A film essayist I very much admire, Rod Heath, tweeted this recently after he had finished watching DEADWOOD. While satisfied and entertained, he felt the need to communicate a deeper frustration with the state of television:
It would take a long time to explain that reaction (might indeed be worth an essay), but some of it can be boiled down to: these shows mistake being busy for being complex, and mannerism for style.
— Roderick Heath (@Roderick_Heath) March 13, 2019
“These shows mistake being busy for complex, and mannerism for style.”
None of this was meant to cast a shadow over the critical and viewer success of DEADWOOD, merely that the laudits surrounding it and many other shows often mistake complicated for complex. It’s been a personal gripe of mine for years.
Fantomas Cinema 