Friday, April 13, 2018

The Review: Hap And Leonard Season 2



Hap And Leonard Season Two 10/10

This will have some spoilers. Arcs! Story arcs! I have realized that this is what every show pretends to have but does not. I am tired of shows having twenty something episodes to tell one story. Even with commercials a twenty episode season has over thirteen hours to flesh a story out and most times do not. Hap And Leonard is not one of those shows. I just finished watching season two on Netflix and, holy shit, this show continues to be amazing. James Purefoy and Michael K. Williams return as the stars and manage to make this season even better than the first (click here to check out that review). This season has six episodes and three directors whom none of them worked during the first season but the show felt the same in the best of ways. It also had some of the same writers.


This season starts off with Leonard living in his late uncle Chester's house next to drug dealing gang members who are generally shitty neighbors. He is still recovering from injuries in the first season when his legs go through the floor of the house. He checks underneath and finds the skeleton of a small boy. He tells Hap who tells him to tell the police thinking they are doing the right thing. Immediately they are arrested. There is a history between the police and these two so nothing is going to be easy for them. Their new lawyer Florida Grange played by Tiffany Mack shows up and scares them free.


It turns out that Hap had a thing for her when they were children. Speaking of kids, this boy named Ivan played by Olaniyan Thurmon ends up in Leonard's care at the behest of his not quite boyfriend Raoul. Ivan was found in Leonard's place after overdosing on drugs from the neighbors next door. Hap and Leonard ask about the boy whose body was found under the house and starts to think his uncle may have killed him along with a bunch of other missing kids over the years. The police are hiding some stuff and are not saying a damned thing.


MeMaw who lives across the street from Leonard played by Irma P. Hall has a backstory that connects with this story incredibly and just when I thought I knew what it was I was super wrong. I don't even wanna kind of spoil her plot line in this because when I saw how it wrapped up I gasped. That is something this show made me do a lot which was not done by violence or jump-scares, but great storytelling. This show is driven so much by the good acting and a lot of times not even talking. There is a scene in the final episode that is a series of looks that made me go “Oooooooh...” It is so hard to write about this and not spoil things but I am trying my best. You don't have to have watched the first season of this show but I would suggest you do because there are small flashbacks that flesh out the past of Hap and Leonard. A third season has aired and I can not wait until it comes to Netflix. Check this show out. Now!

Click here for previous The Review.

No comments: