American Rust

If there’s any downside to this new season it’s that the first half feels stronger than the second half. Returning characters’ personality changes in the first half of the new season are necessary tweaks that help lift the show’s overall mood, which makes “American Rust” more entertaining and less depressing.

Big narrative promises have been made – the question is, can the series make good on them as it continues?

While the framework sounds like it has all the makings of a twisty murder mystery, American Rust has a maddeningly peculiar way of downplaying just about everything, so there’s no urgency in the three episodes provided to critics.

Everything in this is predictable, up to and including the inciting incident. ... American Rust likely has a story worth telling, and a setting worth exploring, but this version fails to make much of a case for either.

Mare of Easttown got there first, and did it way better.

None of these threads are particularly interesting, as much as they’re given a heavy gray filter that screams “prestige TV.” Not even Jeff Daniels and Maura Tierney can make the story all that provocative within its humble demeanor.

This gender-flipped Mare of Easttown benefits from a solid Jeff Daniels as a police chief stalking a killer in a dying, Pennsylvania steel town, but even this terrific actor is not enough to save a dry, dreary, humorless series that stalls when it most needs to accelerate.

From a European perspective , and having liked the first season, the second season is finally messed up by all kinds of modern diseases. Like another reviewer mentioned the 2nd season wants to tackle all the world's (liberal views ) wrongs ,of which I only agree with the environmental issues and not with the parade of culture war themes being included . The reasoning behind making shows in Ohio or Pittsburgh should be, let's get put of Hollywood and bring in the Heartland viewers . Instead , time and again , the writers of the 2020s manage to bring California's outlandish world views to the MidWest , or even to European places in films and series . Not every other male character needs to be a closeted guy guy, not every wife beater needs to be a non college white (if only because the stats in Europe and the US also show various "other" perpetrators of violence ) its all very offending , liberal view stereotypical and frankly makes even good shows into absurd scripts . Daniels, and many others in the cast , great acting , great setting , great main story.. but the woke... the woke.. This can't go on until 2040 , stop it , tv and film were fine in 2010 .

Another "I wanted to like this" show. I stuck with it through the entire season, and as critics have pointed out, it is buoyed only by a good (not great) performance by Jeff Daniels. It's all over the place. It wants to be about the decline of small town America, a commentary on LGBTQ violence/acceptence, crime drama, legal drama, Norma Rae...just too much stuff in it. This could have been a decent 90 minute movie, but dragging it out to 9 episodes (seriously 9? not 8? not 10? pick a **** standard please. A solid 10 should be the standard now). Not frustrations: 1 - Lee is a totally useless character and really **** over her husband for almost no reason. Useless melodrama. 2 - Grace is also all over the place, but mostly a **** rip-off of the aforementioned Norma Rae. 3 - Billy won't even defend himself. What a useless martyr. 4 - Isaac is gutless and makes gay people look bad. There are more, but in general the whole show is a hodgepodge of other shows and movies and the mystery is boring af.