I felt the same. I grew bored of the relentless chaos years ago, to the extent I almost gave up on it entirely. Could’ve done with some more of the quieter, reflective episodes like the final one.
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I’ve stalled half way through episode 2
Can’t really be fucked with “oh no a calamity has befallen the precious restaurant, how will we cope” . Just boring and stressful at the same time (like a shit job)
Can’t really relate to workaholics either - get a hobby you pricks , watch some prestige TV
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S5 is a fanfare and a reprise. One last hurrah, but vibing off the frenzy they had in the first two series. I kinda appreciate the different flavours and paces of the five series. Different courses for different folks.
Struggling to remember a show where come the end, I’ve cared so much about such a large number of characters.
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One of my favourite TV shows ever. Like I said before, it’s quite a skill to leave you emotionally invested in such a large cast. I dont think it’s so hard to stomach that each phase of the show has its different vibe, and I savour each of them.
Watching that final episode, I found myself unravelling a little on what it means to me. Putting the cooking profession to one side, this show is a real deep dive on ‘work’. What it means to put your heart and soul into work, trying to redeem yourself or work through traumas from beyond, trying to find meaning or fill a hole in your life… how that can work out positively for a character, and how another character can find themselves working themself to death or complicit in staying in an abusive environment for them. At the same time, that innate human drive to do something of meaning, to make something meaningful and beautiful, something that affects people… and again how you can reach moments of such pure feeling through your work but also of suffering and abuse. There’s also that tightrope Carmy walks between shutting people out working by oneself like a steamroller and working in a team - also that dichotomy between caring for the people you are pressure cookered together with in a team and trying to care about the work rather than the colleagues. Some people are like moths to a light bulb struggling with all of this. And one has to work in life. So your complex relationship with daily torment and exaltation continues.
All things that resonate for me. Cant for the life of me say whether thats a fringe take or a universal, but thats quite a heavy load of flavour to pack beyond the surface story arcs.
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We watched Gary last night. An interesting piece but didn’t really quite feel part of it. Was hard to go back to pre-Forks Richie, though.
Made me want to watch Punisher S1 again.
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Thought it was a great ending. What a show.
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Finished it over the weekend. Spoilers ahead obviously (and mostly gripes)
I liked
Some great moments for sure. Syd’s reaction to getting the stars, going back to work then running through to hug Carmen in the dining room was absolutely brilliant. Fak coming out his shell and asking the weatherman if he’d ever been “fucked so hard a banana comes out your ass.”
Cinematography perfect as ever. Some of the shots of the dishes from above were 
. There’s a scene of Syd sitting in the dining room with her back to the rain outside having a moment that could be a painting.
Really nice ending with all the faces there to celebrate Eva’s Birthday, one great big family, and finishing with Richie and Jessica on the plane to Japan 
I disliked
The storyline with uncle Jimmy, uncle Computer and Cheese - what the fuck was that all about? Seemed completely pointless. Unless it was just to find interesting ways for Oliver Platt to insult people, which admittedly I did enjoy.
Really frustrated me how in the middle of the supposed day from hell they were able to take a chill 5mins to make sure Marcus was ok after he blew his lid. Tightest service they’ve ever had, but still time for Carmie to show Tina and Sugar how to assemble dishes.
Some of the schmaltz was too much for me. Like I really like these characters and think a happy ending is great but Luca’s whole thing about it being the best restaurant he’d worked at because of family? Nah. Also Carm’s monologue about wanting to be an architect that went on forever and had absolutely nothing to do with architecture was crap. I felt empathy for the interviewer - “so, why exactly are you here?” Really no idea where the architecture thing came from either. This got pretty close to Game of Thrones level of bad for me.
The music - one of the main things I always liked about this show was the music choice. There’s that scene in S2 where Syd goes sampling at different joints soundtracked by the Durutti Column. The friends and family meal night where you’d go from the dining room to the kitchen and music would switch from cool indie to anxiety inducing Tangerine Dream (always thought that was clever), even I had to admit that REM and Pearl Jam were perfect choices as a card carrying ‘not very arsed about either of themt’ member. But to have them all replaced by fucking run of the mill Zimmercore was an absolute tragedy.
Overall
It has been a great show, just not one of the very, very best for me.
Think I said before but at the end of S4 they had a perfect ending for me. And I think that’s the ending the creators intended, but, because the show is so popular FX threw silly money at them for one last hurrah. Maybe that’s why they got Zimmer? Big money, let’s get MR Soundtrack! Fak already came out his shell. Richie already found his purpose and had his life changed. Camen put some demons to rest, made up with his mum, got back in with Claire. It was heavily suggested last season that Ebra had absolutely nailed the financial plan to franchise. We already knew Syd had the chops to run the restaurant and Marcus’ talent had been recognised. Did we really need to see them get their star, is that what the show was all about? I don’t really think it was. Did we really need to see what Carmen went onto next? It was rubbish anyway!
I’d like to do a full rewatch and will at some point. Have fond memories of S1, S2 and I’d say that Fishes and Forks are two of the best episodes of drama TV of all time, easily. But I feel there was that dip in S3 while they stretched things out and S5 just feels like a cash-in when they already had their ending.
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Could not agree more. Hated the first few episodes because of the tonal shift.
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Dude, it’s just a plate.
Mostly good though. 4/5 stuff with occasional peaks of 5/5 throughout its whole run.
The music in the first few episodes of S5 is absolutely doing my head in.
On the verge of actually being unwatchable.
Yeah it’s terrible. Genuinely hated it.
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