Sunday, July 7, 2024

Review of "Your Honor"

This is a 20-episode series that aired on Showtime, and is now available on Netflix. I watched it recently in only two days, so I'd have to say it is fairly captivating.

Bryan Cranston stars as a respected judge who falls on hard times, goes to prison, and then comes out of prison early to cooperate with the feds to clean up New Orleans crime. The mob family in the series is headed by a guy who is totally unbelievable as a mob boss, and isn't even Italian. His dull, mousy, hateful wife is just totally disgusting. In the second season this is explained, when the wife's father comes into the picture, and it turns out he is an old-time Italian mob boss, and the wife's husband basically was set up in the mob by his father-in-law.

By the end of the second season, the wife's husband has been shot dead by his father-in-law, and the wife succeeds to the position of new boss which she has always coveted. I suppose this leaves it open for a third season, but having this woman in the lead would render the series totally uninteresting.

The other women in the series are quite good. The young teacher who is the teacher of the judge's son is quite endearing. And the mob couple's daughter who the judge's son rejects the teacher for is also awesome. And the mother of the judge's deceased wife is a really compelling character, reminiscent of the Kathy Bates character in "A Family Affair".

The atmosphere of post-Katrina New Orleans is heavily featured in the series. The interplay between the white mob family and the black family of drug dealers (headed by a strong woman) is interesting.

This doesn't rise to the level of "Breaking Bad" or "Ozark" or "Outer Banks", but it is worth a watch.

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