Directed by: Albert Hughes
Distributed by: Peacock
Written by Alexander Reams
55/100
The final night of this stay at “The Continental” concludes with nearly a whimper, any hope that “Night 2” left us with is quickly dashed and the worries of too much left to do, even for a feature-length episode (this one clocks in at 97 minutes, only 7 shy of the original “John Wick”) were confirmed all to quickly. The ensemble of Winston (Colin Woodell), Miles (Herbert Point-Du Jour), Lemmy (Adam Shapiro), and Jenkins (Ray McKinnon) execute their plan with no real difficulty. The Continental is quickly taken and Cormac (Mel Gibson) is taken off the table with too much ease. Everything that needs to happen for their plan to work does, it’s one of the most egregious (and lazy) employments of plot armor in recent history. Each performer does their part, and ultimately Gibson’s annoying turn as the current manager is the sorest of all the thumbs that stick out. He’s constantly the intruder in scenes, and his role is almost inconsequential by the end.
Despite much of the episode being a significant letdown to an already subpar show given its lineage, its saving grace is the final scene between Winston and an Adjudicator (Katie McGrath). It’s possible that its quality is seemingly greater because of the previous 90 minutes, but the inflection and manner of speech that Winston has carried throughout the show is gone, and here is the Winston that Ian McShane originated. What then happens is the inevitable question of “why wasn’t this done to begin with?” and understandably so. For a show that was created in the same world as the action franchise that has revitalized the action genre and raised the standard for fight choreography, it’s almost unknowable if not for the name “John Wick” being in the subtitle. Despite this, it will still become one of the shows that gets ripped from its original platform so hopefully, it can be licensed, which is sad because of the wasted potential.
“The Continental” Trailer
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