LittleWatt

The first season started with a refreshing spin on a spy-thriller type series. Rose’s character arc was jarring and not cohesive. Peter gradually gained confidence throughout, but seemed to exceed his knowledge and skill level. Diane was simply not believable as a character. Basso does show some charisma, but he’s the only one who does. The pacing was solid in season one. Season two is a mess. The pacing is broken and it has a negative effect on the story that isn’t at all interesting. Basso does have on screen presence but he’s feels more like a growing puppy with oversized feet, and is clumsy. None of the other cast shows any charisma. The Peter/Rose romance is just laughable at times, they often like a couple first-graders. There simply isn’t any emotion attached to the words. The script has no idea what to do with the love stuff.

After the first handful of episodes, you’ll be predicting everyone’s next move with ease. Much like episodes of Dr. Phil. Full of unceremonious exits of key players in the series, too many convenient connections to family or friends, which became glaring given the series takes place in NYC. Weatherly performs well, but I wasn’t sure if I tuned into NCIS during countless episodes. Supporting characters seemed transparent in their roles with almost no story given to them over the six seasons. BULL suffers from the same issues as so many crime dramas. Too many single episodes making it predictable and dull, focused too much on one character throughout, too many contrivances, and too many unbelievable scenes.

Aldis Hodge gives a quality, and occasionally gripping performance, in this Amazon show. Sadly, the show overall doesn’t match Hodge’s performance. The first few episodes are too heavy handed with certain political and cultural situations, much like Luke Cage from Netflix/Disney, and can easily alienate demographic audiences thus hurting the overall reach. I often found myself easily distracted from some episodes. Pacing was a problem throughout, and excessive amounts of dark scenes, which will be an issue for anyone watching on mobile devices. The show suffered some continuity issues and fell victim to standard cliches and tropes, and even mixed in plot armor to create tension that would’ve been best to let happen organically. These types of shows and movies often paint psychopaths as masterminds, which often bends reality a bit too far. CROSS isn’t going to bring Amazon back to where it once was with Bosch, Reacher (S1), Jack Ryan (S1). A much better offering than Rings of Power, though.

More of the same bad to clunky dialog that not only feels forced at best, and written at the last minute at worst. Hard to even evaluate the acting with such teeth grinding dialog. Even more disconnect between the mediocre novels and the television series. The Grimm Brothers are so cringeworthy, I wonder how the show didn’t just spontaneously ignite during filming. Hard pass on this show. The only saving grace is Disney wasn’t involved.