Your Honor: What the Must Watch reviewers think
Every week, the Must Watch podcasters review the biggest TV and streaming shows.
This week, Scott Bryan and Hayley Campbell share their thoughts on Your Honor on Sky Atlantic.
Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston stars as a New Orleans judge forced to confront his own convictions when his son is involved in a hit and run.
Have you been watching it? What did you think? Leave your comments below...
Showtime 2019
Scott says: “Endlessly grim”
“So here’s the case for the prosecution, I don’t think this show is as good as it thinks it is. It’s got a brilliant cast - you’ve got Bryan Cranston who’s in one of the greatest shows of the last decade (Breaking Bad), you’ve got Michael Stuhlbarg, one of the best things in ‘Call Me by Your Name’. It has a great amount of people involved in it.
“It looks at what happens when you try to uphold the law in your job, but then something happens that'd mean the death of someone close to you if they were arrested.
“Yet, the drama is just so endlessly grim. Of course, there are many dramas out there that are grim, but they usually have some sort of pay-off or have an addictive quality that keeps you glued. This drama didn't have that. The pacing, for me, was also a bit off."
Showtime 2019
Hayley says: “Bryan Cranston breaking the law for the sake of his family again!”
“It is a tense, solid thriller. It’s got Bryan Cranston who is this face that we, as viewers, have come to trust and empathise with, and he’s breaking the law for the sake of his family again! It's very binge-able but I think you'll be a nervous wreck after a few episodes if you do.
“It's written by a British playwright called Peter Moffat, who used to be a barrister, so he knows how the justice system works. He wrote the BAFTA-winning series about 10 years ago called Criminal Justice. The first season of that was remade into the HBO series The Night Of, which starred Riz Ahmed and John Turturro, and I have heaped so much praise on that show I have nothing left to give. Your Honor has the same kind of tone and even some of the same actors. This new one isn't based on anything Moffat has already written, but I think taking stories from England, or by an English playwright, and setting them in America kind of heightens the stakes. The death penalty is very real in places — it certainly is in Louisiana — and I can imagine as a writer that would be so interesting to play with.
“The cast is amazing. Michael Stuhlbarg as the head of the crime family is supposedly someone who is so vicious that he strikes terror into the heart of Cranston’s character, because he knows exactly what he’s capable of - he’s a city judge, working cases every day. Stuhlbarg normally plays likeable characters like the dad in Call Me by Your Name (he gave a speech that made everybody cry), or at least he’s a character you want to win. He’s one of my favourite actors, I love him, and it’s odd to see him in a role that is so different to what we come to expect from him. It adds another layer to how unnerving it is.
“I just love seeing actors like Cranston and Stuhlbarg pitted against each other like this. The city of New Orleans plays such a huge character as well. We get to see them living their lives there, jogging through the strange and unique cemeteries, driving through the Lower Ninth Ward or living in the huge mansions. It is such a rare city to see on our screens. We saw a little bit of it in ZeroZeroZero on Sky Atlantic, but there is so much more of it here and I’m really enjoying it.”
Showtime 2019
Your Honor is available now on Sky On Demand and Now TV.
Must Watch is released as a podcast every Monday evening from BBC Sounds and all other good podcast providers.
This week, the team speak to former Frasier writer Joe Keenan about the return of the 90s sitcom. Plus they review The Terror on BBC Two and Ricky Wilson’s Art Club on CBBC.
