Tin Star Season 3 Liverpool (2020) Review

I recently watched the first two seasons of Tin Star and thought is was a decent show and now the third and supposedly final season of the show has come to Sky and I have now watched it and here is my review for it. The premise of the season sees Jack, Angela & Anna head to Liverpool in order to take down the enemies from their past. 

Main Character

Tim Roth is back as Jack Worth and he is just a lot of fun to watch here though I would say this is probably the least entertained I have been by him, I guess that is just because it is the third season at this point. But he is great here and provides a fun lead performance and is one charismatic guy to lead this show. I am looking forward to seeing him in She-Hulk and I hope he can channel some of his character here into that performance, obviously in a moor PG manner. 

Supporting Characters 

Genevieve O'Reilly and Abigail Lawrie play Angela and Anna and these three performers just have so much chemistry together, you can just tell they are having so much fun together and it shows in some good performances and characters that despite the pretty terrible things they do you can root for. But the rest of the cast didn't do much for me whether it be villains or friends I just didn't care, none of them were given anything particularly interesting to do and it's never fully explored why and what were the reasons for the feud between them and the Worths. 

Story

The story sees our main characters return to Liverpool and it is fun seeing these three just go around taking out people in pretty creative ways and having fun while doing it. There are also some pretty intense scenes that build and did have me a bit nervous as to what would happen to the characters. But as I mentioned above it doesn't help when you have boring antagonists and side characters that you don't care about. Since the first season they really have given the idea of just how far Jack Worth went as an undercover cop but the show never gives enough and it feels like there was more of a story to tell. Also if this really is the final season then the ending is pretty terrible and does nothing to make me feel like this was a worthwhile time spent. 

Script

The script has plenty of fun dialogue in there, which the main three characters do a great job of conveying and making there own. But this is probably the weakest script of the show, it does feel like they beat some of the funny lines over the head until they just aren't funny anymore. Also the drama just wasn't there for me, I just never felt like the villains were a real threat to our characters and with all the build up in previous seasons I was disappointed. 

Style

The show has some good and pretty brutal action scenes that don't really hold back which is a highlight. Another highlight is the fact that this is the shortest season with only 6 episodes which makes it a much easier watch then the other seasons. But I can't help but miss Canada, I thought this film used to have a pretty unique style to it but now it is in Liverpool and it just isn't as interesting. Also the choice of music at times is just really jarring and again it feels like a thing taken from previous seasons and just ramped up here. 

Overall

Overall, this is an above average season of television that is just fine. If you are a fan of this show you will like the show but if not it won't change your mind and I would say it isn't really worth the time to go back and watch the previous seasons so you know what is going on here. 

Rating - 6/10

 

Tin Star Season 2 (2019) Review

So Tin Star Season 3 hits the UK next week and I am now all caught up after finishing the second season of the show and here is my review for the second season of the show. The premise of the season sees Jack and his family have to survive when something from his past comes to haunt them. 

Main Character

I said when reviewing the first season of the show that Tim Roth was fantastic and he continues that here, mainly because of his dark humour and just how funny he is at times. He continues that and is just so entertaining to watch and you can just tell he is having so much fun here, I mean the emotional parts of his character aren't as present here but I just can't deny that when Roth is on screen he is great to watch and carries this show. 

Supporting Characters

That isn't to say some of the supporting characters aren't good here, I really like the chemistry between him and Genevieve O'Reilly who plays his wife and how they are a bad influence on each other. They have such a great dynamic and she is really fun to watch as well and a good character in her own right, just this season she is more on Roth's side then last season. Now I was pretty critical of Abigail Lawrie for her performance as their daughter in the first season but I thought she worked a lot better here and has good chemistry with her on screen parents. She isn't anywhere near as annoying and isn't always clashing with her parents which makes her a much more likeable character and she does a good job in her own right. John Lynch is a new character here, I mostly recognise him from The Fall and I thought he added quite a bit here, his character is pretty interesting and is a nice contrast to the other characters, he also shows his real acting quality and a great solid performance. But this show still has the issue that it has too many characters and what I mean is that it has characters from the first season that they have no plans for, but they have them here and they take away from the show. Such as Christina Hendricks character who really doesn't do much here and you wonder why they even bothered bringing her back for this season, same for the characters of Frank and Denise who again don't do enough to warrant inclusion. 

Story 

The story is decent this season, I thought having the family members together more helps, it feels like they are more united and together which is much better then them being at each others throats like the previous season. This film also did a good job of setting up a third season and expanding the story, but I also thought this show suffered from that. It spends so much time telling you what can come that it doesn't do enough this season to keep you interested and then puts everything on the last 20 mins which isn't good enough when it has had 9 episodes to do it. Also the show has to deal with the supporting characters from last season to sort them out and it does it in a pretty clunky way which bogs down the story. 

Script

The script is still good, the dark humour is still there and Roth and the rest of the family are funny and really look like they are enjoying themselves on screen and that helps you stay watching the show. But the drama from the first season isn't really there and the pacing of the different stories doesn't quite work as effectively as the first season did which is a disappointment. 

Style 

The show still looks great, it has a great location and is a pretty visceral show to watch that doesn't hold much back. There are some intense scenes and the show does a good job in making you feel like the majority of the characters are at risk the majority of time. But again, the pacing is off for me, it takes so much time to get going and get to the point that it makes me think that either get to the point quicker or have a few less episodes and less storylines going on at the beginning. 

Overall

Overall, this is an above average season of television, it is a slight step down from the last season but is still quite an entertaining watch. I mean if you didn't care for the first season this won't change your mind, though if you are a fan you will pretty much like this season and be excited for the third season. 

Rating - 6/10

Tin Star Season 1 (2017) Review 

So season 3 of Tin Star is coming to Sky next month and I have never watched the show despite it being on for a few years but I have now finished the first season and here is my review for the show. The premise of the season sees a former undercover British cop travel to a small village in Canada to become the sheriff , when he must defend his family from all kinds of threats. 

Main Character

Tim Roth plays the main character here and he is fantastic, carrying this show on his back pretty much. He has such a dark sense of humour and it makes him way more interesting, imagine if The Punisher was also a police officer with a dark sense of humour and you have Roth in this show and he is great throughout and is a very enigmatic lead with a very interesting character. 

Supporting Characters

Genevieve O'Reilly plays his wife on the show and I thought she did a good job, they have an interesting dynamic that is one of the most interesting parts of the show. Though that is about it for the supporting characters for me, Abigail Lawrie plays their daughter and she was so annoying and hard to care about, she is just an annoying teenage girl and every time she is on screen I want to check out and wait till Tim Roth is back. The Villains are cookie cutter and dull and there are characters that have no real use of being here, mainly Christina Hendricks as a head of an oil company that feels unnecessary and gets way to much screen time here. 

Story

The story of Tim Roth's character is fascinating, even though he is a police officer you can tell he likes to bend the rules to get things done and you understand his motivations for why he acts like he does. Everything to do with him is interesting and as you see this guy break down and get worse and worse as the season goes on and you just wonder how bad it is going to get. Also the season has a really interesting ending that sets up its second season pretty well. But there are way too many subplots here that don't really end up really mattering and it does make it feel like padding to get this show to the ten episodes that it felt it was required. 

Script 

The script was well written for me, I think the blend between drama and humour was really well done here. Roth has such a knack for well timed humour that it makes this show so much better, his character is so well layered and there are plenty of dark moments that are actually a bit funny, but also some really brutal, violent scenes showing some well done writing. 

Style 

The style of the show feels unique, it feels small scale in a very good way and doesn't hold back in terms of violence, but it feels very appropriate for the show that you are watching and it really works and makes it feel incredibly gritty. But this show does have a few too many episodes in it and it feels like there is an amazing 6-8 episode season, but they had to force it to ten and it does hold it back quite a bit. 

Overall

Overall, this is a good first season of the show with some brutality. I think there is an amazing show here, but it just needs to get rid of the pointless side plots. If you like brutal cop shows then I would say this is worth a watch and your time. 

Rating - 7/10