I know the ratings for this show on IMDb are 8.2, but I can’t bring myself to agree that the rating is so high. While I proceed to tell you why it was good and bad, keep in mind there are many spoiler alerts. I saw this on Netflix.
The trailer pretty much tells it all.
Ellen Barkin, or “Smurf” Cody is the matriarchal figure and boss of her sons who do heists for a living. Her sons, her adopted son, and her grandson all partake in elaborate heists. That is the interesting part. The sons all work in unison during their “work”, albeit they argue like Hell before the heist. The heists are intriguing and unusual. I love heist films/series.
The downside of this is a major one. “Smurf” is double dipping, doling out her sons’ money to them like babies, and basically stealing from them. She claims she is holding onto it for them, NOT. She is portrayed as a woman to be reckoned with, but even though she calls all her children “Baby” you can’t get over the fact she treats her children et al. like poo poo. Oh, and she wants slave labor. Her highpoint of being a mother/grandmother, is to make an apple pie that is eaten in triumph with the whole family after a successful job. She cooks and cleans because she has OCD, but she is void of sincere motherly feelings. Apparently this is why all her sons have major flaws. Where are the fathers of these men, they’re all either referred to lightly, or jump in and out of their son’s lives, causing havoc in their wake.
One son wants to kill “Smurf,” “Pope”/Andrew Cody or actor Shawn Hatosy, is a good actor, but I have to admit Pope’s mother stole his manhood and he doesn’t have the where with all to get his manhood back from her. So the actor is constantly at odds with his violent self, looking foreboding at his mother and brothers who are have pool parties that rock the planet. He is a typical loner with a grudge. The only one who seems to have his manhood in tack is “J” or Joshua Cody (Finn Cole). He is the only one who can kill her, when she asks her sons to, since she has Cancer. However, it takes numerous episodes and the finale to get to that act.
One instance, out of nowhere we are thrown into flashbacks about “Smurfs” younger self, to try to tie in a shoot out later, where “Smurf” tries to get killed and have one of her son’s killed as well. It all was terrible TV!
The conclusion was hokey and really just plain stupid. For having binged watched the show, I expected a lot more, like ending with a really cool heist, instead of the brothers and their nephew “J” tackle some stupid crooks who claim the Codys are all washed up. They decide to “stick it to some idiots”, and prove that they are still viable even without their evil mother/grandmother “Smurf”.
So my rating you ask for this show, 6.7, if that. Why did I binge watch it, the scenery, the heists, and the cute guys.
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