The Abandons is never particularly bad, but it’s confusingly spare, rushed and vaguely shoddy, as if the final product was, in some way, gutted of its most potentially distinctive elements.
Critics have only been sent the season’s first two episodes, which makes it hard to tell how some of my reservations with the storytelling will play out. But so far Heated Rivalry is swoony, raunchy, very Canadian and will satisfying viewers looking for seasonal flirtation (and more) without a trace of Christmas content.
The first five episodes offered enough bloody, ambitious set pieces and character development to keep me generally engaged, with the sixth episode being the first one to come close to blowing me away with samurai clashing, setting things up intriguingly for a second season that, unlike with Squid Game, is probably necessary.
Here is a series that fails to deliver anything even slightly surprising for nearly six full episodes, arrives at what appears to be an intriguing reversal of course, drains the momentum entirely with the flashback-driven penultimate episode, and then returns to the main story in a way that instantly defuses everything that could have been potent about the earlier cliffhanger.
Even delivering the story in truncated form in no way detracts from the strong and occasionally deliriously fun performances from Macfadyen, Shannon and the supporting likes of Nick Offerman, Betty Gilpin, Bradley Whitford and Shea Whigham.
The American Revolution is smart, thorough, sincere in intent, and still of undeniable and uncomfortable importance with or without direct reference to the current political moment. At 12 hours, it’s also dry and a little languid, relying on storytelling techniques.
In the process of expanding the profile for several supporting players, Brody and Bell are left playing often identical beats of uncertainty and insecurity to the ones that worked well in the first season. In the process, the chemistry and overall appeal dwindle dramatically.
