Premiere tonight. Stars Timothy Olyphant (Seth from Deadwood) and Walton Goggins (Shane from The Shield). Olyphant is a US Marshal (or some kind of fed cop) who is reassigned to his home town in Kentucky after shooting a criminal in Miami. The shooting was “justified” but it was also in public, and Olyphant apparently has done this kind of thing before, so it’s off to the boonies.
Goggins is an old friend turned bad guy – a plot that has been done to death – but maybe the writers can tweak it enough to make it interesting. I kinda liked it, enough to set the DVR to record it. Olyphant isn’t quite as clenchy as he was in Deadwood. He even smiles.
There’s lots of violence and language. Not HBO-language but not stuff you’d want to hear from your four-year-old. And the location (I assume it’s on location) is pretty.
I really liked it. It does have the potential to be cliche on several fronts, but I never felt like I was watching something that’s been done a hundred times before. I thought all the characters were pretty well-rounded for a first episode, and Timothy Olyphant(astic) is very easy on the eyes. I’ve got high hopes for the rest of the season.
I’ll be there until whatever time it bogs down in cliches. Walt Goggins is one of my favorite character actors and as long as they keep him busy I can’t see it dropping off to a silly level. The writing in the first episode captures the necessary flavor of the area, but they’re going to need more than rednecks and Nazis to keep it moving along.
FX is definitely the cutting edge network these days. They could run SoA year-round for my tastes. And why they killed The Shield had to have been a personnel issue. I miss Chiklis.
I TiVO’d it and haven’t watched yet, but I’m looking forward to it. I really liked Olyphant in Deadwood and this is based on an Elmore Leonard character to boot.
Strange as it may be so say it, I believe the new season will have enough “previously on…” to catch you up with the plot(s) they’ll carry forward so that newcomers will feel at ease with that aspect. But the strength of the series is its characters and you’d do well to get the backstories on them either from Netflix or one of the online places. You’re going to love Katey Sagal and she’s about 50% of why this show is so good.
Do you try watching episodes online? If so, I can try to get you a link to back episodes.
I liked what I saw of it. Alas, either FX or my DVR messed up and towards the 50 minute mark the screen went blank. I could hear the sound, but not see the pictures. Very annoying!
I started watching in the middle of last season. There were only a few references to things that happened in the First season, and they were easy to figure out.
OTOH, the way the last season ended may make the next season confusing at first. It starts in September. I hope the Season 2 DVD comes out in plenty of time to get my husband caught up.
There are quite a few places online that offer full episode replays, all of them. And my version of Netflix shows only Season 1 available now. The rest is on “Save” status pending DVD release. Our Comcast replay options are for only three episodes. I haven’t checked the On Demand options yet. Last I looked it was only a few episodes from the latest season.
Plot summaries will help with story lines and perhaps some broad-brush character developments. But there are a goodly number of colorful types to get familiar with. The DVD’s, whenever you can get them, will be worth the time to see the old stuff, even if you have figured out the plots.
These folks are a lot like the Deadwood crowd. Well-written and well-played.
