"Goliath", Season 4, on Amazon Prime

[nuxvomica]

One of the reasons I first subscribed to Prime was I wanted to see Season 2 after watching Season 1 of Goliath on DVD. The first season was wonderful "L.A. noir" with great writing and acting; the second pushed the envelope with Mark Duplass as one of the creepiest villains ever (and a possible explanation for why billionaires are so desperate to hold onto their money); the third kind of went off the rails with Dennis Quaid an unconvincing antagonist and a story about water rights that didn't quite gel; but the fourth is terrific, more noirish, well-written and photographed, and wonderfully acted.

In the fourth season, McBride (Billy Bob Thornton), a brilliant, functionally alcoholic lawyer goes to San Francisco to sue Big Pharma over the opioid crisis. The first episode is dreamlike, disjointed and not very engaging. But hold on, it gets better, and that episode sets up a lot of backstory and underlying issues that play out throughout the season. If you see negative reviews on Amazon, they're probably from people who didn't make it past the first episode. Once you get to the second episode, the story hits its stride with intrigue, plot twists and courtroom fireworks.

J.K. Simmons is convincingly nasty as the "bag of dicks" pharma-CEO villain, and Jena Malone is perfection as the MS-suffering head of a prestigious law firm. McBride is joined by his trusty, long-suffering crew: lawyer Patty (Nina Arianda) and P.I. Brittany (Tania Raymond), even Marva (Julie Brister) appears in dream sequences. The cast is rounded out by Bruce Dern, Brandon Scott, Clara Wong, Elias Koteas, Robert Patrick and Haley Joe Osmant.

If you like detective stories, courtroom drama, and a satisfying David-and-Goliath battle, this is definitely worth a binge.

[FalloutShelter]

1. I have been a fan of GOLIATH.

Funny you should mention reactions to Episode 1 of Season 4. Just watched it last night and thought it was as if Chinatown and Barton Fink had a baby. I was hoping that the rest of season four was not so much style noir over substance, Glad to hear it gets better.

[The Wizard]

2. Only show I ever binge watched

They use the art of foreshadowing better than any series.

[nuxvomica]

6. I bailed after episode 1 but returned later

I gave it a second chance and glad I did.

[FalloutShelter]

7. Thanks for the heads up.

[Hoyt]

3. Gonna hate when Goliath ends.

[Faux pas]

4. One

of my all time favorites! The series finale is the bomb

[Sienna86]

5. Enjoying it.

Sad to think of series ending.

[MuseRider]

8. Thanks for this,

I tried watching it when it was first available. There was something I did not like about it and I never went back, usually I will. On your review and some of the answering posts I will give it another try. I first watched in based only on Billy Bob, I really like his characters but could not hold on to the show.

Gonna try again, I was needing some new things to watch as I wait for The Sandman, the new DWD from GOT etc.

Thank you!

[markie]

9. thanks...

been waiting... season 3 was a bit disappointing but I figured 4 had to be better... love McBride and the awesome women he surrounds himself with

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

10. Loved the entire series.

I hate to see it end.

[djm5971]

11. I'm going to miss Goliath

It and Bosch to me were the two best programs on Amazon Prime.