Series 3

I thought the latter episodes were better, especially episode 10 and particularly the last scene.

I'm looking forward to season 4.

My apologies for not putting the spoilers up right away...but at least I remembered today. I plead "Guilty, but still kind of new at some IMDb forum protocols.")

We've only gotten through episode 7. We're enjoying it, but think they dragged out the whole Venice/orchestra lockout/Rodrigo dithering/Hailey all-over-the-place plot lines too long. It should/could have been resolved and brought back to center at the end of episode 2. Half the season seemed disjointed, drawn out, and had too little to do with the orchestra, IMO. Though it was great to see Placido sing and do his short scenes.

I'm not particularly onboard with "Oh look, Hailey is going to be a conductor" with a few sessions of "feel the music" from Rodrigo and Thomas. That quite simply would never happen. I'm willing to suspend disbelief quite a bit. Even though my hubby and I are musicians, we can easily get over the things that aren't spot on, that exaggerate, that are cliches. In fact, we find some of the cliches quite funny as presented because, as they say, some things become cliches because they're true. We don't mind that the lead actors are for the most part not instrumentalists by training. (We did mind some of the dubbed vocals for Alessandra; there was really no excuse for the missteps in some places--they were being recorded and could have been corrected for pity's sake.) But Hailey conducting is a step too far for me. It certainly isn't ruining the season for us, but it feels forced.

We really enjoyed episode 7. I'd say that was our favorite so far.

Quick question: I know Saffron Burrows plays guitar. Was she playing in the scenes in episode 4?

Obviously spoilers ahead, derp!!


I thought it was a good season. All of Rodrigo's moments are still gold for me. I did think they wasted time in the first half of the season with the Italy episodes but I enjoyed seeing Monica Bellucci in an easy but satisfying role.

I've never thought much about Lola Kirke's acting, maybe I just can't help but compare her to her sister Jemima Kirke in "Girls" who I think overall is far superior, but she has always seemed pretty wooden. I would say that, other than Bernadette Peters and an occasional moment from Malcolm McDowell everyone but Rodrigo seems to be relatively flat in their performances. Particularly Saffron Burrows, who may look interesting but who I just don't think is that committed to her acting. I've never seen anything from her that really seems to go beyond the "Oh, look how tall and beautiful and weird looking this woman is." No offense meant to her or her fans, that is at least partially the writers' fault.

I also did not care for the sub-story of Hailey's friend who is so in to this unknown female composer and wants to open some egalitarian hipster "speak-easy" in Brooklyn...Blech! Boring and vapid to say the least. Why is she even a character?

However somehow the series as a whole still manages to keep me hooked. Mostly I think it's the older leads who are all very charismatic and consistently watchable; also I'm just a music nerd so it's engrossing in that way for me as well.

I saw an article about the show that called it "Hard to like but easy to love." I feel that that is somehow true, that despite what to me are a lot of obvious defects, the show as a whole has blood and verve and keeps me watching, for the most part, contentedly.

Also, I will echo the other sentiments about how ridiculous it is that Hailey is a conductor. Her whole thing has always been that she is supremely passionate about the oboe and then all of a sudden it's just--"Oh I will now be a conductor because..." And no real justification for her character that I saw. IMO, The last thing we need in season 4 is to have two conductors' story lines competing for screen time.


In season 4 I hope we see more; Rodrigo, Gloria and Thomas and less of Hailey and the young hipsters; no travel episodes which takes away time from the rich NY vibe (even though the past travel eps were good they just take too long to go no where); more music/philosophizing about music etc; more Bradford Sharpe!; and actually develop Rodrigo's romantic line in to something a little more tangible, I like the hinted relationship with the banker lady--enough of the tantrum-throwing divas like Bellucci's character and Anna-Maria.

Anyways, my two...or perhaps 3 cents.

I wasn't fond of 'Not Yet Titled.' It was a good premise, but boring as hell. I burned through the whole season Sunday because it was raining, but I agree that the last couple of episodes were good.

question - S3 Ep 1 - why didn't they hire a REAL opera singer instead of an actress (monica belluci?)

I am only on the third episode, so didn't read the other replies here (even though spoilers were obscured by black), but so far I'm not liking it. Monica Belucci is laughably bad.

Thought it was great, particularly the first half Venice storyline and episode 7. Gael Garcia Bernal is the superstar of this show and the rest are his (mostly pretty good) supporting cast, and when this show realises that is when it really hits its peaks. Since episodes 1-5 revolve around him and Monica Bellucci, who is the biggest star other than him to feature on this show, and with the backdrop of *beep* Venice, it's a constant pleasure.

After that the season seemed to slow down a bit, which wasn't necessarily bad but just not as spectacular, and unfortunately less Rodrigo and more Haley (who's good, but not Rodrigo-good). The experimentalism of episode 7 made it exceptional, otherwise it just felt like a soft landing towards the end. Nothing bad, just more comfort viewing than awe-inspiring.

Provided this show keeps taking road trips, featuring Rodrigo as its main character and trying to find guest stars with charisma to match, I'll keep looking forward to the next season.

I loved the scenery in the Venice episodes, but the plotline felt like a regurgitation of Rodrigo's crazy ex-wife and it all felt woefully out of place. Hailey was also annoying in the first few episodes. She was acting so obnoxious when she was doing an imitation of Walsh and her behavior in Venice. It was better once it returned to New York and the whole Monica Belluci thing was over.

I think Cynthia's character was underused - really, most of the orchestra characters were underused. It was perfectly watchable, but it took me several weeks to watch the whole season whereas I binged on the first two seasons in less than a week.