Watched the first episode and really liked it.
Let me get my complaints out of the way first, though. As an actual Minnesotan, I was distracted by the garish Minnesotan accents, which are so exaggerated that I'm not sure how much of it is meant as satire. (The scene with the prostitute saying "ohh yaaa" is surely satire, right?) I'm from the Twin Cities area but have traveled all over the state, and there are turns of phrase that I have legitimately never heard before. I have maybe come close to hearing accents that thick a handful of times in my life, but these days I think you would have to venture into the farest reaches of northern Minnesota.
I've actually spent some time in Bemidji. It's near the Chippewa National Forest, which is amazing and I used to go there every summer. My friend also lived in Bemidji for college. It's kind of a tourist/college town. It doesn't necessarily resemble what I've seen in the show so far, but that could change. It will be really interesting to see how they portray Duluth, because it's kind of a big city with a massive downtown and legitimately feels like Minneapolis when you're there. I was there in the fall so it's fresh in my mind.
Two dead giveaways that they're getting things wrong:
(1) Accents are the same from generation to generation. I defy them to find any living 40-year old in Bemidji who has an accent like Martin Freeman's, or his brother's, or his wife's. And the bully's kids would definitely not sound like that.
(2) "I heard it's gonna be negative ten." No one, and I mean no one, says "negative ten." It's "ten below" or "ten above." If you're going to get anything right, for God's sake get this one thing right.
Moving on...
There were way too many cartoon characters in the first episode, the bully and the wife in particular. But since they're now very much dead, maybe that won't be a problem. Still was a ham-handed setup for sure.
This is already my favorite Martin Freeman role. He was pretty much created for it. I love the way his blackout rage is shown... or not shown. We never see him punch his brother. Also with his wife... it's like he blacks out for a moment, and suddenly the hammer is sunk in her forehead. Great stuff.
Paint cans were so on the nose... I might have groaned. Less of that, please.
It's impressive that they managed to get to ice fishing in the first episode, but that's okay. I hope they return to it, because ice fishing is legitimately ridiculous.
