I was aware about this series on AppleTV+ few weeks ago and was interested since it starred Vince Vaughn who was known for his comedic nature. Since it was released an episode per week, I only began to watch three days ago as the finale was going to be available yesterday. And I managed to finish it last night. All right, let's get on with the series then.

Brief Story Line

Former Miami detective Andrew Yancy (Vince Vaughn - Freaky, The Internship etc) who was working as a Detective in Keys Florida had been suspended for some disciplinary problem and was later assigned as Food Inspector. When a severed arm was found by tourist, Yancy agreed to deliver it to the Miami's Medical Examiner Rosa (Natalie Martinez - Message From the King, The Crossing TV series etc) for checking against missing person case, as part of his ongoing mission to get reinstated. It was later found out that the arm belonged to the missing husband of Eve (Meredith Hagner - Vacation Friends, As The World Turns soap opera etc). Feeling suspicious of Eve who did not take long to have a new boyfriend Christopher (Rob Delaney - Deadpool & Wolverine, Tom & Jerry etc), Yancy dig further into the matter with the help from Rosa. 

Meanwhile, a young man named Neville (Ronald Peet - The I-Land TV series etc) who had been living in Andros, Bahamas was upset when his home became part of huge development project. As advised by his friends, Neville sought the help from Dragon Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith - Murder Mystery 2, Nightflyers TV series etc) who practice dark magic to put a curse on the developers. The Queen whose real name was Gracie had been practicing for many years after being convinced by her grandmother Ya-Ya (L. Scott Caldwell - Lost TV series etc) about her power. 

So what would happen to Yancy whose investigation led to dangerous situation? And what was the connection with Neville? You could find out in this series.

End of Brief Story Line

When I started watching this series, it did not take long for Vince Vaughn to show his trademark of nonstop talking but in a way that was quite funny. And it continued through out the whole season which showed that Vaughn still got it. It was pretty refreshing after his recent works seemed to be a little bit more serious and did not really show his strength, although it did reveal that Vaughn was capable in portraying a deeper and more complex roles. Anyway, I think it was definitely the part that made this series pretty well received by critics and audience who were  charmed by him.

As I started watching the series which intrigued me, never in my mind that it would provide a shocking twist that I did not see coming in the third episode. Likely it was the reason why the episode was highest ranked and coincidentally my favorite. The fourth episode was quite a joy to see as well. However, subsequently I felt that the series began to drag a little bit. The progress was slower and sometimes there were parts that I did not think were necessary. Which was why I felt a bit bored in the middle and only got more excited towards the end (episode 9 was not bad). And what about the ending then? Well it was quite OK, though might not be too satisfying for all. 

From the opening credit, I noticed that the series was based on the novel written by Carl Hiaasen. After further reading, I found out the 2013 novel had a direct sequel titled Razor Girl. At the time of this post, there was no news yet if the series would be renewed for a second season which should be easy to do with the material in place. I did additional reading on the plot of the novel and to be honest, I like the actual ending better. The series developer Bill Lawrence whose past portfolio included co-creator of hit series like Cougar Town, Spin City, Ted Lasso and few others, preferred to have his own idea as the ending. 

The main cast shown in the opening credits were quite a lot. Other than those names I mentioned above, there were also Michelle Monaghan (The Family Plan, Patriots Day etc) as Yancy's "girlfriend" Bonnie and Alex Moffat (80 For Brady etc) as Evan the real estate agent who built the house next to Yancy. In addition, the series also had many recurring and guest stars including singer Charlotte Lawrence as Eve's stepdaughter Caitlin, John Ortiz (Peppermint, Jack Goes Boating etc) as Yancy's partner Rogelio, Zach Braff (Moonshot etc) as Izzy, David St. Louis as Egg and several others. There was even the appearance of Scott Glenn (The Silence of the Lamb, Castle Rock TV series etc) as Andrew's father Jim Yancy. Some of them were quite important to the story and appeared frequently. Personally I thought it made better sense for them to be mentioned as main cast instead of few that I thought were less so.

Overall to me this was a fun enough series which felt more like a crime drama with some comedy and a bit of mystery. It was definitely not series with a lot of action. Having only one surprising twist, it would not satisfy those looking for them. I personally like the appearance of Vince Vaughn in the role that really suit him and also his chemistry with Natalie Martinez. I also enjoyed the performance of Meredith Hagner and Rob Delaney who were very convincing in their characterizations. My least favorite was Michelle Monaghan's character who simply did not provide anything other than distraction. The series to me would probably be more entertaining if it's done shorter, perhaps 8 episodes was better as 10 made it draggy. So if you are interested in seeing Vaughn does what he does best and seeing some crime solving done in a rather comedic way, then you could give it a try. But if you prefer more mystery/plot twists/action, then this might not be fully satisfying for you. The choice is yours.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars