2051 - True Blood: season seven

And thus, it ends.  Thank the sweet lord.  I felt like I was cursed by this show to be mildly interested in it, yet never really satisfied.  It had a really strong start, and I’m not entirely sure just where it went off the rails.  There started a pattern where there was a bunch of random stories that came together mid season - and that was always largely impressive.  I have to say that I felt that this season was both a somewhat decent swan-song, but at the same time becoming a bit too much of a soap opera and less of the fun exciting show that we started off with.  This final season was very devoid of any real conflict or stakes, except for the very end (pun very much intended). 

If someone were asking if they should start watching this series, I’m not entirely sure what I’d say.  I suppose I’d say it’s worth giving it a kick, especially for the earlier seasons.  Like so many series it just went on for the sake of going on, having lost it’s umph and way.  I never hated this show, but if I’m honest it was always a guilty pleasure at best.

1972 - Girls: season three

I didn’t love the second season of this show - but I found this season to be back in fighting form, and probably at it’s strongest.  It’s lose, but we’re starting to see some serialization happening.  I guess my largest critique of this season would be the underuse of some of the supporting characters.  Don’t give me wrong, I love watching Hannah being a selfish twat as much as the next person - but I also really love checking in with the rest of the foresome.  And for a show about girls, the guys really do steal it for me, especially Adam Driver, who is enjoying being a break-out star, I imagine - and deservedly so.  I love how self aware this show is - and it really is the kind of thing that makes me jealous as a storyteller.  I think what Lena Dunham has done here is something a lot of us would love to be in the position to do - and I think she’s doing a bang-up job.  I’m very curious to see how the end of this season will resolve itself moving forward - but I’ll be there for sure.  If you haven’t started yet Season 1 is widely available - and while I don’t love Season 2 it’s worth blasting through to get back to the good stuff in this most recent season.

1965 - True Detective: season one

I have to be honest in that I struggled with this series.  I kept up with it more for reasons of pop culture than of any real interest.  It felt a bit like homework for the most part, like the vegetables on the side of the plate that you eat just to get it over with.  I was wow’d by the performances, and it’s visual panache, but I just never really got out of it what a lot of others did, or felt like it was special in any way.  So this will be short and sweet ‘cause you don’t need to read me going on and on about not digging something.  Bottom line - lots of people loved this - I thought it was merely okay.  I’d check out a second season based on what the new story was potentially.  

1935 - Project Greenlight: season two

I can't explain why - but whenever I'm in deep pre-production on a project I want to re-watch this series while doing paperwork or shotlists.  I think it helps prepare me, and also make me feel better that I seem to be better prepared and equipped than this folks.
For those who don't know, this was a reality series that HBO did with Chris Moore, Ben Affleck, and Matt Damon, where they held a contest to help find talent outside of the Hollywood system.  It's comfort food for me.  Any film nerd or person who likes behind the scenes stuff, you can't do much better than this - it's completely fascinating and frustrating at the same time.  And I think I might have just tracked down a way to watch the third season (finally!)
Watch it, learn from it - don't repeat their fuck-ups :)

1886 - True Blood: season six

This show is another of my guilty pleasures - although I have to say that this was one of the show's strongest seasons over-all.  Typically True Blood has a lot of stray plot threads and don't come together till mid-season but the unifying theme of Humans Vs. Vampires was super strong and effective in really bringing everything together.  All of the characters were interesting and important, and we got rid of some who have over stayed their welcome a bit (although SPOILER ALERT... I loved Terry and the actor who plays him).
I liked the Warlow storyline a lot and how it shifted and you didn't really know where it was going to go good or bad.  What I love about this show at this point is that every single character rides the line between hero of villain depending what their current motivation is and it works really well for the most part.  I have to say that, like a lot of fans of the show, the ending of the series left something to be desired and it'll be interesting what they do with next season given what they've set up - the idea of humans and vampires needing to pair up.  Could be very interesting to see how those pairings go.
It was sad to lose Alan Ball after last season, but I think the shake-up has been a good thing for the show - which doesn't seem to have an end date at this point.  As long as this season wasn't the last we've seen of Erik I'll be happy.  I have no problem with killing off major characters, but if that was the way they took him out it would be pretty disappointing.
So there it is - another season down - if you haven't started yet I'm not sure where a good entry point is, outside of the start... to get the full experience you kind of have to go all the way back... enjoy!

1815 - Girls: season two

The first season of this series was easily one of my favourite things about television last year.  It was one of those things that made me jealous to my core.  It had a language, a style, that I was envious of.  Whenever I thought of a series I wanted to create I'd often ask myself "What is MY 'Girls'?"

And then this second season happened.  And… well… I don't know… If I'm honest I'm not sure that I entirely recognize this show right now.  It's characters just felt like they wanted to be angry and terrible to each other for an entire season only to become happy again at the VERY end.  A lot of reviewers have commented that this seasons end doesn't feel earned and I'm inclined to agree. 

There is so much about this series that I love still.  I'll still be tuning in when season three comes around.  I adore Adam Driver, and all the other guys on this show.  The women are a bit frustrating for me.  Hannah's, out of the blue, OCD, just felt like another crutch for a character who's entire existence appears to be about making excuses for why she isn't further along with life.  She's, clearly, a self saboteur, and we know that - and while I admire Lena's decision to do that with her character, it makes you not like her a whole hell of a lot. 

It's a series that is not for everyone.  I loved the first season, and found this one enjoyable in parts and frustrating in others.  I remain cautiously optimistic about the next season.  I want to love the shit out of it.  I really do.  I hope this review doesn't turn anyone off.  That's not my intention whatsoever.

1759 - True Blood: season five

This could very well be a record low for me in terms of this blog.  As most of you regular readers know I've spent this summer making my second feature film Sex After Kids, and so with that my evenings and weekends essentially disappeared - and now that I'm in post-production it's not much better.  I expect that later this fall I'll be catching up on my viewing in a major way so stay tuned for that!
In the mean time, True Blood!  True Blood is a messy show, and it's not just because of all the sexy gore.  It's pretty famous for starting seasons with a bunch of seemingly random and pointless storylines, and then finding a (usually pretty neat) way of getting them all together by the end.  But sometimes they just have terrible storylines like Terry and his war-ghost thing.  If this show was a hamburger, that would have been the bread crumbs you put in when you just don't have enough of the good stuff to make it a proper meal. 
I'm going to get into some SPOILERS, so avoid the rest of this if you're not caught up on this season.  This season was more-or-less about the looking war between humans and... everyone else, I suppose.  They showed it in a nice small way with a hate-monger group, and that was a good indication about how there were probably groups of people like this all around.  We got re-introduced to a newly vamped Rev. Steve Newland (awesome), as well as big-bad Russel (who went out in about as anti-climatic a way as possible).  The surprising highlight of this season for me was Tara as a vampire.  I never thought Tara would become one of the most interesting characters on this show, but they did a phenomenal turn-around with her.  And the decision to have the slow-play between her and Pam was just pure wonderful.  Can't wait to see more of them.  Eric is probably my real favorite character - he's the most complex - not a villain, not a hero, but he's got a good heart beneath it all.  He gives a shit when it counts, but he's not afraid to get his hands dirty.
Another one of the stronger character moves was slowing turning Bill from this pansy vampire that we first met into... well, I can only assume that he's going to be almost pure villain when we return next season.  It would have been a complete shock to have killed him all together - but the choice they've made here, if done properly, is pretty damn delightful.
I don't love this show, but it's absolutely a guilty pleasure of mine.  If you want to see a wonderfully campy soap opera about vampires, werewolves, and other creatures in the deep south - it doesn't get much more fun than this.

1747 - Girls: season one

I'd seen Lena Dunham's Tiny Furniture a while back (still on netflix, I believe) - you can find my thoughts on it by clicking her tag below.  And I was pretty intrigued to see that she'd scored a show with HBO and Apatow working with her.  And then I totally forgot about it until twitter went all ablaze the day after it's debut.
No point in burying the lead - I loved it from the get-go.  The characters were all real and interesting, fucked up, yet loveable.  It's the world of people just trying to figure out who the hell they are and what they hell they're doing - and it's done with such a strong sense of self mockery that you can't help but be absolutely charmed by it.  The show has this bizarre backlash to it, that was almost condemning it for being the level of quality that it is, feeling the need to attack it in other ways like saying that the cast was "too white".  I know it's the hip thing to do, but any time I see a show where there's the token black friend I almost always roll my eyes.  I'm not against ethnic diversity in casting at all.  My rule is always - best person for the job.  But there's a lot of people in this industry that cast roles and enforce racial diversity where it doesn't perhaps fit.  And that's all I'll say on that.
It's hard to describe this series.  It's about a group of twenty-something women who are trying to find their place in the world - pretty low concept idea - but the execution is wonderful.  Dunham is a tour-de-force on screen, but then when you realize that she penned and directed a good bulk of the series as well, you realize just what a tremendous talent she is.  She's not interested in making herself or her cast mates look pretty or likeable.  She makes them interesting and that's more than enough.  This isn't Entourage where the characters go through hell and then some magic offer comes in that puts the characters back on top - this is the real world where the characters go through hell… and then they are stuck in hell for a little bit and have to fight their own way back out.
I'm trying to avoid spoilers so that you can discover this beautiful show on your own, but one thing I will say that was the absolute stand-out of the season for me was the relationship between Adam and Hannah - the way they shifted perspective and gave you insights into these people and then turned that around on us was absolutely masterful. 
The only thing that sucks now is having to wait till season two comes back around.  I want to do a spec of this show for my writing portfolio and so now it's just a matter of coming up with the perfect episode concept.  Other than that I can't wait to check in on these girls when they return.  It'll make my wife happy too (it's her new favourite show - and could be mine as well...).

1736 - Project Greenlight: season one

Like I said when I re-watched the second season on this show, I find these highly rewatchable and highly addictive.  Especially when I'm doing some prep work and wanting something fun in the background. 
I can't imagine making a film, let alone a first feature, under the microscope that this series requires.  I really enjoy behind the scenes stuff and this show does it so well.  It just doesn't feel set-up at all - like we're just watching a wonderful train wreck.  It's the power of editing, but this season highlights a lot of the film's personalities good and bad and it feels... honest?
I don't think Pete Jones is a talented writer or director.  I partly feel like he was picked because he'd make good television fodder (and he did!).  I think their selection process was corrected by the second time around, and it's a shame that this only went 3 seasons (why, oh why, have they never released a DVD of it... :( ). 
If you like the magic behind moving making, this is a great show to watch - and it's extra entertaining considering all the fuck-ups and how much of a little bitch Pete Jones can be.  I'd like to think that a lot of the things I do, it's because I saw Pete Jones doing it wrong first here.  So thanks Pete!  I appreciate the help wherever I can get it!

1731 - Project Greenlight: season two

I started rewatching this series last week when I was doing prep for our weekend shoot for Sex After Kids.  It's a ridiculously addictive show and I always end up watching it in marathon blocks.  I've got the first two seasons (bastards never released the third on DVD that I've been able to find :( ). 
Being right in the thick of making my second independent feature film there's a certain pride I take in watching this show and seeing them bitch about how they've only got $1M dollars to make their movie.  Boo-fucking-hoo.  They probably spend more on lunch their first day then we're spending on our entire thing.  Not that I'd turn away from a chance to make a film with a (proper) budget, but there's also a lot of waste on film and television sets.  People tend to want and need things just because they've always had them as opposed to really, actually, needing them. 
This season was different from the first in that they had separate competitions for directors and writers.  I still wonder how much of their casting is about picking the contestants that'll be the most entertaining on screen.  I'm sure they'd like to make a decent film out of the whole thing, but I imagine that the TV show does more revenue and is, therefore, more important.
If you're a film nerd and interested in behind the scenes of making a film, there's few things as indepth as these.  Check 'em out if you can find them!

1655 - Talking Funny

Ricky Gervais has a pretty great career at this point.  He's in a place where he can, more or less, do whatever he wants and more importantly do things that amuse him.  He even says that in this special, that he's not an every man, but there are enough people out there that respond to what he does, that he's able to be successful at it.  And here he's assembled some of the top comedy minds to talk with him for an HBO special.  Clever man, doing something he wants to do anyway and get paid for it.  So as you can see above he's with Seinfeld, Chris Rock, and my personal favorite of the group, Louis CK. 
For something that is really just four people sitting around talking this is a very very fast moving hour long special.  What I especially love about these four is how individually gifted they are, but how much they respect each other's opinions.  I love the different sides of the different topics.  I love listening to them and how they work their material and how much care and craft they put into it.
For any lover of comedy, and especially students of it, this is absolutely required viewing. 

1617 - Curb Your Enthusiasm: season eight

The first thing you need to realize when you watch this show is that, in reality, Larry David is a billionaire (or close to it).  He absolutely does not need to do this show.  This is more like his hobby - and what a great one at that. 
This was the first season that didn't really attempt to have a strong ongoing arc - unless you count the relocation to New York, which did a lot for pumping fresh blood and ideas into the series.  Losing Cheryl Hines gave Larry the freedom he needed to really be himself (and what a treat that was).  With Leon as his sidekick there was no end to the delight.  There were some absolutely fantastic episodes this season and some that were just good.  I know that most people don't think like this, but what makes Curb Your Enthusiasm particularly great is it's comedic structure and how things come back to bite Larry.  In the lesser episodes you see them coming, but when the show is really popping you're along for the ride and not thinking about it, and then when it hits you it's ridiculously satisfying.  I think this series struggled a few seasons back but it's in fine form right now.  I'll keep watching so long as Larry David keeps making them.

1616 - True Blood: season four

This is an interesting show in that it doesn't act like any other hour-long cable drama.  It actually feels a bit more like a soap-opera - and I say that in the best possible way.  What this show does better than most, if not all, is their cliff-hangers.  This season actually had a few episodes that left on lovely notes instead of the usual cliff-hangers, which is oddly just as unsettling. 
So this is going to be able the entire season, so expect SPOILERS AHEAD.  If you want a general recommendation then here goes: it's a really good show - and if you're into vampires, werewolves and numerous other types of mythic creatures then you're probably going to love it. 
Okay - now into the meat of it.

This was a really really strong season for True Blood.  It felt a tad meandering early on, but everything came together quite well.  Even characters like Tara (who, honestly, always felt like she could have disappeared and not made any real difference) seemed to serve some purpose this time around.  It appears that each season brings aboard a new creature to deal with, this time around it's the witches, and to some degree the Fae - although that plotline disappeared very quickly, and just barely stuck it's head out here and there.  I assume that it's going to be something sprinkled along for a bit and then will probably feature heavily in the future - perhaps even in the final season (whenever that will be).
Something that True Blood does quite often is leave storylines, Jason and the Panther-Clan seemed to be pretty interesting, but then as soon as the will-he-turn question was answered it was dropped.  Again, perhaps we'll see them all again later (although I much prefer Jason's relationship with Jessica steaming up - let's be honest, what was sexier than her Little Red Riding costume in the finale?).  One thing I was particularly tickled to see was Reverend Steve from the Fellowship of the Sun returning (and as a vampire, no less).  Although as much jeopardy as it seemed that Jason was in, the dude was outside his house and the only way to harm Jason would be if Jason decided to invite him in.  So Jason's pretty safe.  Like usual True Blood wrapped up the central conflict of this season rather early in the episode and spent the rest of the time setting up next season's arcs - like the one I just mentioned.  One of the really fun ones was seeing that Russell had freed himself from his concrete grave (when they didn't give him the 'True Death' it seemed pretty clear that he would be returning at some point).  Tara could be dead - could be alive - I could care less.  And everyone else is in a pretty pickle as well.  This was easily one of the better seasons of the show (who didn't love Eric's amnesia?  delightful! - and it was the first season the Bill became truly interesting), and I really look forward to season five. 

1615 - Entourage: season eight

And so it ends.  Entourage gets a lot of flack for being a comedy without jokes.  I always describe the show as being something akin to a doughnut, it's not something you ever need to watch.  It's not going to satisfy you in a way that a proper meal or dessert would - but every now and then you just kind of want it, and you don't need someone giving you shit for that.  That's like watching Entourage. 
This season has been... okay.  In an effort to wrap things up it just felt a little too clean for my liking.  There will be SPOILERS coming, so don't read on unless you've seen it.

They essentially decided to wrap everything up nice and tidy - everyone's relationships got repaired, Drama is on his way to becoming a star, Turtle is finally a successful business man in his own right, and Vince... in the biggest WTF of the finale, is getting married to the woman who, mere episodes ago, called him a vain ladies man, and somehow a twenty-four hour date with him (that we didn't get to see) made her want to marry him right away.  Alice Eve was a phenomenal character and this episode just turned her into another bimbo for Vince.  The show avoids SHOWING us how perfect for each other these two are and just TELLS us that they are, the same way that the show always let us assume that Vince was a talented actor (the show actually made a poor decision in every now and then showing Vince actually acting, and thus shattering the illusion). 
I always enjoyed watching Entourage, but I can't say I'll miss it.  I'll watch the movie when it comes out, and hopefully they'll really put the characters to task now that they, essentially grown-up. 
The best part of the series finale is after the credits when Ari, who recently gave everything up for his family, is given the job offer of a lifetime.  Now THAT was a perfect note to go out on.
So if you've been watching all along you've probably already seen this season - but if you're just new to the series, proceed knowing that it's just what it is - no more, no less.  And that's okay.

1536 - Cathouse: season two

Not much more to comment on that I didn't about the first season of this series.  This season didn't really expand too much or go too much more indepth - in fact I was a bit disappointed in it and found that they recycled a lot of material from the first season.  The first season almost had this underlying storyline if you paid attention about the inner politics and that just wasn't here all that much in this season.
I think there's one more disk coming with something that's meant to be a musical - which should be a lovely train wreck.  A fun little show if you're curious about the sex industry - but don't expect anything overly expose about it - it's viewed through some pretty thick rose coloured glasses.
Cathouse: The Series

1535 - Big Love: season five

So.  That happened.  I'm pretty sure that the above photo is a press release from a previous season, but I don't care.  I love it, and I'm using it.  Okay, so this is going to be pretty darn SPOILER HEAVY so proceed at your own darn risk.

First I'll say that this is by no means my favorite series of all time.  I don't think it's something that I'll ever find myself rewatching, and it's not the kind of show I'm dying to get back to inbetween seasons, but it's a show that I always enjoy while I'm watching it.  It's a pretty interesting show in that it manages to balance a lot of different tones quite well, with ease.  No small feat.  I kind of felt like the show drifted somewhere in the middle - not quite sure where it wanted to head - but that it got there in the end.  More on that in a bit.
I think that what this show did somewhat poorly was the way it handled it's large cast.  In a lot of ways it bit off more than it could chew, and just spit it out when it didn't need it anymore.  Teenie, the (practically) red-headed step-child (actual daughter though) is a character that they probably wish they never even created.  She had but one interesting storyline the whole time involving her showing the other neighborhood kids pornography.  But outside of that, and perhaps some other things in the first season, she was completely wasted.  Somewhere in the fourth season they cast another actress to play her, but found ways to mostly keep her away - and then this season she just so happened to go off and live with Sarah so that they wouldn't have to deal with her.  And Joey.  I mean, come on - he was a pretty damn important character - but apparently he and Wanda will just forever wander around in Mexico.  There are more examples of this, but those are the main ones.  I realize that life is messy, and not everything has to be resolved, but I think that these particular pieces were just shoved under the rug.  They did it with storylines as well (I'm looking at you Native Casino)
Now, that brings us to this actual season.  There was much mocking of season four - I never really had a big problem with it - and it did what it needed to do to bring us to this ending.  I was not expecting it, but I bawled my ass off at this show's conclusion.  And it wasn't sad soppy crying - it was the tears of a happy happy man.  I thought that the ending they went with was so touching and perfect. 

HUGE SPOILERS NOW

Had Bill had lived it would have been messy.  He would have been in jail, it would have been a dark cloud over everything.  This was their way of letting him go out a hero.  Carl was an odd choice for his killer, but they seeded it just fine.  It couldn't have been Alby or some random fundamentalist - that would have been too much of a statement.  But instead, through his death, and seeing a glimpse of the family a year following, let us know just how powerful Bill was - it was able to keep his family together, even in death.  This show was never about Bill, it was always about the sister wives and never was that more obvious than in this episode. 

Like I said, I've always enjoyed this series, but I'm glad to see it coming to an end.  If I'm honest, I'm just sick of watching these poor people suffer, and often with such melodrama.  It was a lovely show while it latest.  The creators have a two year exclusive development deal with HBO so it'll be interesting to see what they come up with next...
Big Love: The Complete First Season   Big Love: The Complete Second Season  Big Love: The Complete Third Season  Big Love: The Complete Fourth Season

1530 - Cathouse: season one

I've never seen the original documentaries that this series spawned from, so I can only comment upon the series itself.  This is a show that essentially gives us a window inside of a brothel called The Bunny Ranch - a window is probably not the best description - they let us in the room - literally.  By the end of this first season you have a pretty good understanding of how this place runs, the kind of people that frequent it (a wonderful variety) and jut the nature of a business based around sex and sales. 
I find sex fascinating - it's the thing that begins (almost) all of our lives - with very few exceptions.  I find it fascinating how some people just push it off as no big thing and how others covet it as something sacred.  The way people talk about and deal with sex says a lot about them as a person, I think.
What makes this truly interesting is how candid everyone involved is.  The three ladies pictured above are probably of the most interesting (which is saying something in a series like this).  From left to right you've got Sunset Thomas, whom when we meet her is dating and living with one of the owners, Hof.  Again, a very fascinating relationship.  In the middle is AirForce Amy, the veteran and former top earner, now having to deal with the fact that she's not always going to be the top dog - and what that does to her mentally and emotionally (based on the way she talks I wondered if she didn't have some kind of mental issue...  And then my favorite, Isabella Soprano.  She's by no means 'the innocent' however she's almost the person whose point-of-view we're often seeing these things from.  She's intelligent and articulate and always willing and eager to learn new things.  She's also probably the most normal of the group and I imagine a lot of people watching this would probably wonder how she got involved in all of this.  My guess is that she simply likes sex and found a way to make a shit-tonne of money from it.
If you air on the more prudish side of sex then this probably is not going to be for you.  There is lots of nudity and sex, lots of frank conversations, lots of insight to the people who involve themselves in this business - but if you're fascinated by sex then you'll probably enjoy this piece. 
Cathouse: The Series

1502 - Curb Your Enthusiasm: season seven

 

I am ridiculously behind on this show in terms of this season.  I can't even think of why I wasn't watching it while it was airing, that being said (inside joke for the fans)...

A lot of people thought this was the last season, but as it's been reported the show is coming back for another round.  This season could easily have been the last.  The Seinfeld reunion is a nice bookend to the entire idea of the series, and the final scene of the season finale was a perfect note for the series to go out on.  So hopefully whenever Larry David does decide to finish the show he'll come up with something even better.

I think if I had a complaint about this season it's just that I wanted more of the Seinfeld cast integrated throughout - but that's just me being selfish.  I love the relationship between Larry and Jerry, and conversely the passive-aggression between Larry and Jason Alexander - really funny and smart.  The Michael Richards call-back to his infamous racial slurs was a nice touch.  This season was full of typical Larry stories and plots, and I loved the way that a lot of the classic Curb storylines were sprinkled throughout the Seinfeld Reunion script, giving us a glimpse into the idea that all of the stuff we saw the gang go through on the original series just may have somewhat happened to the real Larry. 

I always liked Seinfeld, but I think I like Curb more.  It's a great show, it's probably not for everyone, but anyone who has a thrust towards the dark side of comedy would probably enjoy it.  Looking forward to seeing what Larry comes up with for the next season!
Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Seventh Season

1410 - Entourage: season seven

This is a series that I've often described as being like a pastry, I know it's not going to really satisfy me nutritionally, but I don't care - it tastes good. This season managed to do something that the previous six did not - they made Vince an interesting character. They did, however, also make him a douchebag in the process - but at least now I want to watch him all the time instead of little moments here and there.
This is a show that's gotten better as it went along and now it's HBO's longest running series. Only one more season is planned from what I've read and I just saw something that suggests it'll be a shortened season, only six episodes - and then the promise of a theatrical film.
For a series known for it's crazy ups and downs this season ended on the biggest down of all, and it'll be a lot of fun to see how it comes back up, or if this series has a much darker ending in mind... guess we'll have to wait to find out...

1322 - Big Love: season four

There's been a lot of people slagging this season. I think it was an interesting one, and a move forward. This season was more like a hallway (I use that expression a lot these days, don't I?) between the old and the new. Now with Roman gone for good it's a clearing for new ways good and bad. Seemingly some of those bad are taken care of, but others are just emerging. Characters such as Nicky & Alby are blossoming. Margie is a constant delight, and the return of Ana was perfect, especially towards where it's leading us. This season ended on a wonderfully ironic note and I'm very curious to see where it goes. This is by no means my favorite show on television, but I enjoy it and I'll continue to watch it. If you haven't and you're curious, give it a whirl - but keep in mind it's intended to be a bit of a melodrama, and goes further with that as each season carries along.
Looking forward to more. Glad they decided to do a short season rather than force extra episodes where they might not belong.