Am I Watching the Same Show?
The first season couldn't have been much better. Hard-hitting, with an extremely engaging story that pulled no punches. A lack of graphic violence and profanity notwithstanding, it was every bit as gritty and edgy as a Scorcese mob movie. It felt authentic. (I thought the ending of "Ground Zero" was a bit hokey, but I attribute this to Mann, under the impression that this would be the series finale, wanting to go out, literally, with a big bang.) I've started the second season, and, to say the least, I'm underwhelmed. Right off the bat, I notice the writing and dialogue isn't nearly as sharp, and that the attention to period detail has taken a nose-dive. (Miniskirts and 80s fashions in 1963/65?) The first episode is watchable, though far more melodramatic and soapy than anything in Season 1; it feels like I'm watching a different show altogether. Things only get worse. Characters seem like diluted parodies of themselves from season 1, the plots are contrived, over-the-top and, at times, downright silly. (How does Torello and co. constantly get away with disobeying fed superiors and even assaulting them?) Then, suddenly, Luca is back from the dead and running a new operation even bigger than Vegas? Abrams, the incorruptible attorney is now working for the gangster who killed his father? What the heck! Still, it wasn't until "Mig 21" - a cheesy, sentimental farce about a Russian defector - that I realized the show, officially, had become the antithesis of everything thing made Season 1 great. Please, tell me, it gets better from here!
To see the only real monster, one must only look in the mirror.