Chris Cole

An obviously revised version of the novel, but an entertaining limited series on its own. A good character study and a suprisingly interesting drama with high moments. Everyone's acting was solid, introspective when it needed to be, narrative moving at other times. Excellent work by the cast and creators to give space for the finesse to shine through. Spoilers: The ending felt a bit of a let down. Various characters triumph, some fall. The triumph in the courtroom felt good, the bank drama was its own resolution. Would have liked to see some introspective resolution with the senior banker, but it is what it was, with the weasely banker carrying the 'is that it?' question beyond the frame. The 60 minute man's triumph at the conference could have had a few more dramatic notes, but it felt good without overshooting itself. The mayor's frustrations went strong and fell off, without a introspective resolution that would have benefited his character learning a lesson from Croker, when a moment in front of the news could have worked to rethink the lengths he had been prepared to go, and course correcting to become the better mayor that Croker said he could be. The real let down however, was the final conflict resolution of the weasel banker and Croker. Throughout the back half of the episodes, the knee replacement had been repeatedly brought up, first as a callback to his football triumph, then as a device for the bank to bring up they own part of him. But a recurrent note was the advanced, twitchy nature of the hydraulic / robotic replacement, even with a casual callout when his new wife was sitting on top of him shortly before the ending. 'What will he end up doing with that knee' is something I asked myself throughout, with the character seeing this surgery as a necessity for recapturing his strength. And in the end, standing in front of an *cough* full attention embodiment of his nemesis, their struggle, then the death of them both, it was not his knee's issues that played into the demise of the weasel, but rather his heart attack (assumed) causing his arm and hand to lock. In the final shot, as the camera gliding up the stairs with the lawyer to the scene, an operatic musical note, with the camera eventually drifting up from Croker on the floor, I was mostly expecting the mentioned robotic, spasming knee plowing his shin into the weasel's own enhancement as they were lain in their death grapple, a final victory for the 60 minute man, to go out big and to be remembered, as he said previously was his wish. That would have been a sight for all parties to relay as part of the legend of Croker, which we only get in hindsight throughout the series. It seemed at times the wish was to not have Croker 'too' larger than life, and the weasel banker to have 'some' redeeming qualities, as if not to break reality. Perhaps it would have dashed the realism and grounded drama to have gone over the top in the final shot of destroying the other's chemically enhanced, weasely triumph, but this was the seperated struggle between these two men, and was a buildup throughout the series. I think they could have been permitted to go out more legendarily. That said, a good series, would have not have been let down from its potential ending, if it were not.