It's always a promising sign where, as here, a major character is shockingly dispatched in the first episode of a series. The brutal killing here is tonally of a piece with the series as a whole: grim and depraved, with corruption and violence around every corner.
The top notch cast are uniformly excellent, giving this series a massive boost in its overall quality. The underlying concept is an ingenious one: a town built to support a massive cluster of prisons, with the dramas playing out behind the walls dominating events in the outer community.
So, a thumbs up on most aspects of this project. Now, my one objection: in series one, episode one the viewer is subjected to two woke lectures on American history, delivered by Jeremy Renner's mother in the prison classroom where she teaches. This is part of the annoying trend where virtue-signalling political content is clumsily shoved into what should be entertainment programs. No doubt this gives the show runner a warm, fuzzy feeling that he is educating the unwashed masses sat before their screens. But is is presumptuous and insulting and is a jarring lapse in what is otherwise a skilfully produced series.
The top notch cast are uniformly excellent, giving this series a massive boost in its overall quality. The underlying concept is an ingenious one: a town built to support a massive cluster of prisons, with the dramas playing out behind the walls dominating events in the outer community.
So, a thumbs up on most aspects of this project. Now, my one objection: in series one, episode one the viewer is subjected to two woke lectures on American history, delivered by Jeremy Renner's mother in the prison classroom where she teaches. This is part of the annoying trend where virtue-signalling political content is clumsily shoved into what should be entertainment programs. No doubt this gives the show runner a warm, fuzzy feeling that he is educating the unwashed masses sat before their screens. But is is presumptuous and insulting and is a jarring lapse in what is otherwise a skilfully produced series.
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