Given that most people don’t seem to like the show and the fact that I certainly can’t trust my own sensibilities, I figured I would look for reliable critiques. The problem though is that since as a general rule I don’t care about such things, I have no idea which sources should be considered reliable and none of the usual suspects jumped out at me. I figure the LA Times though, being at the epicenter of so much tv production might at least be cromulent so here are few a snippets – fwiw.
The couple other reviews seemed to be more equivocal but didn’t seem to be panning it on the merits. I’m sure if I keep looking though, finding a uniformly bad review shouldn’t be too hard.
[sits back like Tom Sawyer waiting for the fence to be painted]
Critics who saw the pilot for Under the Dome weren’t gaga for it, but they were positive, and hopeful. I haven’t found a complimentary review for any subsequent episodes though. Entertainment Weekly, which has a relationship with Stephen King, isn’t even recapping it.
It seems to be less actually bad, than competent but underwhelming. A couple SF Chronicle’s review quotes:
…one hesitates to say AMC’s gritty new cop drama “Low Winter Sun” is competent but not terribly necessary, but there you have it.
and
So what does “Low Winter Sun,” produced and written by Chris Mundy (“Criminal Minds”), bring to the gritty party? Decent performances; verisimilitude in setting, costumes and photography; potentially interesting characters; and weak scripts filled with over-freighted dialogue and prescient observations.
Based on that review I decided to pass. Like Auntie Pam I have the three b’s going and I just don’t want to make the time. If it gets better I can probably find it on Netflix some day.
One of the reviews I saw said they had the first 2 episodes to look at.
That’s an excellent point. I don’t normally get too invested in new shows like this since I want to see if they’re going to survive. But unlike a lot of other folks it seems, I love dark, desolate and dreary. There has to be more, certainly, but that’s always a very good start in my book. Give me an IV drip of soul-crushing ennui and I’m moderately content.
Fantastic episode. But I can’t believe they could fuck up something as basic as not using river water to drown Brendan. That’s just stupid. At least they realized at the time that breaking his wrist post mortem was a bad idea, but using chlorinated water was a rookie mistake.
And it doesn’t even track because in the opening scene they specifically change sinks because Agnew says it has to be salt water - so either it’s really bad writing or I’m missing something.
And why are they torching the house? If that’s where Brendan killed the informant, so what? Unless that’s going to tie back to Katia and Geddes somehow, which is what I’m guessing.
Exactly - or at least they seem to be going out of their way to give that appearance.
The thing that makes it even more puzzling is the fact that, as far as I can tell, the whole reason for Geddes getting Agnew involved was for the latter’s expertise - right? Geddes could have staged something on his own with Brendan but allegedly got Agnew involved because he’s the better detective and would know how to make it look real.
So for Agnew to make such obvious errors just doesn’t track. Especially when you then contrast that with the very sophisticated work they did covering their tracks with the surveillance video at Brendan’s house.
That’s something else that doesn’t seem to track. How did IA get that video if they hadn’t been in the house yet? Which they apparently hadn’t since they made such a big deal about letting the IA guy in this last episode.
I do like the acting and ambiance of the show but details like this are important and if they don’t hang together, it’s a story killer. I’m willing to give them a few more episodes to see if these things are deliberate and have some explanation since they are just too blatant, but I’m getting the feeling that they are simply oversights.
I’ll probably be giving it a chance for awhile too, but if it doesn’t grab me by the time BB has stopped being a lead-in to it, I doubt I’ll keep up with it.
I’m not sure about the logic of torching the house, but I think you have this backward. They were contemplating the lobster tank, but decided to use the sink because they would notice it was salt water. I didn’t think about the chlorine myself when watching the scene, but I’m not a homicide detective. It does however lend credence to:
It might be that I’m fixated on fried chicken, but it looks like the chicken dinners subplot might be what hooks me in. The stories and interaction between the group of low level criminals, and their interaction with the local boss has been the best part of this show so far.
You’re right. The Great Lakes are fresh water so that wouldn’t have made sense.
But still, that they drowned him in tap water - how obvious a mistake is that? And if the whole reason for getting Agnew involved was his alleged expertise, then doesn’t it make a mockery of the whole premise for his involvement?
I really want to like this show and I love the superficial aspects of it so much. It’s so dark and oppressive. But if they can’t get the story right, I don’t know if I can watch just for the pretty packaging.
They weren’t expecting an in-depth autopsy. Had there not been a body in the trunk, the story would have held. But the body and IA forced a more detailed autopsy.
IDK. It seems the broken wrist was the catalyst for checking the composition of the water in the lungs and that was regarded as suspicious from the very moment the body was discovered. I’m sure having a dismembered corpse in the trunk made things quite a bit more suspicious, but I think they were going to be dissecting that wrist regardless - at least that was the impression I got. And I think Agnew and Geddes realized that was a mistake when they did it since they commented on it at the time they were staging the scene.
edit: but I see your point - but for the broken wrist and then the body, they may not have had to worry about the details.
I didn’t get the idea that the wrist would be dissected, rather that, from experience, it would be ruled a suicide by drowning, he tried to escape last second but insured he couldn’t, close the book, next body. Without the body, they wouldn’t have looked at the wrist, without IA he may not have checked the water. At least that was my take.
If anyone is still watching, this was the third episode that just aired - the first the reviewers hadn’t seen - fwiw.
I’m a little lost with the Billy thing. I get that he’s an associate of Anton’s, the guy who was chopped up but since I suck bad with names, is he also the guy that got his face chewed off? I think so, but I don’t want to rewind to find out.
Anton was part of the Skelos crew, so I think I’m following things up to that point but I’m not sure where that’s going. They know the Int’l bar is part of the Skelos org and that’s in McCann’s file so they have to figure he’s the one paying McCann off. If McCann then off’s one of Skelos’ boys, I would have to guess they’ll be looking at him for the murder - right? Or am completely off track?
We made it through the first four episodes, but I think that’s going to be it. These moody, broody cop dramas have been all the rage, but I think I’ve had my quota. This one doesn’t have any characters that I can care about: live, die, join a monastery; I just don’t care about them. I’m assuming all of the elements will come together at some point, but now it’s just a mushy mass of subplots, and my patience isn’t holding up. David Costabile was fine as Gale in BB, but more of the same is just not a good thing. It’s nice to see Ziggy Sobotka again, and he’s doing a good job, but it’s not enough to keep us around. Damn, and I had high hopes for it, too.
I watched the first two eps, and had two in the DVR when I realized I kept skipping over watching them. I deleted them and the season pass. I just couldn’t keep watching.
LOL. That’s funny because I’ll watch a show just for the ambiance. Do you remember Rubicon? I still miss that one, but people abhorred it for being glacial in its pace and it did indeed end up getting canceled. But I can spend days basking in quiet desperation - like a krokodil junkie (google that at your own risk).
