Who Hijacked Our Country

Monday, October 07, 2013

Low Winter Sun

Has anybody watched this?  The season finale was last night (on AMC).  It might have been the series finale, for that matter.  The show’s ratings were in the basement, and the reviews weren’t much better.

(Here are some links.)

Low Winter Sun is/was extremely dark, intense, brutal, and without a single likeable character.  I found it mesmerizing, hypnotic; apparently the viewing public didn’t.  Either that, or the program got smothered by Breaking Bad, combined with the remake of the sequel of the discussion of the behind-the-scenes activities that led to the interview with the Assistant Key Grip in the sequel to Breaking Bad XXXVIII…

Anyway, Low Winter Sun deals with the corruption of the Detroit Police Department.  Dirty cops, dirty supervisors who pretend not to notice all the police brutality, framings and whitewashes going on right under their noses, a gung ho Internal Affairs officer, informants, rival gangs — it’s got all the ingredients.

The consensus among the reviews — the few that I looked at — was that there was not enough character development, nobody was likeable or sympathetic in any way, and there were too many characters and too many subplots.  No argument there; it took me forever to figure out some of the subplots and how they related to the main story (sometimes they didn’t), who was who and who did what to who.

Low Winter Sun has the most kickass theme song I’ve heard in a long time.  It sounds like a bluesier earthier version of Tina Turner at her best.  It’s sung by Bettye LaVette, whom I hadn’t heard of before.  The entire soundtrack is excellent — mostly jazz and R&B.  For last night’s finale, the soundtrack took on a more punk/rock/metal sound.

It’s hard to tell if Low Winter Sun will be back for a second season or not.  The season finale laid the groundwork for a possible second season, but there was no cliffhanger.  The cable channels don’t seem to be as ratings-obsessed as the networks, so maybe the low ratings won’t prevent Low Winter Sun from coming back.

Then again, last night’s 2-hour finale was actually the final two episodes shown back to back, so maybe AMC was anxious to get this program off the air and make way for their next series — another Zombie program.  [yawn]

Labels: ,

10 Comments:

Anonymous Screamin' Mimi said...

I really came to love this show during the course of their very tiny season. I agree that it took awhile to figure out who did what to whom, but it was worth the effort.

It's so evocative of any large decaying city, and any big-city police department. I did come to sympathize with the main character, Frank Agnew, but within the context of "hmm...he's a bad cop, but he has heart."

I hope it comes back for Season 2.

October 7, 2013 at 1:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Betty Lavette is one of those giants most people never heard of, been listening to her since I was a kid

Erik

October 7, 2013 at 3:54 PM  
Blogger Jim Marquis said...

We tried the first couple episodes and bailed. Just too much corruption and nobody to root for.

Now, "Hell on Wheels" (also on AMC)is my cup of tea. Interesting historical period, lots of action and a three really charismatic main characters.

October 8, 2013 at 2:22 PM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

SM: Yup, it took awhile for me to finally get who's who. But I liked it from the getgo, for some reason. Hope it'll be back for Season 2.

Erik: I'm glad to hear she's had a following for a long time. She really belts out a tune; I'll have to look for more of her on YouTube.

Jim: I'll have to check out Hell On Wheels. AMC and FX both have such great shows, we practically don't need the networks any more.

October 8, 2013 at 5:52 PM  
Blogger Jim Marquis said...

I was just saying that to my wife tonight. Give me FX, AMC, TCM, Comedy Central and a few cable news channels and I'm good to go for the most part.

October 8, 2013 at 9:26 PM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

Jim: I agree. Right now, Law & Order: SVU and Robin Williams' new comedy on Thursday nights are the only network shows we watch.

October 9, 2013 at 1:13 AM  
Anonymous Jess said...

It's a remake of a British show and the main characters are in fact British. I love this show.

October 9, 2013 at 5:42 PM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

Jess: I knew that the actor who plays Agnew is a Brit. He does a damn good impression of a gung ho corrupt American cop.

October 9, 2013 at 6:21 PM  
Anonymous Jess said...

Guy that play Geddes too, Lenny James, was in Walking Dead, Snatch, as a bungling thief.

October 10, 2013 at 5:36 AM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

Jess: I saw Snatch a long time ago; great flick. I forgot Lenny James was in it. So many bizarre characters in that movie.

October 10, 2013 at 2:03 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home