Underrated

Anyone else feel like this show's a bit unfairly underrated? No, it's not in the top tier of TV, it's not Deadwood/Mad Men/Sopranos/The Wire-level, etc. But it's definitely a really solid second-tier series (maybe third-tier if you're being conservative about it). Put another way, an easy 8/10 if not a masterpiece-status 10/10.

For one thing, it's surprisingly consistent. All seasons are at the very least "good." The only real disappointments are Season 7 not being up to the same level as the rest -- it's not bad, but the writing just feels a bit tired, and certain plots like the Norwegians, nurse strike/hospital closing, Coop leaving, Jackie slumming it in diversion, etc, just don't satisfy like this show usually does. (The ending is very good and fitting, though). The only other big problem that comes to mind is the way the show presses the "restart" button in the Season 5 premiere, after the new creative team took over the show. It's pretty cringe-worthy, putting all our favorite characters back together at work suddenly and even getting Eddie hired back against all logic. Plus Cruz, one of the show's best characters, disappears and only comes back for a couple episodes later on. Thankfully, though, the show gets really good after that hiccup at the start of S5, with the rest of that season being very good and Season 6 being one of the best, most dramatic of the series.

Then you have Season 4, likely the best one, which shows that this series wasn't afraid to take risks -- a big part of why it avoids the fate of so many endlessly-renewed Showtime half-hour dramadies (cough Weeds cough). The first three seasons are also really good, especially the first two (by S3 all the secret-keeping feels a bit tired, making S4's change-up very welcome); they set up a great, simple template which the show will later experiment with.

And of course Edie Falco is excellent throughout. She's a great character, Jackie, complex and fascinating and capable of inspiring both sympathy and repulsion on the viewer's part. But I don't think the writing is *that* below the quality of her performance; the common TV snob view is that it's a dumb Showtime series that jumped the shark after the first or second season or whatever, and that the only reason it might be worth seeing is Falco. I disagree. The show can bee too quirky, too precious and too sentimental or cliche'd, but it also can be very smart, effortlessly suspenseful, moving, and is always 100x more informed on the subject of addiction (esp. opiate addiction) than all but a handful of other series and films out there.

Yet most people just act like the show doesn't exist, or couldn't possibly be any good. I think it deserves much better.