"Why Can't it be like that again?" (dialog, Dewey)

"I'm going to tell you something in confidence. It is all coming to an end." (dialog, Boyd)

Watching a top series move into doddering old age is like watching a beautiful woman change with the passing of years.

It is not that what you see in front of you isn't quality.

It is simply that the quality is not what it was.

This show exploded onto the scene in 2010 and was ground-breaking. The writing, the acting, the background, everything was interesting and new and explosive. Literally. The first time we meet Boyd in series 1 he has just yelled "fire in the hole" and is showing his flair with dynamite.

It is hard if not impossible to maintain that sort of momentum for six seasons but in the view of this reviewer they did, astonishingly, keep all plates in the air right to the end of the fourth season.

I think Season 5 was too Crowe-centric, placed too much reliance on that arc and became very claustrophobic. (Although Alicia Witt single-handedly carried almost every scene she was in.) And the "Ava in prison" arc must have looked great on paper but in the real world it was relentlessly depressing.

As we move into what has been announced as the final season, we could be in for some roadbumps, unless the production team rediscovers their inner fire in the belly.

Nice to see Timothy Olyphant, a much under-rated actor, have an "Executive Producer" credit even though it is not clear what that means, other than the show is successful and he is the star...? The "mystery developer" arc looks interesting but, off the top, the Ava-spying-on-Boyd routine is getting old real fast. And it is only the first episode...

Duration: 18 Discs HD DVD-9 Plastic Bag Packing Ver. ( All Episodes Complete Series )