TELEVISION REVIEW: Hunters - Season 1
(Dancing On Air - Dance With The Dead)
A solid antagonist is key to any good story. Some of the greatest stories of the modern age can be readily identified by their villains. We love some of them, and even go so far as to revel in their victories. Others, we love to hate. The only thing better than watching them get their comeuppance would be somehow lending a hand.
id Software figured this out pretty early when it made Wolfenstein 3D. After all, who doesn't want to play a video game where you get to empty a castle out of its Nazi occupants? What's that? I can do it with a flamethrower? Excellent!
Nazis are an easy villain to hate. Even Indiana Jones has a pretty firm take on them. That said, it's kind of been done already, so unless you've already got your foot in the door like good ol' BJ Blazkowicz, you need something a little different to stand out.
Somewhere in the bowels of Amazon, someone was having a meeting about this very thing, trying to flesh out a new idea for a television show centered around hunting Nazis after the end of the second world war. The main character would be an older German Jew, a survivor of the holocaust, and he would lead a band of interesting individuals and hunt those Nazis down. That someone went, "I know! Let's get Christopher Walken to play the main role!" And that someone's friend went, "No, that'll never work. Walken would never be believable in this role. Wait! I Know! AL PACINO!"
Aaaand that's how we ended up with Amazon's 'Hunters'.
If you're sitting there thinking that's an absolutely bonkers idea, you're not alone. Still, my wife and I had a few hours to kill on a Saturday during quarantine, and thought, "What the heck?"
Should you join the hunt?
eEeeeeehhh....that's complicated. It's very much a "Yes, but...no. But totally. But no." Especially no if you're a kid. No kids. Nooooo kids should be watching this.
Before we go on, you really need to watch the trailer:
Hunters is a complicated show that has a lot of great things going for it, a few awkward things repeatedly getting in the way, and one really bad thing holding it back.
It's the story of Jonah, a young Jewish man whose grandmother is killed by a mysterious assailant in her living room during the middle of the night. The more Jonah looks into it, the more he's led to an old man named Meyer, a Jew who survived the camps during the second world war. Things get...pretty wild at that point. Telling you anything would spoil it, and it's a very, very good story.
Let's cover the great things first, and they do represent the majority:
The cast is stellar. End to end, the cast is absolutely phenomenal. There are a few standout performances that need to be mentioned though:
- Unbelievably, Pacino's Meyer Offerman is a blast to watch. You might not think so, but he's just fantastic. You could just sit and listen to him speak for hours and hours.
- The old couple that is Murray and Mindy Markowitz are just joyous, and their story arc throughout the show is responsible for the highest highs and the absolute lowest lows. Saul Rubinek and Carol Kane are perfect in every single scene they're in, and by the time the season is over, they will have absolutely destroyed you.
- Greg Austin gives one of the most unsettling performances I've ever seen in the character of Travis, a sociopath Nazi loyalist. Every scene he was in made my skin crawl, which is precisely what he was aiming for.
The show is set in the late '70s, a stand-out period in history for its music, its fashion, it's vocabulary, and the general zeitgeist. All of that is captured incredibly well. Additionally, the show revolves around several facets of the Jewish religion. Even if you don't practice it, there are a lot of absolutely beautiful things about many religions, and this is no exception. Ceremonies, prayers, celebrations, traditions, wisdoms, and lessons are shown with great frequency. It's one of the most incredible things you'll watch, and in this day and age of people drawing battle lines around religion and faith, this is just...wonderful to watch.
The writing is razor sharp, and the storytelling mechanisms used take you in and out of reality, interposing the main story with silly commercials and gameshow-like setups that serve the function of extremely entertaining info dumps. From almost every single angle, this is a fantastic show.
Almost. Here's where we get into a few awkward things about the show that may put some people off of it.
With few exceptions, you don't get Nazis and Jews in the same room without talking about the holocaust, a subject that needs to be handled respectfully and precisely. It represents one of the greatest black spots in human history, and while I think people need to be very aware of what happened so that we never, ever do it again, there's a right and a wrong way to talk about it. 'Hunters' struggles with this. Some of the flashbacks in the show are very, very hard to watch. It leaves you questioning its necessity from both a taste and an accuracy standpoint. This is just such a touchy subject, and I'm not sure it was always handled well. Some of this will bother certain people.
The other big thing has to do with putting together such an incredible cast and failing to give them their due. There isn't nearly enough time fleshing out the stories of several of the principle cast. You want very much to know more, but the show just doesn't give it to you. I don't expect to learn everything about each character by the end of the first season's ten episodes, but they clearly spent more time giving you background on characters like Sister Harriett and Meyer than they did with Joe or Roxy.
Both of those items are things you'll get over if you watch this show. You'll chew through the first nine episodes, and then you'll get to the season finale and you'll run smack dab into the one bad thing about the season:
The other shoe.
You're very well aware that there is 'another shoe' as the show progresses, but when it finally dropped, both my wife and I very audibly went, "Wait, what the fuck was that?" Then the credits rolled and we both immediately decided not to watch the next season. So much of the show had been handled so well, and then it all gets undone in the space of about 15 minutes.
Yes, there may be a perfectly decent explanation for that 15 minutes in the second season, but we certainly won't be around to see it. You might. You might want to know, and even if you don't, the first nine episodes might just be worth it for you. You'll know by the end of the second episode if you want to keep watching. Just...be prepared.
A solid antagonist is key to any good story. Some of the greatest stories of the modern age can be readily identified by their villains. We love some of them, and even go so far as to revel in their victories. Others, we love to hate. The only thing better than watching them get their comeuppance would be somehow lending a hand.
id Software figured this out pretty early when it made Wolfenstein 3D. After all, who doesn't want to play a video game where you get to empty a castle out of its Nazi occupants? What's that? I can do it with a flamethrower? Excellent!
Nazis are an easy villain to hate. Even Indiana Jones has a pretty firm take on them. That said, it's kind of been done already, so unless you've already got your foot in the door like good ol' BJ Blazkowicz, you need something a little different to stand out.
Somewhere in the bowels of Amazon, someone was having a meeting about this very thing, trying to flesh out a new idea for a television show centered around hunting Nazis after the end of the second world war. The main character would be an older German Jew, a survivor of the holocaust, and he would lead a band of interesting individuals and hunt those Nazis down. That someone went, "I know! Let's get Christopher Walken to play the main role!" And that someone's friend went, "No, that'll never work. Walken would never be believable in this role. Wait! I Know! AL PACINO!"
Aaaand that's how we ended up with Amazon's 'Hunters'.
If you're sitting there thinking that's an absolutely bonkers idea, you're not alone. Still, my wife and I had a few hours to kill on a Saturday during quarantine, and thought, "What the heck?"
Should you join the hunt?
eEeeeeehhh....that's complicated. It's very much a "Yes, but...no. But totally. But no." Especially no if you're a kid. No kids. Nooooo kids should be watching this.
Before we go on, you really need to watch the trailer:
Hunters is a complicated show that has a lot of great things going for it, a few awkward things repeatedly getting in the way, and one really bad thing holding it back.
It's the story of Jonah, a young Jewish man whose grandmother is killed by a mysterious assailant in her living room during the middle of the night. The more Jonah looks into it, the more he's led to an old man named Meyer, a Jew who survived the camps during the second world war. Things get...pretty wild at that point. Telling you anything would spoil it, and it's a very, very good story.
Let's cover the great things first, and they do represent the majority:
The cast is stellar. End to end, the cast is absolutely phenomenal. There are a few standout performances that need to be mentioned though:
- Unbelievably, Pacino's Meyer Offerman is a blast to watch. You might not think so, but he's just fantastic. You could just sit and listen to him speak for hours and hours.
- The old couple that is Murray and Mindy Markowitz are just joyous, and their story arc throughout the show is responsible for the highest highs and the absolute lowest lows. Saul Rubinek and Carol Kane are perfect in every single scene they're in, and by the time the season is over, they will have absolutely destroyed you.
- Greg Austin gives one of the most unsettling performances I've ever seen in the character of Travis, a sociopath Nazi loyalist. Every scene he was in made my skin crawl, which is precisely what he was aiming for.
The show is set in the late '70s, a stand-out period in history for its music, its fashion, it's vocabulary, and the general zeitgeist. All of that is captured incredibly well. Additionally, the show revolves around several facets of the Jewish religion. Even if you don't practice it, there are a lot of absolutely beautiful things about many religions, and this is no exception. Ceremonies, prayers, celebrations, traditions, wisdoms, and lessons are shown with great frequency. It's one of the most incredible things you'll watch, and in this day and age of people drawing battle lines around religion and faith, this is just...wonderful to watch.
The writing is razor sharp, and the storytelling mechanisms used take you in and out of reality, interposing the main story with silly commercials and gameshow-like setups that serve the function of extremely entertaining info dumps. From almost every single angle, this is a fantastic show.
Almost. Here's where we get into a few awkward things about the show that may put some people off of it.
With few exceptions, you don't get Nazis and Jews in the same room without talking about the holocaust, a subject that needs to be handled respectfully and precisely. It represents one of the greatest black spots in human history, and while I think people need to be very aware of what happened so that we never, ever do it again, there's a right and a wrong way to talk about it. 'Hunters' struggles with this. Some of the flashbacks in the show are very, very hard to watch. It leaves you questioning its necessity from both a taste and an accuracy standpoint. This is just such a touchy subject, and I'm not sure it was always handled well. Some of this will bother certain people.
The other big thing has to do with putting together such an incredible cast and failing to give them their due. There isn't nearly enough time fleshing out the stories of several of the principle cast. You want very much to know more, but the show just doesn't give it to you. I don't expect to learn everything about each character by the end of the first season's ten episodes, but they clearly spent more time giving you background on characters like Sister Harriett and Meyer than they did with Joe or Roxy.
Both of those items are things you'll get over if you watch this show. You'll chew through the first nine episodes, and then you'll get to the season finale and you'll run smack dab into the one bad thing about the season:
The other shoe.
You're very well aware that there is 'another shoe' as the show progresses, but when it finally dropped, both my wife and I very audibly went, "Wait, what the fuck was that?" Then the credits rolled and we both immediately decided not to watch the next season. So much of the show had been handled so well, and then it all gets undone in the space of about 15 minutes.
Yes, there may be a perfectly decent explanation for that 15 minutes in the second season, but we certainly won't be around to see it. You might. You might want to know, and even if you don't, the first nine episodes might just be worth it for you. You'll know by the end of the second episode if you want to keep watching. Just...be prepared.
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