Axl is the morally good guy. He is a good friend, a good father, faithful husband. But at the same time he is shorting companies on 9/11. Making billions on breaking the law and getting away with it. But it is all the time victimless crimes. It is "only" money.
I don't think anyone could watch season 1 and come away not being team Axe. The deck is stacked so heavy in his favor as being root worthy plus Lewis is more fun and charismatic to watch on screen vs. Giamatti who comes off as a brilliant yet stiff college professor. I'm in the minority not liking Axe or Chuck very much. They did essentially portray Axe's "crimes" as harmless which made Chuck's pursuit of him seem unjustified which made him the villain going after America's favorite billionaire.
Chuck is the worst guy. Bad husband, bad friend, bad father. But he believes in the law. He is righteous. But the methods his office use are horrible.
In terms of being a bad husband you can argue both him and Wendy are culpable in the breakdown of thier marriage with Wendy being more committed to protecting her career and wanting Chuck to compromise and Chuck being more committed to his career and wanting Wendy to compromise. Unlike the Axelrods we have no clue how or why these two people would ever be married to each other. In terms of being a bad father, there was no evidence that Chuck is/was a bad father in season 1. The rare times we see him with his kids he seems loving, but again unlike Axe there is no real attempt to focus on him being a father which contributes to his character being less root-worthy. I am also not sure Chuck is a bad friend that dude that he went to the spa with and that club with seems pretty cool with him. Do you mean a bad friend to Brian? He does represent the law and there is no doubt he abused his power.
One of the the things I am going to be looking for in determining if I will continue to view this show through season 2 is more even handed writing between Axe and Chuck. It should not be so easy to side with Axe I feel the rivalry between these 2 characters needs to be more complex in order for the show to remain interesting.
reply
share