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Perhaps part of the show’s appeal is that – like Cinemax’s other cult hit Banshee– it embraces the silly macho action fantasy, at a time when nearly everything else is trying to subvert or be ironic about it. Both Scott and Stonebridge change and evolve throughout the show, and their relationship with each other and their teammates – many of whom have a short life expectancy – is ultimately the key to what makes the show work. For all the kudos Strike Backreceives for its action, it really is the characters who keep the audience engaged. And in a nod to equality, both Scott and Stonebridge aren’t afraid to lose their clothes should the scene require it or even when it doesn’t. That’s not to say the show doesn’t have some badass women Michelle Yeoh made for a formidable and surprisingly complex villain in the final season, and Michelle Lukes as Richmond more than held her own against her male co-stars.
#Cinemax life on top episodes plus#
The show’s lack of political correctness might not be a plus for some viewers though Scott seems to bed about half the female cast and there’s no complicated terrorist threat that can’t be resolved with a burst of machine gun fire. But the fact it managed to feel so fresh and vibrant throughout its five-year run is no mean feat. This kind of relentless pacing can be hard to maintain, and truthfully the show does have a few lulls now and again. It’s the best kind of brain-dead entertainment smartly made, emotionally engaging brain-dead entertainment. Enjoy that shootout, snicker at the silly one-liner or roll your eyes at yet another explicit sex scene. It’s not a po-faced procedural and it offers no insightful commentary on the state of the world Strike Back just wants you to sit back and have fun. The average episode has – and I’ve done the math – at least two gunfights or sex scenes, and there’s something refreshing about its commitment to indulging the audience’s baser instincts. Strike Back also has a great line-up of villains (and some borderline incestuous ties with Games Of Thrones) with Charles Dance, Iain Glen, Liam Cunningham and Roose Bolton himself, Michael McElhatton, taking on bad guy duties throughout the various seasons.Īction is the show’s mission statement, and it certainly doesn’t disappoint on that front. The two men may bicker from time to time, but there’s an honest-to-goodness friendship between them that grounds the show. Scott is the womanizing, chain-smoking wisecracker with hints of a dark past, while Stonebridge is more sensible and thinks before he acts which isn’t saying much because he’s also willing to shoot his way out of – or into – trouble. The two men share a chemistry that rivals the best buddy comedies, and they’re an absolute delight to watch. This turned out to be a stroke of luck because the new leads – Sullivan Stapleton and Philip Winchester as Scott and Stonebridge respectively – were the missing ingredients that made the show click into place.
#Cinemax life on top episodes series#
The second series brought some major changes American network Cinemax (nicknamed Skinemax for their focus on er, adult-orientated programming) came on to co-produce with Sky – upping the scale and scope of the series – but with Armitage busy filming The Hobbit two new characters were brought on in his place. Season one has since become the odd man out with the rest of the series, and was even redubbed Strike Back: Origins for its belated American debut in 2013. It has the same basic formula and high-octane action, but it feels like it’s missing a certain something that would really make it pop. His job was to run around the globe tackling various threats while his shady boss – played by Andrew Lincoln – did his best to cover up a mistake from his past.Īll said and done, it was a solid six-episode run, but looking back on series one it feels like a prototype for what the show would become. In the original series Richard Armitage played John Porter, a disgraced soldier recruited by a secret branch of the British military. The show has a slightly complicated origin, starting life as a book by former soldier Chris Ryan which was then adapted by Sky One in 2010.