It looks good and is very well made, but my God is it repetitive. The central conflict is established immediately, and doesn't change throughout the series.
Every scene is a variation of the ones that came before it. Seriously, you could lift entire dialogues from season 4 and insert them as is into season 1, and vice versa, without it having any real effect. Even after Logan dies. Because it is always about the same thing. "I want to be boss!" "No *I* want to be boss!" "Dad said I should take over!" "No dad said *I* should take over!" "Dad, aren't I the best suited to take over?"
After a while this show felt almost like a postmodern experiment, because just about every episode is the same. Sure, some extraneous things change - they go to Italy, they go to Norway etc. - but it's always about the same thing.
There's really no character development to speak of, they all end up where they started. Sure, Culkin has a crying scene and mopes around in the last couple of episodes, but it's a stretch to call that character development.
The acting is good for the most part, but they lean too heavily on Culkin and the mentally challenged country bumpkin cousin as comic reliefs. The problem is that neither character is as funny as the writers and producers want us to believe. I don't know whether to blame the writers - who have obviously binged Veep - or Culkin's delivery, but his supposedly snappy one-liners soar as lead balloons. I'm certainly not offended by them, but they simply don't work.
The problem with this is that the constant - and failed - attempts at comedy effectively undercuts the drama.
How this show lasted more than one season is beyond me.
Every scene is a variation of the ones that came before it. Seriously, you could lift entire dialogues from season 4 and insert them as is into season 1, and vice versa, without it having any real effect. Even after Logan dies. Because it is always about the same thing. "I want to be boss!" "No *I* want to be boss!" "Dad said I should take over!" "No dad said *I* should take over!" "Dad, aren't I the best suited to take over?"
After a while this show felt almost like a postmodern experiment, because just about every episode is the same. Sure, some extraneous things change - they go to Italy, they go to Norway etc. - but it's always about the same thing.
There's really no character development to speak of, they all end up where they started. Sure, Culkin has a crying scene and mopes around in the last couple of episodes, but it's a stretch to call that character development.
The acting is good for the most part, but they lean too heavily on Culkin and the mentally challenged country bumpkin cousin as comic reliefs. The problem is that neither character is as funny as the writers and producers want us to believe. I don't know whether to blame the writers - who have obviously binged Veep - or Culkin's delivery, but his supposedly snappy one-liners soar as lead balloons. I'm certainly not offended by them, but they simply don't work.
The problem with this is that the constant - and failed - attempts at comedy effectively undercuts the drama.
How this show lasted more than one season is beyond me.