So, thinking about the eczema - and it made me realize why I think the show has missed the mark. I kind of liked the eczema stuff, I found humor in the fact that Stone went to a different doctor every week in a never-ending search for the cure. I felt like it defined who Stone was, how he saw himself, and how others saw him. I get the sense that Stone thinks that if he could get rid of the eczema, everything else in his life will fall into place - work and personal. And, so, I liked that bit of character building.
Then i thought about it, and realized that 3/4 of the way through the series, I have no idea what the series is about. There are so many angles the show could have taken:
- Show about Naz
- Show about Stone
- Show about the events of the night of the murder
- Show about the criminal justice process
Right now, I don't know if the show is about any of those things, or none of those things. If this was a show about Naz, then I think we would/should have seen more of his background, and what led up to him being in the spot he is today. Instead, we are getting oh-by-the-way drips of information that Naz may not be who we think he is - but even then, its not really clear. So, its not really a show about Naz.
In retrospect, this could have been a good series about Johns Stone. He seems to have a bit of depth to him, where you could have had a several season run where he takes on a different case each season. But, as much time as we spend on Stone, he really just seems to be an ancillary plot. We get enough information to kind of care about him as a character, but he fades into the background too often for the show to be about him.
If this was a show about the murder - whether as a who-done-it, or simply the process of building a case and a defense, then we should have seen a lot more from both the prosecution and the defense. We get a little bit of that, but its not really even-handed. Most of the prosecutor's scenes involve her eliciting questionable testimony from witnesses - making the viewer think the case is stacked against Naz, and the system is corrupt. And, that is fine, if you want to build a show around that concept - but then skip all the other stuff and focus on how its impossible for a typical defendant to get a fair trial. We are getting some bits of the defense investigation - but nothing to tie it altogether. Maybe that payoff is still coming - but if this was a show about the murder, and the investigation, we should have had more focus on that - instead of just drips. We have not seen anything in the trial, even from cross-examination to suggest what the defense plan is here. (And it still strikes me as lazy writing to have the lawyer make a lame objection that blows up in her face - just reeks of A Few Good Men - even if they are going for an ineffective counsel argument)
I could see this as a show about the process - how it chews up the players. We sort of see this with Naz, and his transformation in jail, but then we see snippets of how this is impacting his family - brother kicked out of school, now a delinquent, Mom and Dad forced into new jobs struggling to survive. I am expecting the ending to be something along the lines of Naz coming out of jail stronger and more confident than when he went in, while everyone around him has had their lives torn apart. But, if this is the case, then we have wasted a lot of time on character development of Stone, even Box, or the female lawyer, and not enough time watching Naz's family fall apart.
So, 6 episodes into a 8-episode season, and I don't know what the show is trying tell me. It just feels like there is too much for them to work with, and instead of picking a focus, the show is trying to do all of it - and in the process doing none of it.