I've watched all three seasons of Goliath but Season 1 is (obviously in my and only my opinion) by far the best and the only one I will comment on. So many great actors, known and unknown to me. William Hurt never disappoints, for decades now. Billy Bob Thornton is great with his depth of character, great physical and vocal presence, his wide range of expression which can be tough without overdoing it but also tender and loveable with his warm and attractive deep brown eyes and smile. I cannot say enough about Nina Arianda as Patty Solis-Papagian whose character very much rounds out scene after scene with her loveable intensity which she manages to pull off without coming across as a capital "B" beeyatch. Love her feisty, outspoken character!! Mario Bello as Michelle McBride was likeable and believable - and surprising for a partner in a big-time law firm - sensitive and thoughtful. Callie was great as a manipulative, conniving lawyer, totally comes across as seeing herself above anyone else in her life except Cooperman. Not a likeable person but certainly a believeable character whose insecurities do reveal themselves towards the end, sort of the even-the-witch-has-feelings thing. The daughter character and her relationship with her father is so-so. For anyone who has also seen the Bosch series, felt like this show was trying to emulate that father/daughter set up and failing to present as genuine. Not bad, just not a real plus. Tanya Raymonde as Brittany had its strong segments but her work should be limited to when her characters are strong and self-confident. The scenes where I assume she intended to appear vulnerable like when she begs in tears for 5 min to talk after her testimony worked against Billy or when she's pulling her sleeves down over her hands to appear nervous/intimidated about being in court came across as just pathetic. Okay, I've got to express my one pet peeve and criticism and that is Dwight Yoakam as Wendell. I love, absolutely LOVE Yoakam as a singer but cannot for the life of me figure out what he's doing acting, esp in a series w some really decent actors. First impression, that bozo-the-clown hair, bald on top, the rest sticking out in every direction does not add character, even weird character, just looks awful. Shave that like the rest of men this day and age, or at least cut it. But more importantly, he's a horrible actor. His facial expressions have ZERO range as does his voice. Try hitting the mute button and see if you can tell what's happening in any given scene. Whether he's telling someone off or saying something more less intense there's never the slightest change in his face (especially his eyes) or voice, just absolute flat affect, not only disappointing but downright irritating. Watching this reminded me of when I'd first heard of Billy Bob Thornton when Sling Blade debuted so out of curiosity I pulled that up and watched it. Wow! Pretty hard to tell now what all the fuss was about other than how well BBT played that main character - it's impossible to tell that it is actually BBT. I'm mentioning this only to say that - oop!- there was Dwight again in that film and he was apparently just as bad back then, has not improved one iota in 25 years. Couldn't believe it. He's obviously got contacts because he cannot be chosen for talent. The actor playing Leonard Letts was similar, a limited range of emotion. He appeared in some episodes of Criminal Minds and was a total disappointment for that same reason - flat affect. Seasons 2 and 3 were, I'm sure, full of overall equal talent and performances, the stories were just less interesting to me and harder to follow, esp all the fantasy stuff in Season 3. Not saying they're bad, they just don't appeal to me. Season 1 of Goliath is worth watching if one can get through the legalise to enjoy the rest. Overall, just one more shout out to Nina Arianda as Patty - feisty, funny (even and probably more so when she's not intending to be), outspoken, doesn't take stuff from anyone. Love that character!!!!
Review of Of Mice and Men
