This show had everything going for it: a fantastic cast, interesting characters and unique settings ranging from L. A. strip malls to palatial gangster domiciles. The Roma criminal culture had the potential to be a fertile hotbed of ideas second only to the Italian families depicted in The Godfather.
Notice that I said 'almost everything.' The writing was the fatal flaw in this production. Oh, the writers could spin dialogue effortlessly detailing the ins and outs of con games and self-help philosophies, and they were adept at setting up new plot threads, forcing characters to self-destruct and resurrect every other episode.
Where they failed was in resolving those threads, and that includes both season endings, the latter of which leads me to suspect they anticipated a 3rd season, but it was not to be. So after investing almost 20 hours in this series, you're left with all these unresolved situations they'd created. The cast is literally sitting in an emergency room staring blankly at each other as if they'd just realized their efforts were for naught. They, too, had been let down by the writers.
Special mention of Isabella Rosselini. She brings to the screen a completely fleshed out comedic character with a dash of menace and a splash of theatricality. Totally charming and definitely the highlight of the series, though Jeffrey Donovan proved his endurance by making his dialogue-heavy character convincing and likeable, and KaDee Strickland made you simultaneously love and hate her character in a performance that isn't to be found in the pages of the script. Like some sort of gollum, she willed Linda to take on a life of her own.
Notice that I said 'almost everything.' The writing was the fatal flaw in this production. Oh, the writers could spin dialogue effortlessly detailing the ins and outs of con games and self-help philosophies, and they were adept at setting up new plot threads, forcing characters to self-destruct and resurrect every other episode.
Where they failed was in resolving those threads, and that includes both season endings, the latter of which leads me to suspect they anticipated a 3rd season, but it was not to be. So after investing almost 20 hours in this series, you're left with all these unresolved situations they'd created. The cast is literally sitting in an emergency room staring blankly at each other as if they'd just realized their efforts were for naught. They, too, had been let down by the writers.
Special mention of Isabella Rosselini. She brings to the screen a completely fleshed out comedic character with a dash of menace and a splash of theatricality. Totally charming and definitely the highlight of the series, though Jeffrey Donovan proved his endurance by making his dialogue-heavy character convincing and likeable, and KaDee Strickland made you simultaneously love and hate her character in a performance that isn't to be found in the pages of the script. Like some sort of gollum, she willed Linda to take on a life of her own.