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Ruined by Hallucination and Annoying Flashbacks - Season 3

posted 8 years ago by Volley (3433)
11 replies | jump to latest

Not so much Season 1 and 2, because hallucinations and flashbacks tended to flow well with the story, but Season 3--where half the time you couldn't tell if something was a hallucination or a flashback, it got old very fast.

Episode 9 is plagued by being purely hallucination and John's perspective the entire episode. Instead of moving the story forward, writers thought it would be a good idea to do an entire episode--the one before the finale, to take place almost entirely in John's head. What a wasted opportunity and it takes down my review of the season immensely.

Season 1 - 10/10
Season 2 - 9/10
Season 3 - 4/10

The pacing is annoying right from the start (Kevin goes back to the crime scene what, 3 times in 3 hours? So stupid), the music not as good, the tension, and most of the atmosphere, is missing from Season 3 which is what made Season 1 & 2 so good.

The "five months later" we got only just a few episodes into Season 3 really threw everything off balance, though slightly remedied by some intriguing court scenes. Meg being out of the show for half the season was really weird. Are we really supposed to believe that Belle and Kevin would keep their cellphones on, pinging cellular towers in Cuba?

We're told by Diana that "Janey's having sex" yet we've seen no evidence of that happening, or her relationship with her parents at all throughout the season. She's hardly in the season, only a handful of appearances, and most of them are within John's hallucinations. Then there's Ben, the boy, who got maybe 3 scenes in the entire series...

Ozzy's storyline... WHERE were they going with this? What an absurdly annoying character and horrible storyline. I wanted John to run into this guy face to face and him punch him down, but it never happened...

O'Bannon's storyline... suddenly dropped and he falls off the map, then in the finale we find out he's still in jail doing community service for the next 30 years. Yawn. Why didn't we get to see him speak in court? WHY didn't we get to see him lay out what happened from his perspective in the courtroom? WHY did he not fight for his innocence better? WHY did he not get a proper conclusion, being a main character from the very first episode of the show onward?

Then the finale features the liberal global warming/climate change establishment injection of "Rayburn House will be underwater within 10 years" made me laugh out loud, the windows weren't open but I bet the neighbours heard. Sigh. Very unfortunate.

[–] winslow (1318) 8 years ago

It was like the writers quit after writing 4 or 5 episodes worth of material, then they somehow had to stretch it to 10 with new writers who had no knowledge of the story.

[–] MrSpock (286) 7 years ago

I completely disagree.
I think the two episodes of the trial were shot very well with great suspense and twists.
I thought the Cuban drug connection bringing Kevin into the business was well done too.
John's mental torture was a thing of brilliance and the finale still has me talking about what Sally said to her two bad boys.
Oh, and I love the ending with Nolan.....leaving it up to your imagination was very appropriate. And of course, how can you tell me you did not enjoy seeing Danny dialog with John those last two episodes? Are you kidding me?

[–] Adster (262) 8 years ago

I agree the last 2 episodes were so disappointing, for something that they knew was the final season, they certainly wasted those last 2 episodes then rather wrapping it up correctly.

episode 9 was a waste of time, and was a episode that was more for the middle part of a season to have, John Pretty much gets away with everything even after confessing all because who he confessed to is 'leaving' and can't be bothered to turn him in.

They wasted the last 2 episodes which should have been about wrapping it up, could understand if they knew a season 4 was coming but they knew it was ending and left us with this mess to end with

[–] MrSpock (286) 7 years ago

100% disagree.
John may not be going to prison but he has his own prison.....in his mind, and that will haunt him for life. That was the purpose of episode 9, to show you what kind of pain John is in.
Episode 10 did wrap things up nicely. Both kevin and Sally got theirs....yeah!
Did Nolan finally get peace of mind knowing what happened to Daddy? That is up to you to decide.

What more do you need?

[–] konnan (48) 7 years ago

I wouldn't have minded that one episode as hallucination/flashback if it meant zero on any other episodes. Other than that the other thing if found annoying and distracting was so many shots that were blurry as if the camera (we the viewer) were in the room, hiding behind something; it was overdone and stupid. Besides those complaints, I thought the season was actually pretty good (I enjoyed it more than S2), but neither could come close so S1.

[–] MrSpock (286) 7 years ago

I agree, season 3 had some faults- Ozzy storyline being a huge one, but I'm cutting them slack because they did not expect to only have 3 seasons. I think the reduction of episodes made some things a bit disjointed in season 3, but to me, the big picture was kept intact- the Rayburn family.

As for Obannon not testifying.....that is the usual for defendants who have sordid pasts. Their resume would look so bad to the jury they would not believe anything he says.

Yes, the global warming story line was somewhat comical, but you get the picture. They wanted to hurt Sally in some way, so they made this one up. Yes, it was not realistic, but sometimes you have to go with the flow to get the jist of what it was trying to accomplish, and that was......TO PUNISH SALLY FOR ALL OF HER SINS TOO!

[–] brux (14730) 7 years ago

Yeah, the Ozzy thing was irritating.

[–] brux (14730) 7 years ago

I get what you are saying,
but the story of this season seemed to me
to be pretty much similar to the other
seasons ... only Kevin was a little more stupid.
I am just glad it is over so I don't have to watch any more!

[–] MrSpock (286) 7 years ago

Lol. I'm sorry it pained you so much. I hope your next one is all pure joy.

[–] osa1011 (12) 7 years ago

It definitely felt like they were trying to follow what The Leftovers did. I liked Bloodline, but it could have been better.

[–] [email protected] (1358) 7 years ago

I agree with all that you said. Although I am confused as to what Sally did. Did she try to commit suicide or injured from the car wreck scene? I believe that scene was all in Johns imagination, but the story was jumping around so much I got confused.