Delight
Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.
LilyDaleLady
Very disappointing and disjointed TV series -- I guess it was a summer fill-in a couple of years back. No surprise it was not renewed for a 2nd season. If I'd tried to follow on TV as broadcast, I would have dropped out by the 2nd episode, as things were already getting ridiculous....but with DVD sets, it is all too tempting to just keep going. "I'll watch only ONE MORE episode..."Anyways: after finishing this, I felt exploited. The storyline is full of inconsistencies, and feels like something that was just made up on the spot by desperate screenwriters, trying to come up with something "shocking" or "MORE shocking" in every episode. There is not internal logic to it -- by the end, more than half of the characters are killers, serial killers or accomplices of a serial killer. The ending is especially annoying, as it is not deserved and gauzy (everyone not outright killed, is now happy and has a cute baby!). Also, the show drops a lot of "fact bombs" by the end -- things we were deliberately deceived about.The really interesting ideas touched on -- can a child of 9 be a budding monster and future serial killer? can the tendency to be a murderer be inherited (especially if your mom, both your grandfathers, your grandmother and a few aunts/uncles are killers!)??? But this is all dumped, in favor of addle-brained plot developments, and ridiculous scenarios, and people who just don't act like real human beings.It's all set in a monstrously lavish house, decorated like a showcase home -- in the first episode, a canny PR person can't even find a room in the home to shoot an interview, because it is so lavish as to be off-putting to voters -- I don't know if this was a real house or a set, but it is claustrophobic and only serves to make the very rich family at the center of the plot unsympathetic yuppies.It helps not at all that one major character (yup, a murderer!) is running for mayor of BOSTON -- hardly a small town -- but spends all her time trying to track down various serial killers of her family & others, so that she spends close to zero time on her campaign (yet wins!) -- while having a lesbian affair with her black campaign manager -- how many trendy PC points do you get for THAT? Her father AND mother were killed by serial killers (but not before her father is NAMED wrongly as a serial killer for most of the episodes!) and this doesn't hurt her campaign, nor that her one brothers is a crackhead junkie and her other brother ALSO is a murderer (but don't worry, she got him off without jail time!).If all that is not bad enough to deter you....this vastly rich, powerful political family in BOSTON lack any Boston accents whatsoever. The Kennedy's all had Boston accents, so how could they ALL grow up in Boston and yet sound like they came from Columbus, Ohio? (The only character with a genuine accent is the female police officer, which only serves to make it more glaring for the others.)Oh, and NOBODY for 12 episodes has a problem with the chief police investigator on a huge serial murder case, with bodies all around piling up....is the BROTHER in law of the suspects (oh yeah and black, while they are all white) and NOBODY has a problem with this. (In real life, his presence would make prosecution impossible, so he'd be tossed off the case instantly.)Those are only the highlights of a very bad viewing experience. It makes you feel totally ripped off for having sat through it. So many of these long series -- 12 episodes or MORE, some running for YEARS -- tell stories that could easily and BETTER be told in ONE two hour movie -- or at most, a 3 episode "mini series". What ever happened to mini-series? today, a silly murder mystery requires as much time to unfold its story, as "War & Peace" or GWTW! and that is just absurd, and almost punitive towards viewers. It needs to stop!In conclusion: not recommended.
Ri Ja
American Gothic is well written, great cast, plot begs for you to come back for more. What else could viewers ask for? I like the fact that this show is filmed through a "dark" lens; the show's title warrants it. Each character was so richly developed in the first season; I was really looking forward to the twists and turns that the next season would bring. In my opinion, canceling this gem is a BIG mistake.
Veritas99
I honestly started to watch "American Gothic" because I was following Anthony Starr after "Banshee"...After the first episode I waited inpatient the next one, and the next one...It was catchy, with not many clichés, each episode revealed some more from the mystery but remained attractive and catchy until the last minute...It sill remained one detail unclear: to whom belonged the box of bells from the shed? Sophie/Dara was hiding them there? I would be very sad if they will not renew it.And keep Anthony Starr on team:)Does anybody have some news about renewal?Thank you for this series, V
SnoopyStyle
Concrete in a tunnel collapses in Boston. It's a blow to Alison Hawthorne-Price (Juliet Rylance) who is running against Mayor Conley. Her father ran the family concrete business which supplied the material. Evidence of the "Silver Bells Killer" is found in the rubble. The killer has been silent for almost 15 years. The cold case is reopened led by detective Linda Cutter and suspicions land on the Hawthorne family. The father suffers a heart attack. Madeline Hawthorne (Virginia Madsen) is the matriarch. Her son Cam (Justin Chatwin) is a recovering addict with his own family. Her daughter Tessa (Megan Ketch) is married to police detective Brady Ross (Elliot Knight). Her son Garrett (Antony Starr) has returned from parts unknown.It's a crime twisty mystery family drama. It's good enough for a network TV show but nothing more. It's not exciting or terribly compelling. There are some twists but nothing terribly compelling. The characters are fine and so are the actors. It needs one central character with real charisma to drive the show but this is more of an ensemble cast. This is not going to rewrite the TV playbook. There is just enough interest to keep watching all 13 one-hour episodes.
