Rate the last series you completed out of 5 - No spoilers!

[Garwoofoo]

Physical 100

 

This show is no joke!

 

Yes it's basically a game show with 100 super-fit Koreans competing in a series of physical challenges to be the last one standing. But it's far better than you'd expect. Some of these guys are genuinely super-human, the things they pull off in the name of light entertainment are quite amazing. The games are well thought out and have more nuance than you'd expect. But most of all, the contestants are all genuinely nice people and super-respectful towards each other, all invested in each other's success and wanting to test their prowess against each other. If this was an American show it would be full of aggressive trash-talking morons, here it's a bunch of genuinely inspiring people competing to be the best. Loved it.

[Ry]

The Consultant -2/5.  (Amazon Prime)

 

Started watching because it's new and has Christoph Waltz in it.

 

It's bad. Very bad. But also compelling as there is a mystery to who Christoph Waltz is. 

 

There are only 8 episodes, each 30 mins long so it's easy to get through but it's so poorly written and stupid that you need to just laugh at it and the main protagonists are so thick you find yourself screaming at the TV.

 

I stayed until the end hoping for at least a decent ending to all this mystery. But nope not really, no payoff. Me and the missus both laughed at how bad it all was. 

 

I gave it 2/5 as Waltz was great as always. 

 

 

[ScouserInExile]

The Book of Boba Fett

 

After the excellence that was the first two series of The Mandelorian, we had high hopes for this. And how those hopes were dashed!

 

It says a lot about it the three out of seven episodes there to bridge the gap between The Mandelorian series 2 and 3. Not even like he guest stars in it, just straight up Mandelorian episodes.

 

We'd actually stopped watching after the first three episodes, because it was so poor, but watched the rest because we wanted to see the Mandelorian episodes. There's no other reason to watch this otherwise.

 

1/5

[Jamie John]

The White Lotus - Series 1

 

 

This was just excellent. Entirely compelling, powerfully poignant and frequently hilarious. Murray Bartlett is superb, as is Jennifer Coolidge. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what makes this work so well, but it's just everything coming together so successfully - the writing, the cinematography, the cast, the soundtrack - all of it, proper *chef's kiss*.

 

And Alexandra Daddario is just so unbelievably, bewilderingly, bewitchingly good-looking. I don't know if it makes me a perve or a voyeur or whatever, but I'd be lying if I said that I didn't enjoy just watching that woman on screen. She's absolutely magnetic. I suppose it's part of her character. Brilliant casting.

 

Anyway, I'm straight in for series 2, which I've heard is even better than the first.

 

Absolutely check it out if you haven't done so already.

 

5/5

[Kingpin]

More love for The Bear - 4/5

 

Despite the extreme stress levels of The Beef's kitchen, this is a very moreish show. It has this nice balance of elements at play - family drama, team bonding, work stress, cooking expertise, coming to terms with the past, comedy, surreal moment/fantastical elements. On that last part, it felt a bit like it could slip in and out of "reality" a bit - like some scenes I was expecting to be dream sequences or something, but the plot carried on as if they really happened but I really don't think it mattered, I liked the uncertainty and the (intentional?) blurriness of some scenes. Loved the cast and the production of the whole thing - would binge more of it.

 

Loosely related to the show, I met one of the founders of NOMA through a work thing about 7/8 years ago - he was a total rockstar chef badass who was almost certainly shagging our company President's personal assistant. Definitely lived up to the Kitchen Confidential-type I had in my head. 

[Rayn]

Upload (Amazon Prime)

 

Season 1

In the near future, the rich and able will have the opportunity to upload their conscience to a virtual world to live on forever. The main character, a shallow, self centered alpha male dies in a freak accident and ends up being uploaded to a high end virtual afterlife, thanks to his girlfriend. Bothered by accepting to be dead on top of memory loss, it's slowly unveiled that his death might not have been an accident. By befriending one of the support employees who is working in the real world, they try and find out what happened before his upload. 

Even if the main story was a bit predictive, it was filled with a lot of funny little details and jokes. It's all very light hearted but ultimately it's a fun watch. 

You need to park your common sense and logical thinking at the door before watching, as the series explain technology in a way that doesn't make a lot of sense. 

I was able to enjoy it from start to finish. 

4/5

 

Season 2

Continues where the first series left off and while some questions are answered almost immediately, new questions arise. The pacing in season 2 is off, and it all seems like there are episodes missing, or scenes left out. Also, the first season had 10 episodes while the second season only has 7, and it all ends very abruptly and it seemed rushed. 
I dunno what happened during production but it wouldn't surprise me if they ran into some issues. I'm happy to learn that it has been renewed for a third season as the last episode in season 2 ended with few plot threads unexplained. 

3/5

[PeteJ]

Outer Banks (season 3)

Netflix

 

2/5....or 3/5

 

Total trash drama that frequently defies the laws of just about everything, following a bunch of 20-somethings trying to convince us they are still at school. They discover a trial for hidden treasure in the first series, and here we are at the end of series 3 following the cast and their uncharted adventure. 

 

It's so dumb and over the top, but it's somehow rather compelling. A guilty pleasure. 

 

This series is just more of the same. Questionable ethics, random character motivations and some particularly convenient coincidences that help steer the cast, or the drama, along. The underpinning treasure hunt is compelling enough to continue pulling me through even thought there's nothing here that hasn't been done better elsewhere.

 

Dreadful, but somehow watchable. 

[Garwoofoo]

The Last of Us

 

Despite some pacing problems, this was about as good as a TV show based on a videogame about mushroom zombies could possibly be. Very close to the source material in parts but also unafraid to do its own thing where required. Could probably have done with another episode or two to allow the central relationship to breathe a bit but that's not the fault of Pedro Pascal or Bella Ramsey who were both superb. I think the whole show landed pretty well whether you'd played the game or not.

 

Anyway I suspect everyone here has watched it and has formed their own opinion so I won't waffle on, I'll just say that for me this was a 4/5 and I'm very much looking forward to the second season as that will all be new to me (haven't played the second game).

[Robsk1]

It’s been a while

 

The Bear 8/10

Loved the 30m episodes, full of drama and tension. Looking forward to S2

 

Succession S3 10/10

Fuck off you piss mad cunt, what more can I say 

 

The Dropout 7/10

Probably an extra mark for Seyfried‘s performance. Can’t be arsed to watch… 

Spoiler

The world is full of greedy / manipulative /  delusional people .

This could have lost an episode or 2. It’s no Dopesick.

 

Veep S1 to 7 (varies slightly but 9/10 overall)

Louis-Dreyfus is so so good in this, supported by many great performances. Fast dialogue with so many great insults. It’s a shame that Trump and the Tories blunted political satire, the cunts.

 

Barry S1 7/10

Enjoyed this, very solid if not spectacular.  An easy ish to watch, mildly dark comedy. 

 

True Detective S2 6.5/10

Nowhere near as bad as I was expecting after the press this got at the time. Quite different to S1 but good central performances and it’s well paced. Still not sure if Vince Vaughan is a decent actor. 

 

Three Pines 6/10

Easy detective viewing, 2 episodes a story. I’d happily watch Molina in anything. 
 

Mare of Easttown 8/10

I don’t watch Winslet in much but she’s  excellent in this bleak detective mini series. Excellent support too. A point lost for a couple of annoyances.

 

The Last of Us 9/10.

Well above my expectations.

I may be blinded by my love of the game but I don’t get most of the complaints about this. My only gripe, maybe an additional episode or a longer finale.

[Jamie John]

Mare of Easttown (2021)

 

 

This was excellent but really quite bleak in places and difficult to watch. It kept me guessing right up until the end and is effective at making you feel like you've figured out whodunnit before it completely pulls the rug out. Winslet is exceptionally good, but a lot of credit should go to Jean Smart, too, as Mare's caring but overbearing mother.

 

Taut, raw and wholly compelling from the very first scenes. In 7 episodes, it's perfectly self-contained, too - I don't think they should do a second season.

 

5/5

[IcEBuRN]

The Last of Us. 9.5/10.

Not touched the game. Amazing.

[Garwoofoo]

Slow Horses

 

Apple TV+ spy drama. Gary Oldman heads up a team of losers and misfits who always seem to be on the outside of the action. The characters are great and it's pretty funny in places but it's let down by over-convoluted plots when all you want to do is see the core cast interacting. The second season in particular has lots of Russian villains with very similar names and too many plot twists and I found it all a bit confusing. Enjoyable enough and I'd watch more of it but maybe spy thrillers aren't really my thing.

 

3/5

[g wings]

On 17/03/2023 at 00:57, Jamie John said:

Mare of Easttown (2021)

 

 

This was excellent but really quite bleak in places and difficult to watch. It kept me guessing right up until the end and is effective at making you feel like you've figured out whodunnit before it completely pulls the rug out. Winslet is exceptionally good, but a lot of credit should go to Jean Smart, too, as Mare's caring but overbearing mother.

 

Taut, raw and wholly compelling from the very first scenes. In 7 episodes, it's perfectly self-contained, too - I don't think they should do a second season.

 

5/5

Absolutely loved this when it first came out. Like you I didn’t want it to return. But I’ve found myself thinking about this show a lot and really missing it. Nothing has quite managed to fill its niche. 

[Jamie John]

28 minutes ago, g wings said:

Absolutely loved this when it first came out. Like you I didn’t want it to return. But I’ve found myself thinking about this show a lot and really missing it. Nothing has quite managed to fill its niche. 

 

I've heard Happy Valley on the BBC isn't a million miles away. That's on my watch list as well.

[g wings]

7 hours ago, Jamie John said:

 

I've heard Happy Valley on the BBC isn't a million miles away. That's on my watch list as well.

Happy Valley is excellent and yes, has a similarly dark tone. You need to get it watched ASAP.

[Mike S]

White Lotus S1

 

Went into this knowing absolutely nothing about it and only watched after reading @Jamie John's 5/5 review further upthread and really liking the accompanying screenshot.

 

As Jamie says, everything here just falls together perfectly - cast, story, setting, cinematography, music, everything works. It's a little weird as nothing much seems to really happen for long stretches - we are in a single location slowly learning about  a dozen or so primary characters - but thanks to a clever reveal in the very first scene there is a constant, and increasing, tension as we know something will happen at some point. That and a sense of woozy, unsettling, claustrophobia combined with a decent dose of paranoia make for a unique, and unsettling, atmosphere. There are loads of really great characters here and the slowness of the story allows the writers to explore all their various personalities seemingly without any pressure to rush a story along. It's really quite marvellous.

 

The show also quietly says some interesting things about a few important topics so that's nice too.

 

Season 2 is being started tonight...

 

5/5

 

 

[Jamie John]

2 minutes ago, Mike S said:

White Lotus S1

 

Went into this knowing absolutely nothing about it and only watched after reading @Jamie John's 5/5 review further upthread and really liking the accompanying screenshot.

 

As Jamie says, everything here just falls together perfectly - cast, story, setting, cinematography, music, everything works. It's a little weird as nothing much seems to really happen for long stretches - we are in a single location slowly learning about  a dozen or so primary characters - but thanks to a clever reveal in the very first scene there is a constant, and increasing, tension as we know something will happen at some point. That and a sense of woozy, unsettling, claustrophobia combined with a decent dose of paranoia make for a unique, and unsettling, atmosphere. There are loads of really great characters here and the slowness of the story allows the writers to explore all their various personalities seemingly without any pressure to rush a story along. It's really quite marvellous.

 

The show also quietly says some interesting things about a few important topics so that's nice too.

 

Season 2 is being started tonight...

 

5/5

 

 

 

Glad you enjoyed it so much as well! I haven't actually started Season 2 yet, myself, as I ended up watching a couple of other things. I'm definitely going to get to it soon, though 

[Mike S]

4 minutes ago, Jamie John said:

 

Glad you enjoyed it so much as well! I haven't actually started Season 2 yet, myself, as I ended up watching a couple of other things. I'm definitely going to get to it soon, though 

 

 

It is so good which is always better when something comes out of nowhere.

 

Thanks for highlighting it!

[Timmo]

You guys are in for another treat with S2. 

[pledge]

From the Earth to the Moon - 4/5

A 1998 HBO miniseries that doesn't seem to get mentioned very much. A docudrama covering the Apollo program through the 1960s and 70s, with introductions each episode by Tom Hanks, who co-produced it the Gazer and Howard. It was nice that it didn't focus entirely on Apollo 11, with it getting just an episode. I learnt plenty that I wasn't familiar with before. As it is mostly attempting to be a factual telling of events there's times where it is a little dry though. It is absolutely packed with "oh it is them from that" moments, along with some now well established stars in early roles.

[Kingpin]

Great shout on From the Earth… I watched this in the past couple of years. It must be one of the least recognised HBO shows and is well worth the time. I think it prompted me to go on and read The Right Stuff afterward (which is about the Mercury program iirc). 

[PeteJ]

Outlast (Netflix) 

3/5

 

I normally stay well clear of reality TV but the Alaskan scenery when the trailer popped up caught my eye. The idea was quite neat and so we gave it a go.

 

16 Americans (they are so very American) are dropped into the Alaskan wilderness and immediately tasked with forming four teams, with supplies to setup camp across four zones at either side of a river. 

Each contestant is given a flare gun, which when shot indicates they are out. Players can switch team at any point, but must belong to a team.

The final team to 'outlast' the others wins a million. The competition could last days, weeks or months, depending on how good the teams are. 

 

Its pretty standard stuff but some of the contestants are fucking evil. Genuine glee at watching, and causing, suffering in others. Watching the drama unfold between those who are trying to survive and those trying to game the competition was surprisingly engaging, and some of the key moments in the series - no doubt edited for added drama - made for great TV. 

 

Not normally our thing but we enjoyed this. Ultimately it has all the usual tropes of reality TV, but it has a few sparks of madness to make it worthwhile. 

[Mawdlin]

51 minutes ago, PeteJ said:

Outlast (Netflix) 

3/5

 

I normally stay well clear of reality TV but the Alaskan scenery when the trailer popped up caught my eye. The idea was quite neat and so we gave it a go.

 

16 Americans (they are so very American) are dropped into the Alaskan wilderness and immediately tasked with forming four teams, with supplies to setup camp across four zones at either side of a river. 

Each contestant is given a flare gun, which when shot indicates they are out. Players can switch team at any point, but must belong to a team.

The final team to 'outlast' the others wins a million. The competition could last days, weeks or months, depending on how good the teams are. 

 

Its pretty standard stuff but some of the contestants are fucking evil. Genuine glee at watching, and causing, suffering in others. Watching the drama unfold between those who are trying to survive and those trying to game the competition was surprisingly engaging, and some of the key moments in the series - no doubt edited for added drama - made for great TV. 

 

Not normally our thing but we enjoyed this. Ultimately it has all the usual tropes of reality TV, but it has a few sparks of madness to make it worthwhile. 

Yes! I just finished this and it was compelling TV after a slow start. Once the red mist descends then things ramped up alarmingly quickly.

 

Spoiler

Jill seemed genuinely unhinged and delusional. I imagine she's got a cellar full of guns and tinned food back home ready for the apocalypse.

 

She was the star of the show though I'm glad she didn't win given her rampant hypocrisy.

 

[PeteJ]

Back to Life (series 1 and 2)

Netflix 3/5 (but created by BBC)

 

This British comedy drama about a woman released from jail for murder and trying to rebuild her life. 

 

At times this is genuinely laugh our loud funny and at times the drama is genuinely well played out. However, it's also far fetched and too often they try to squeeze either comedy or drama into a situation that simply wouldn't happen. It's a shame because the ingredients are here, the cast is great and it's well made, but I couldn't help feeling short-changed by some of the character decisions and motivations. 

 

Particularly guilty of this is a character of a police officer, who plays for laughs in every scene she's in. Though she is actually funny at times, it's trying to squeeze the comedy in drama in the wrong way and at the wrong time. It's jaring how the characters behave and that leads to odd directions in the plot that simple wouldn't happen. It's an odd criticism for a comedy but the story they are telling is otherwise serious and at times rather dark.

 

Creator and star Daisy Haggard deserves a lot of praise for this show though, it's very nearly brilliant and I look forward to what she works on next. 

 

Shrinking (series 1)

Apple TV 3/5

 

From the creators of Ted Lasso, Shrinking is about a shrink trying to rebuild his life following the death of his wife.

 

The plot is thin but the characters are larger than life and really rather entertaining. I don't think there is a dull character here that isn't pulling their weight. The cast is universally great, with Jason Segal, Jessica Williams and Harrison Ford being brilliant together as three colleagues each with their messed up lives.

Jessica Williams in particular is so over the top and quick firing that it makes the series hard not to like. 

 

The first couple of episodes stumble around a little but once it finds its stride it settles well. 

 

Despite some heavy topics they manage to keep this light and enjoyable by focusing on the moment to moment character humour. I guess in some ways it goes for the good-natured humour of Ted Lasso, and though it doesn't hit the same highs it does stand up as it's own thing. 

 

A second series has been commissioned and I can see this one growing stronger, one to keep an eye on. 

 

[Waggo]

Daisy Jones and the Six

Amazon Prime  5/5

 

The story of the creation of a 70’s Rock Band, their rise to mega stardom followed by the inevitable implosion.
 

It is basically Fleetwood Mac the TV show & I thought it was utterly brilliant.  As I said in the Amazon thread, the story, acting, setting, music, production values all just seemed to speak directly to me in a way a tv show has not done in a long time.  
 

Well worth your time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PeteJ]

All of us are dead

Netflix 3/5

 

Typical of most Korean TV that breaks out worldwide this zombie outbreak series is excellently produced, well acted, and absolutely brutal in execution. That said, it walks a well-worn path that many a zombie has shuffled along over the years. 

 

This series starts right at the beginning of the initial outbreak, which takes place in a school. The twelve episodes then explore a fairly reasonable stab at what could happen in terms of a zombie outbreak.

 

If you don't fancy wading through approximately 12 hours of unrelentingly bleak content, but want to see this show at its most unrelenting, then the first two episodes showing an isolated case becoming a full-on outbreak is pretty damn good. It's ferocious, with 28 Days Later style zombies and within the large cast of characters the show makes it very clear that nobody is safe. The first half of the first episode is a drag, but when it gets going it really gets going. 

 

By and large, the characters are well-rounded and likeable, and thankfully they rarely have convenient stupidity to drive the plot forward. I found the plot unraveled in a reasonably believable way, and thankfully even when it eventually establishes its core characters, there's never a moment where plot-armour keeps a favourite alive in unbelievable ways. 

 

There's perhaps one twist to the traditional formula in the whole piece, which is revealed quite early on and becomes one of the core story beats. It's not enough to make the show unique, but it does provide some of the best moments.

 

Despite being well produced and at times brilliantly executed, I found the series a bit of a slog however. The one hour episodes are too long, and the downtime between set-pieces have nothing of note to say that hasn't been said a hundred times before. There's a lot that could have been trimmed to help here. Series 2 has been announced, so there's an opportunity to make something great. 

 

If you want to see a a zombie series then you could do a lot worse than this.

[LaveDisco]

Calls. AppleTV

 

Nine episodes. 20 mins each. Weird mix of audio play and hypnotic visuals and those lyric music videos. Fantastic, weird plot that fully resolves itself by the end. 
 

If you’ve appleTV you owe yourself to try this. 5/5. 

[Festoon]

Among The Stars

Disney+

 

Holy shit why did no one tell me about this? Disney Plus space series about astronaut Chris Cassidy and the AMS repair mission.

 

I was watching the precredits opening expecting some gentle space footage from 2014 and less than two mins later I'm gripping my seat with tension and anxiety.

 

You'll never believe a man cutting a tube can be so tense.

 

5/5 Great stuff.

[choddo]

EE All At Once

 

4/5

 

Close to brilliance with just a couple of "nah, too stupid" bits and 20 minutes too much movie.

[Gommy]

The Tribe (1999-2003)

Post-apocalyptic soap set in a world where all the adults have died from a mysterious virus, a sort of  tween Lord of the Flies/Game of Thrones/The Warriors/Grange Hill.

I'm going to spoiler tag this as it does contain spoilers and I guess is long- but at the same time it was made in 2003. Doubt it justifies it's own thread.
 

Spoiler

I definitely watched some of this when it aired on Channel 5, and some of the characters and the theme tunes came straight back to me, but I definitely did not watch it through the entire 5 season - 52 episode per season run. An episode airing Saturday and Sunday so I guess you really needed some commitment and a VHS recorder to really follow it.  25 minutes with a 30 second intro song and 90 second credits song.  Got to love proper intro and outro songs - the outro song that kicks into electric guitar used in season 3 is a particular favourite.

A mysterious virus has wiped out the adults and various feral kid/teen tribes maraud the streets menacing each other and pursuing their largely selfish agendas, amongst this a bunch of unaligned kids come together in the remnants of a mall to form the Mallrats.  We focus on the Mallrats as they try to survive, get along with each other and generally try and pursue a better society for all in the city as well as deal with growing up in this world.

The show has a visual style and although it is sort of cheesy -  everyone has distinct haircuts, hair colours, face painting and clothing that would really take some maintaining it at least makes it easy to pick up who is who and gives the show a unique look.  Establishing shots are re-used for the entire run - there is a bin fire outside the front of the mall that stays alight for 5 seasons, in a world where power is a valuable commodity that could maybe deserve some attention.

Watching it in a relatively condensed manner compared to original airing - the incidental score sometimes works in it's familiarity and helps guide you when the acting is off but has some really irksome bits - there is a failed romantic attempt 'wah wah wah' that I particularly hate, but overall it does the job if a little in your face.

Due to the nature of the target audience the threats often seem not that threatening, that is until they do.  I am guessing blood and physical violence was not really allowed so physical confrontations usually felt like pugil sticks on gladiators with limited real risk and are pretty horribly choreographed with no weight.  Then every once in a while you get something more serious thrown in.  If someone falls off something and you don't see them hit the ground but then show their body without blood it seems it's pretty much fair game.  Zoot the main big bad dies like this in about the first ten episodes which helps establish some jeopardy and this is also in many ways a huge catalyst as he becomes a background but key protagonist for most of the large story arcs in the next 5 seasons.

At times it is kiddy, sex is never talked about explicitly but the language is so overt as to leave little room to think otherwise, and is strongly implied.  In the first season alone there is bulimia, pregnancy, a sexual assault and the time they are all locked in a cage to be burnt to death.

Despite the lack of real violence on screen no-one is really ever safe, characters disappear with alarming regularity with people being snatched as slaves or just disappearing without explanation happens quite a bit, sometimes to the shows detriment as better characters are lost no doubt due to issues with the actors availability.  In some ways this really helps give situations some seriousness in a way that few adult shows really manage though often you long for the departures to be given a big exit rather than the low key disappearances that end up happening.  There is only 1 semi-miraculous resurrection and I can imagine if you were watching along at airing pace this would really catch you off guard in a good way.

The acting and scripts do jump about wildly at times, for a series with a 5 series arc it's a shame some of the characters don't get given a bit more growth from their original template, some really do and then there are times when it seems like for storyline sake the writers jump them back to their original character traits, maybe this is commentary in itself, but I usually found this annoying.

The mixture of interpersonal struggles within the Mallrats mixed with the longer season wide arcs are relatively compelling and the variety of threats despite nearly always being of a similar ilk, they usually have a spin that stops them feel like a copy of what came before.

The first few seasons are distinctly better than the last 2.  The main plots being the formation of the tribe and focus on being able to sustain themselves and protect themselves from outside threats, which then turns into a search for a cure to the virus.  Once the cure is found the Mallrats largely work to try and create an equitable society within the city which tends to try and follow western democracy.  

After this the Chosen turn up lead by a religious zealot who worships Zoot - former tribe leader killed in season 1 who had the slogan 'Power and Chaos' taking over the city with somewhat unclear end goals other than general worship of Zoot. 

With the Chosen gone in Season 4 the Technos turn up and this bit is where for me it gets a bit annoying.  The principle of the technos is great, they are smart enough to restart dormant technology - they have a plane they can fly and restart a power station.  But it wildly descends - they have zappers (I assume to create some peril without guns within the bloodless confines of a kids show) and a level of VR technology we are yet to reach, this allows them to play about with things more but for me just isn't that interesting.  

Season 4 Technos are lead by Ramm - a wheelchair bound autocrat who just wants to enslave the city to enable him to keep the power running so he can live in his VR world.

Season 5 has the more interesting leader Mega - who wants to barcode people and create zoning and generally believes in an authoritarian approach to create order and a more productive society, but again it descends for me as they re-introduce Zoot as a rampant self-aware A.I, it serves to create a finale but I much preferred the storylines more grounded to what would be about late 90's technology.  

Season 5 ends up with an abandoned city and our tribe on a boat, it seems there were plans for further series and there have been some books to continue the story and there appears to be a relatively active fanbase around the series.

All in all, I enjoyed it, it's a slow burn show at times that feels really like a soap but the setting is good and the style works, the mix of characters are usually pretty good, as much as some of them are designed to piss you off as much as like them.  It has many flaws but in many ways it feels ambitious in terms of the stories it tackles.  I'm not sure there is much made these days that really compares to this and I expect with on demand kids are maybe used to more graphic realism that this sort of thing maybe wouldn't get made these days at least not with such attempted scale for this early teen audience.

A big takeaway for me is how important rollerblades are going to post apocalypse.  I better get practicing.
 

Overall: I'll give this a 3/5.

Season 4 & 5 probably sit closer to the 2/5.  Season 1-3 have their moments which maybe deserve a 4.