Goliath (TV Series) Hadleyville (2021) User Reviews

Lost in the Fog

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 21 November 2021]

I have to agree that at this point this show is in a surrealistic fog. Billy is seemingly trying to crawl out of a hole he has been put in. There is little kindness from anyone, for one thing. For the other, "What are we being told about the world Billy inhabits? I will wait until Episode 2 to get an answer or two. Perhaps, however, this is going to be wall to wall bizzaro.

Rear Window set with plenty of film noir

[christinachapman-57564 · 6/10 · 16 October 2021]

Cinematography is stunning- I'm just not sure what I'm watching... Hitchcockian homage or film noir detective drama with some nightmare sequences added in for an extra noir effect... Whatever it is I will watch for the brilliant cast.

Strange and moody start

[kirkola-87908 · 8/10 · 1 October 2021]

Kind of an odd start but going after big pharma holds promise of a payoff especially with actors lined up. The dream sequences reveal some idea of what's going on. But Billy going from lazy bum to investigative lawyer make it watchable no matter where the plot goes. Anyone else catch the "plastic fork" reference? (assume that's what it was)

From Chinatown homage to Chinatown location

[TheFearmakers · 7/10 · 24 September 2021]

In yet another scene where our heroic anti-hero multi-millionaire anti-millionaire Billy meets with a pretty young girl who will most likely sleep with him, he says he feels like part of a surreal "weird movie" and in fact, the previous season was like a combination of Twin Peaks and especially Chinatown... only now he's in an actual Chinatown as opposed to a rural California farmland whose farmers need water, and it seems GOLIATH is once again going the surreal Noir route...

Someone on here mentioned the show is veering from a Western (albeit they do include a Sergio Leone homage of High Noon homage) to Noir when it fact it morphed into a Noir on Season Two, but...

Kind of slow, too many dream sequences (his near-death attributes to being able to be as strange as possible) and the episode's end doesn't make you really want more like previous seasons, but, It's actually really unwise to judge a show so early into a season, so, here goes...

Or rather, there went...

From High Noon to Film Noir

[gensbill · 10/10 · 24 September 2021]

It hasn't been done better since Robert Mitchum was looking for Velma.

The first episode had everything, symbolism; atmosphere - every picture (the Hall of Faces) tells a story; the downtrodden hero who is not allowed peace; the darkest of watering holes; the mist shrouded dark street, the clandestine...everything, all the secrets.

I wish I could give it more than 10, and I wasn't all that enamored with season 3.

Billy's apartment may be in Chinatown, but you can forget that, it's Chinatown. Bruce Dern, Elias Koteas, J. K. Simmons, Jena Malone; with the loveliest of lovelies, Tania Raymonde, and the girl who makes everything she's in, unique, Nina Arianda - that's the cast who makes it all what it is.

"Are you Ok?" He asks.

"Are you, OK?" She asks in reply.

Neither want to say, "No,"

Thinking we are in on the joke, we know the answer.

Or at least we think we do.

Ending very low... S4 it's really bad

[mafe-aris · 6/10 · 4 October 2021]

Full of silly common places, noir cinema, the rear window, blade runner... It's so dark your eyes will hurt, and it's so not important it doesn't add to the story or the mood; worst lighting ever!

It's a shame, the first 2 seasons were amazing!

A Noir Billy McBride this time.

[valdemir-fernandes · 10/10 · 26 September 2021]

Wonderful. A helluva supporting cast.

It is a pity that it is the last season.

Enough !!!

[tjmac_otr · 5/10 · 29 September 2021]

Enough with the metaphysical out-of-body BS. Tell the story, let the actors act in the real world.

Not season 3 again!

[annetteservice · 3/10 · 9 October 2021]

Enough with the 'dream sequences' please? We get he's troubled and gone through some stuff. Let's have a gritty drama. With a story that pulls you in, not one that puts you on hold every ten minutes.

Hmmm... season 4 is a bit of a let down

[ceasson-25498 · 4/10 · 28 September 2021]

Don't know why.... but the magic is gone. Story (writing), camera effects, etc did not come up to th standards off past seasons.

I don't understand anything that's happening

[AvatarAryk · 1/10 · 25 September 2021]

The entire episode is nothing like the first 3 seasons, it makes me feel like some freshmen interns wanted to make their artistic cinematography debut while having never seen the first three seasons of this show.

It's all some weird dream that throws you all over from scene to scene, sometimes shot to shot, weird background noises that made me fast forward to get past his cinematically useless walking scene for him to get to a bar.

I have absolutely no idea what is going on after finishing the episode and I'm not happy, I feel like I just wasted 45 minutes of my life. Nothing about this episode progressed the story for me.

What happened to this show?

[theconflictbook · 2/10 · 24 September 2021]

Season 1 was great! Season 2 was mediocre (the amputee storyline was bizarre and unappealing, the trip to Mexico was just ridiculous and boring). Season 3 was nearly unwatchable with the hallucinatory angle). Season 4 has just crash landed with a thud as the hallucinations continue. Ep. 1 is an hour of Billy wandering the streets and/or hallucinating. Pure boredom. It's not Chinatown-esque (other than the fact that there were a few Chinese characters and the location or Billy's roaming), and it's attempt at noir falls flat. It's hard to work the noir angle when half the episode is a hallucination. Plus, trying to implement gadgetry by applying a 'theme' is unnecessary. Season 1 just relied on storyline and great acting. Great acting! No the relies on gimmicks. Damn shame!

Without BBT starring in this show, I would have left this show long ago.

I will give Ep. 2 a chance but this show is losing a loyal fan.

I was hoping that season 3 was just a fluke

[silverton-37959 · 4/10 · 2 January 2023]

Season 3 was, for me, unwatchable. I was hoping for a return to the season 1&2 style, but it apparently isn't to be. Is it just me or are all the series that I enjoyed seemed to be suspended for covid, then returned in a sorry new form post-covid.

That's what it seemed like for me with Peaky Blinders, Yellowstone and now Goliath. We see mostly the same characters depicted by the same actors but with the stories gone off the rails and the characters playing different roles.

This episode begins in a hopeful way, only to blunder back into the weirdness of season 3. I almost just turned it off at about 7 minutes in. It turned out to be a dream sequence that proceeded into a visit with Billy's doctor.

Billy's ending up in a prestigious San Fransisco firm with Patty is a big break in character for both of them. It's hard to see Billy in a big firm, especially a big firm that isn't in LA. Somehow it just doesn't play.

Why the "art" film all of a sudden

[randy-34175 · 5/10 · 23 October 2021]

Museum like. Very weird all of a sudden. You can't even follow for the first episode or two. What a shame. Writing is everything and this season was a projection of some pseudo art film student trying to prove themselves. Too bad. Not sure we will get through the entire season now.

Season 1-3 10/10 season 4 1/10 Horrible last season!

[duckboy-94171 · 1/10 · 25 September 2021]

Season 4 is a bad joke, they changed the whole premise of the show and subsequently ruined a great series with this poor excuse of the last season, damn shame ☹

Nonsense!

[torben-26328 · 2/10 · 25 September 2021]

I only give 2 stars for patty. The rest is a stupid drug trip without any sense.

I can spell my review in two letters...

[jacklbrad · 1/10 · 28 September 2021]

P U . However, I shall give it another shot with episode two.

Ugly, Disgusting and Depressing

[calebcalebwhitney · 1/10 · 8 October 2021]

WTF were these people thinking? The first three seasons were excellent but the 4th season took a seriously wrong turn. Excellent actors and awesome characters are dropped into a hideous experimental art project. From the depressing music to the ugly camera shots, this show works very hard at making you feel like you're watching someone's bad, ugly dream. Put it this way... when Freddie Kruger has a nightmare he dreams he's in this show. Congratulations to the show runners and the directors for managing to bore me to tears and nauseate me at the same time.

Episode 401

[bobcobb301 · 5/10 · 17 November 2021]

This is a good show, despite that third season, but this episode was odd. I am intrigued by where it is going, but it was way too moody and dramatic for no reason.

Really bad

[cepcpm · 1/10 · 17 October 2021]

Terrible, disjointed, trying so hard to be arty. The few minutes where there was an actual story seemed good but then it would break into some weird dream sequence. Also the music is just awful.

Season 4 upsets the buffalo and no one knows why

[Pj236 · 1/10 · 13 October 2021]

As much fun as Goliath Season 1 was to watch, Season 4 is simply cruel to its audience. The first two episodes are painful to endure. They try to mix a blend of Altered States and Blade Runner, dazzling us with drug fueled mind trips in noiresque settings, but the ultimate effect is as random as Plan 9 From Outerspace.

The long dream sequences are a travel through time and color and black and white and the endless rain of San Francisco and other meaningless sequences of nothing. Like Ed Wood's 'Plan 9' they do this simply because they can, not for any deeper meaning. Thats the cruelty...taking the viewer down a path with no end. To quote Wood, '"The story opens on these mysterious explosions. Nobody knows what's causing them, but it's upsetting all the buffalo. So, the military are called in to solve the mystery." To be fair, I'm not sure which movie Wood is referring to with this quote but in the end, it could be said of any of his works.

Goliath Season 4 is upsetting all the buffalo and no one knows why.

Nightmare

[tompeterson-09775 · 2/10 · 5 October 2021]

So many dream sequences for "artistic" effect. Easier to make that than plot and dialog. Couldn't finish the season. In my opinion, a slow nightmare.

Oh dear!

[tjsullivan2706 · 1/10 · 23 November 2021]

After enjoying the first three series I am sorry to say that this series is a big disappointment- just cannot watch any more. The constant return to the dream sequences and the darkness are a big turnoff. What promises to be a good plot line is spoiled by the lack of continuity- just wish they would get on with telling the story.

S 4 a old departure; tragic plot and bad writing doom good actors

[mqdan · 2/10 · 10 December 2021]

This series was excellent for 3 years until this seasons rabbit hole chasing the Hollywood opioid narrative into the sewer.

The actors deliver all the ridiculous rhetoric with enthusiasm but all to no avail. This year was a horrible end to a good series.

So very Hollywood

[bomiranda2 · 1/10 · 28 June 2022]

Screwed up season 4 so very dumb. So very Hollywood what a bummer. They are so out of touch with normal people. I love Billy Bob and feel the same as him in this pathetic attempt at being cool and dare I say groovey.