somehow involved in the mystery? But, spoilers, she's not at all, and so it's just feels insubstantial. Expectations subverted, I guess, but snooze. And while the show wants to herald these characters, it also seems to fetishize Della's lesbianism, lingering on sex scenes and the female form, so much so that it feels a little exploitative.