Reviewing Movies

Like all shows with a large ensemble cast it takes a bit of time to warm
up to this series but once bitten it becomes an addiction. The writers
conclude every episode with a cliff-hanger ending that makes one want to
see the next and owning the series on DVD makes it hard to stop.

The Matriarch of the family, Nora, is everyone's worst nightmare of the
stereotypical Jewish Mother--overbearing, controlling, and manipulative.
In this family secrets are an impossibility, privacy non-existent, and
gossip honed to a fine art. Modern communications make that spread
instantaneous. What is never in doubt no matter how loudly they argue or
what gets thrown is how much they love one another and care for each
other's well-being.

And this show is about family. There are no minor characters or
cardboard figures here, everyone is important. The only character who
left a bad taste in my mouth was the gay drug addict Justin brought home
in episode 8, season 3 to meet his Unce Saul.

The Starter Kit, introducing all the characters makes its appearance
with Season 3, it would have been most helpful had it been part of the
first season set.

The show confronts most hot-button social issues and in typical
soap-opera fashion has several running concurrently. Once more I am left
to wonder how any small group can withstand so much trauma in such a
small space of time. The sins of the Father keep haunting successive
generations to come. The practice of over-protective parenting and
smother-love can come back to bite the objects of that care. Money is
not always the cure for all ills and emphatically being rich is no
guarantee of happiness.