Hunters: Season One
February 22, 2020 7:27 AM - Season 1 (Full Season) - Subscribe

Untold numbers of Nazis are living in secret in the the 1970's United States, conspiring to build a Fourth Reich. 19 year-old Jonah Applebaum (Logan Lerman) is drawn into the orbit of Meyer Offerman (Al Pacino) and his secret band of Nazi hunters. Created by David Weil and produced by Jordan Peele.

An Amazon original series.
posted by DirtyOldTown (18 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is going to produce some pretty divided responses. It takes hurt and anger over the Holocaust and uses it to power a 70s style exploitation revenge grinder. There's going to be an argument that it's cathartic and it provides an outlet for frustrations at the increasingly transparent place white supremacists have in our culture. There are also going to be people incensed that something so serious and real is being used as an engine for a slick, flashy entertainment.

I've only seen one episode so far. I haven't decided where I line up yet. But it's not boring. That's for sure.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:12 AM on February 22, 2020 [4 favorites]


I thought it was unbelievably cheesy, both in large and small ways.
posted by thelonius at 1:54 PM on February 22, 2020


Definitely cheesy. What kind of cheese is it and how much do I want to eat are my questions after one ep.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:14 PM on February 22, 2020 [2 favorites]


Well, the opening scene made it clear that they were going for something.....over-the-top, yes.
posted by thelonius at 2:32 PM on February 22, 2020 [1 favorite]


OK taking a look at Episode 2. There are some things about this I'm maybe not OK with....in a world with active Holocaust deniers (and probably increasing in both numbers and influence), should you really promulgate on film depictions of fictional, Tarantino-esque concentration camp atrocities? Doesn't that give support to people who, for decades now, have been claiming that the genuine atrocities committed there were "fake", as Trump has taught people to say of any facts they don't care for? That's only one issue, I don't want to attempt to speak for Jewish people w/r/t other serious concerns.
posted by thelonius at 7:58 PM on February 22, 2020


I thought the pop culture references were great! It’s so unlikely the serious Holocaust deniers are looking to an Amazon fictional series as “proof.” Cheesy, maybe, but less pretentious than Man in the High Castle.
posted by Ideefixe at 9:31 PM on February 22, 2020 [3 favorites]


I found the first ep so slllloooowwwwwwww. I felt like there was more concern I should see and appreciate the set design (which I did, I didn't need characters to walk ssssslllloooooowwwwwwlllyy.)
posted by miss-lapin at 10:40 PM on February 22, 2020


Tried and failed to get into it. Had to nope out at the nerdy kid getting bullied after Star Wars. No thanks.
posted by Mogur at 8:47 AM on February 23, 2020


It's tough going sometimes, but my gut feeling is that the show's insistence on showing its Jewish characters facing real violence and suffering on an ongoing basis is intentional.

There is a sort of conflict between the idea that the Hunters could be like superheroes and the reality that what they do is tough going, does not always go their way, and the odds may be stacked hopelessly against them. Judah isn't enjoying dishing out comeuppance. He is suffering.

I am trying to decide if this is simply a side effect of a Frankenstein's monster stitching together of divergent tonal sources or if it's commentary that the show's creator David Weil (who is Jewish) is working with in a very purposeful way.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:50 AM on February 23, 2020 [1 favorite]


Ha! As Jonah enters Meyer Offerman's home for the first time, he's met by a white haired servant, who instantly reminded me of actor Wesley Addy as Rock Hudson's servant in the 1966 John Frankenheimer flick, Seconds. Jonah enters the library, what is Offerman viewing? Seconds!

Kinda mirrors the powerful, secret underground conspiratorial organizations-theme in this first episode. Got me hooked. We'll see how the next few episodes go.
posted by 2N2222 at 12:52 PM on February 23, 2020 [2 favorites]


I think I guessed the twist by episode 6, latest
posted by eustatic at 8:26 AM on February 24, 2020


Yes! Oh but it was better than expected. I think this series is worth it, very self aware. Like the new Watchmen, it is about superhero fiction as rememory, the past as the ghosts that haunt us into the present. It s a very dark meditation on the USA of now, but the USA of now is pretty dark, fair.

The lurid intro is the sugar that leads into some mystical and heavy things about murder, death, violence, mercy, mourning, oh this it s very good I think.

And I am not jewish american, although my Euro relatives did flee the continent partly for religious reasons, a couple times, Cajun and other ways, a couple of different family paths, so hey, who knows sometimes, but it s also fitting to me that comics and 70's exploitation films were, in a large way, creations of Jewish americans, or you know, without Jewish americans, those things would not exist. this show uses them to get you to the place where you 're ready to have a deeper feeling about the realities of anti-Semitism and generational trauma as lived in the USA.I

(It does kind of talk right past the long history of anti-blackness in the USA, I mean, the Swiss bank has some plates, shoes, and rattles, but the whole USA was financed on the bodies of black Americans, but hey, every show can t be everything)

I feel like this show has that kind of pride in those cheesy cultural touchstones that comes from an intimate knowledge of those cultural products, a clear view of their limitations, and a deep understanding of the roots of those fantasies, and the show wants you to understand the roots of those fantasies. For these are heroes, not of ink, but of light and celluloid, or I guess, the digital file.

If this is an absurd show, it fits in an absurd time-the 1970's being the start of the longer Trump Amerikkka era, very good for this show, a very smart selection of setting.
posted by eustatic at 12:31 PM on February 24, 2020 [2 favorites]


Well, it was an interesting twist. I am still unclear about certain plot lines, but I did miss a few episodes while the husband was binging the show. The show seemed kind of a mess with an initial vibe of the Mod Squad/Ironsides hunts Nazis and then careened between Inglorious Basterds and Holocaust films, like Schindler's List. I am not sure that there will be a Season 2 though they left plenty of room for that being the case.

I look forward to seeing more discussion, but I am still digesting and may end up watching the episodes that I missed just to piece the puzzle together.
posted by jadepearl at 10:16 PM on February 29, 2020 [2 favorites]


Stay away from Slate articles if you want to avoid a sudden “stop reading now if you want to avoid spoilers MAJOR SPOILER HERE” maneuver in the middle of the review.
posted by thelonius at 7:21 PM on March 3, 2020


Did they ever really tie up what the hell was going on with Sister Harriet's double/triple life? I kind of got the impression she was the daughter of Jewish parents who got her the fuck out of Europe in the early days of the war and she was "adopted" by a Catholic church, but those two phone calls - did they actually go anywhere?

The whole "killed the two Nazis while Joe and Logan were interrogating the other one" thing, sure, I get, a special favor to Mindy and Murray, but there were hints that there was something else going on with her that I didn't get.

Some of the "this shit really happened!" segments got a bit old by the 3rd or 4th time they showed them, but it probably was necessary.

I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure the remaining characters have enough heart and soul to sell a second season.
posted by Kyol at 2:37 PM on March 5, 2020 [1 favorite]


It starts over the top but it is definitely watchable. Episode 4 is really well done and stands out in the whole series. One thing drives me crazy: The dates don’t line up for Ruth to be Jonah’s grandmother. If her daughter was born in 45, and had Jonah at age 15, he still wouldn’t be 19 by 1977.
posted by Brodiggitty at 9:07 PM on March 10, 2020 [3 favorites]


Couldn't make it past like the fifth erection/masturbation joke in the first episode. I also suspect the show felt it didn't need to explain anything about the shower scene with the woman in Florida because hawr hawr she's gross and fat and naked, isn't it good to watch her die? This coming after the "shut your fat mouth" from the hero to his aunt. And.. the initial scene where the kid gets beat up is the most generic cliche jock bullying scene ever, but also an incredibly silly drug deal, but also carrying this antisemitism example too.. So much nonsense, like a comic book that is trying way way way too hard. I wanted to like this show, there were aspects that seemed promising, but there's a little too much crass and stupid.
posted by fleacircus at 11:58 PM on March 14, 2020 [1 favorite]


Just got to the end of episode 1. It feels like one of those weekly detective with novelty twist show like Numbers, but with very high production values and the exploitation mentioned by others. Not sure how I feel about it. The pattern recognition could get tired fast, already feels tired in fact. If there's going to be an atrocity of the week then definite nope.
posted by biffa at 4:20 PM on March 20, 2020


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