Billions (Season Three, Incomplete, Dropped)

This is more or less a housekeeping post. I dropped Billions for good. This might have been foreseeable in that it's taken me about two years to get through half of Season Three. There wasn't a particular moment that did it for me (though I've heard from others that the direction the plot's taking is disappointing).

Billions had an okay-ish first season and a slightly improved second, but there's no point in continuing on anymore. Most of the characters on this show are completely not interesting (Oliver Dake is the biggest crime here, that guy might be one of the worst-written characters I've ever seen for someone who serves as substantial a plot role as he does in Seasons Two and Three, very reminiscent of Raymond Tusk from House of Cards), and almost all of them are horrible people. Every episode is basically a contest to see which character can screw over another character the hardest (often in confusing and difficult-to-follow ways), which is problematic when it's hard to really care who wins.

On top of all that, there's plenty of investment and legal lingo included that's deliberately written to be confusing to the common viewer, because Billions needs to create the impression that all of these characters have practically superhuman ability in their respective fields, and what better way to do that than to make it appear that all of them understand something that you don't?

Billions had some strong moments and some legitimately exciting plot threads to this point in the series, but by the middle of Season Three, it started to feel like the financial/legal equivalent of House of Cards (for those who don't know my views on that show: that's an insult). The important lesson to learn from these two shows is that "sick" plot twists don't give a series a long shelf life. If you're going to put a (mostly) humorless drama out there, you'd better get yourself some compelling characters, because otherwise, even great actors like Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis won't be able to save it.

Season Three Grade, Don't Give a Damn That I Didn't Finish It: C-

The Big Bang Theory (Season 12 & Full Series)

First of all, there's inevitably going to be spoilers in this space, but this isn't the type of show where that matters much.

The Big Bang Theory wrapped up its twelfth and final season in May of this year, and it occupied plenty of space on our DVR as a "show of last resort" that my wife and I would watch when pretty much all else failed. While not necessarily "bad", the show generally didn't have much to offer these last four seasons and we were more or less just riding it out until the end.

The major plot of Season 12 involved Sheldon and Amy gunning for a Nobel Prize for their work on "super asymmetry", and navigating the politics involved in trying to attain the award, not to mention trying to fend off a couple frauds (played by Sean Astin and Kal Penn) that kept trying to take credit for their work. They eventually win the award, with Sheldon's portion of the acceptance speech consisting of a big "thank you" for the friends that supported him all of these years, rather than the extremely long list of arrogant "I-told-you-so's" that he had planned to fling at his doubters. 

That was among the more satisfying of endings for the show's character arcs. Penny winds up pregnant and in the finale seems completely content with this, despite it not seeming like something that she fully wanted earlier in the season. It's not implausible, but that happy ending doesn't feel fully earned, as the show didn't exactly explore her feelings on the subject aside from a scene nine episodes earlier in which it's revealed that she's conflicted about her prior convictions of not wanting any children.

There isn't much in the way of resolution for the rest of the characters (except Stuart, who moves in with his new girlfriend, Denise). The series more or less just ends for Howard and Bernadette, whereas Raj breaks it off with Anu thanks to some last-minute heroics from Howard. He doesn't get much in the way of a resolution, aside from sitting next to Sarah Michelle Gellar at the Nobel Prize Ceremony. I'm disappointed that the show never really figured out what to do with Raj.

Season 12 had its moments, and the finale definitely had its high points, but The Big Bang Theory had already milked every last bit of intrigue out of these characters, so there wasn't much left to do besides sit back and enjoy the occasional witty one-liner. There's only so many times Chuck Lorre and company can expect a Sheldon "I-can't-care-about-other-people-no-wait-nevermind-yes-i-can" storyline to really resonate. Heck, even the finale was just another episode in that mold (though admittedly a stronger-than-usual one). The best that The Big Bang Theory ever had to offer was left behind almost a half-decade ago. We knew that going in, so how disappointing could this really be?

Season Grade: C+

***

The Big Bang Theory got off to a very rough start as a series, with a first season that created characters that were socially inept and hoped that its audience would get a kick out of laughing at nerds. The tone of the series measurably changed in its second season, as the viewing experience felt a lot more like hanging out with quirky people rather than poking fun at them. As the series progressed, the "nerds" began to feel more like people with dignity.

That didn't mean that all of the characters ultimately wound up compelling. Bernadette, Raj, and Leonard weren't drawn as well as the rest of the main cast, and that was a consistent black mark on the series. However, Sheldon, Penny, Amy, and Howard had lives that were fun to follow, and each evolved a great deal over the twelve seasons of the series. In particular, Jim Parsons has been showered with awards for his work as Sheldon Cooper, and he deserves every bit of it. The quality of The Big Bang Theory ebbed and flowed throughout its run, but Sheldon is one of the greatest sitcom characters ever, and this show may have not even been renewed for a second season if he didn't quickly become a breakout star in its first.

Throughout much of The Big Bang Theory's run, it has been one of the most popular scripted shows on television, and that owes just as much to its aim for broad appeal (at the expense of more complex story arcs and continuity concerns) as it does the fact that plenty of its episodes are pretty funny. There's a fair amount of basic, predictable jokes, and those that cite this as a criticism of the series are certainly not wrong. 

However, there's also a lot of good humor and heartfelt stuff mixed in, and that's missed by most who have a cursory understanding of the show. The Big Bang Theory's ubiquitousness is the main reason it's become the butt of jokes (similar to Nickelback, a band with obvious shortcomings that no one would care to joke about if it also didn't have enough appeal to have a massive following). As a result, it's the most underrated overrated show on TV. Anyone who lists The Big Bang Theory as one of their five favorite TV programs likely doesn't watch enough shows with depth or ambition. Likewise, anyone who turns up their nose and sneers at it without at least giving it a reasonable chance is missing out on the endearing charm that kept millions of people tuning in each week. 

Series Grade: B-

Deadwood (Full Series & Film)

I actually watched the first season of Deadwood several years ago, but for some reason stalled after watching the first episode of Season Two. However, with the movie coming out this year, I got re-motivated to finish off the series, and it was quite the worthwhile journey.

"Deadwood" is a town in South Dakota, and the series is set in the 1870s, prior to the territory gaining statehood. A large contingent of the characters on the show were actually real-life figures, including well-known ones like Wild Bill Hickok, "Calamity" Jane Cannary, and Wyatt Earp. Through three seasons, David Milch shows the growth of Deadwood from its infant stages to a vibrant community with inhabitants intricately tied to each other's interest and well-being.

In 1876, the righteous, hot-tempered marshal Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) leaves his post in Montana to open a hardware store in Deadwood with his friend Sol Star (John Hawkes). He soon becomes entangled with Al Swearengen (Ian McShane), the proprietor of The Gem, which doubles as a bar and brothel. Though initially presented as a somewhat dangerous antagonist, Swearengen eventually becomes the series' most important character and a sort of anti-hero.

Part of what makes Swearengen endearing is that many of the other figures that either live in the camp or filter through it are downright despicable, from Cy Tolliver (the late Powers Boothe), the owner of the rival Bella Union, to perverse geologist Francis Wolcott (Garret Dillahunt), to the gold-obsessed businessman George Hearst (Gerald McRaney). Swearengen and his seedy crew seem to have just a shred more humanity in them than those they clash with, and it's enough to get you to root for them in the town's frequent conflicts (even sometimes, when the lawful Bullock is on the other side).

That's largely a testament to McShane's performance as the charismatic Swearengen, who is just a Tony Soprano away from being in the conversation for the best television character ever created. McShane steals every scene that he's a part of, and his one-liners and monologues range from powerful to hilarious. I can't say enough about the combination of the perfect voice, spot-on delivery, and superb writing that went into Al Swearengen, and it says quite a bit that I prefer him to every one of the rich characters on The Wire.

The main knock on Deadwood is its third season, as it was cancelled too soon and left many threads lingering, which made the de facto series finale something of an anticlimax. There's a plot line in Season Three involving a theater group that moves into Deadwood that proves to be thoroughly inconsequential, which is a shame considering how much screen time it received. I imagine that their presence was all a setup for the never-produced Season Four, but as it stands, the arc (if you can even call it that) was worthless; I checked out during many of those scenes and was no worse for the wear.

With such critical acclaim surrounding the series and a general understanding that the show never got the ending it deserved, HBO released Deadwood: The Movie on May 31, 2019. It was set ten years after the events of Season Three, and it was a little sad to watch just how much older all of the actors had become. In some ways, the film's conclusion felt just as disappointing as that of the full series, though that owes in part to the need to maintain historical accuracy in some respects. However, it did succeed in showing that the rough, often uncivilized mining camp had developed into a prospering, much more respectable town. As Deadwood (similar to The Wire) utilizes a large ensemble cast and aims for the town itself to be the "star" of the show, that's probably the most important ending of all.

Series Grade: A-

Film Grade: B