Riviera - General Discussion

[BaskingsharkGTX]

I couldn't see a topic for this and wondered if anyone else is watching it.

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Set in the French Riviera, the series follows Georgina Clios (Julia Stiles), an American art curator whose life is turned upside down after the death of her billionaire husband Constantine Clios (Anthony LaPaglia) in a yacht accident. Georgina becomes immersed in a world of lies, double-dealing and crime, as she seeks to uncover the truth about her husband's death.

This show is mind-blowingly, mesmerizingly awful but has somehow managed to become the highest-rated show ever on its home network Sky Atlantic in the UK. It airs in the US on something called Ovation which I've never heard of. Neil Jordan gets a "created by" credit, even though he disowned it before it aired after his "original darker version" was "reworked" by others and by "reworked" I mean "allowed to chew through its restraints and run off screaming into a dark night of complete and utter insanity".

It's a British-French co-production and also costs an absolute fortune to make and looks fantastic. 

Basically (as above) it focuses on Georgina Clios who is supposed to be vital, passionate, caring and intelligent but is actually morose, annoying, devoid of any personality whatsoever and so dim she doesn't notice when a secret room is built in the middle of her house, plus her dead older husband's family of Eurotrash one-percenter cliches. The kids are eldest son Christos (Dimitri Leonidas), a cokehead wastrel playboy who is secretly just desperate for his daddy's approval, middle child Adam (Iwan Rheon), a sensitive soul who pours scorn on his family's wealth and their materialistic lifestyle while longing for the life of a poet (albeit a terrible one who keeps using the family cash to pay for his luxury poet's loft) and emotional basketcase teen daughter Adriana (Roxane Duran) who self-harms and gets into a soft-focus, scandalous-in-1997 threeway relationship with her best friend and the gardener. There's also the first Mrs Clios, Irina (Lena Olin who plays the part with her eyes closed but is still the best thing in the show). 

Season one's completely unintelligible plot involved art fraud, yachts, the Russian Mafia, money, mansions, terrible writing, more money, murders, atrocious acting and directing, art forgery, approximately 4,500 couture outfits and a highly memorable scene where Georgina expresses rage and frustration by whacking a shampoo bottle off a shelf at a luxury day spa. Season two has just started and encompasses murder, more yachts, an art installation involving an apparent suicide, characters coming back from the dead and a scene where Adriana and her new love interest flirt by smashing vases and knocking over suits of armor. They've also added Juliet Stevenson, Poppy Delevigne and most bizarrely, Will Arnett to the cast. 

It is highly recommended for anyone who thinks Melrose Place played it too safe. (Although it does take itself incredibly seriously.)

Edited June 2, 2019 by BaskingsharkGTX

[Joimiaroxeu]

Yeah, I've been watching it from the beginning and have long wondered why there wasn't a forum for it here. (There isn't one on reddit either.) It has really run under the radar.

It does look gorgeous, with the local scenery, the centuries old estates, and the couture clothing. Exceptional production values.

I continue to be amused at how long Anthony LaPaglia has made a career out of playing Italians or characters who are vaguely European. And Will Arnett was a surprise. I'm having a hard time taking his role seriously because every time he speaks I expect him to say, "I'm Batman."

Edited June 3, 2019 by Joimiaroxeu

[ratgirlagogo]

We watched all of the first season and really enjoyed it.  I'm also surprised there was so little activity in the forums here.

Unfortunately for me at least, according to the front page here, season two will be moving to Sundance Now, a paid streaming site.   Hope that turns out not to be true, but it probably is.   Bummer.  I like the show but not enough to subscribe to a paid service just to watch it.  I don't like streaming as much as TV anyway - can't DVR anything, for one.

[Irlandesa]

On 6/21/2019 at 3:04 AM, ratgirlagogo said:

Unfortunately for me at least, according to the front page here, season two will be moving to Sundance Now, a paid streaming site. 

I'm pretty sure that's how the first season was rolled out as well.  I can't find the information on it but I believe it was released in the US on Sundance Now  first and eventually was aired weekly on Ovation. I suspect Ovation will get the second season two but not for another year or so.

[ratgirlagogo]

On 6/27/2019 at 2:08 AM, Irlandesa said:

I suspect Ovation will get the second season two but not for another year or so.

Oh, I didn't know that.  I hope you're right.  I also hope that I can remember this complicated plot by the time I see season two.😀

[CherryMalotte]

Even if I rewatched Season Two five more times I'm not sure I'd understand all of what was going on.  I am not sure the show knows what it wants to be.

On 6/3/2019 at 11:19 AM, Joimiaroxeu said:

It does look gorgeous, with the local scenery, the centuries old estates, and the couture clothing. Exceptional production values.

This is really the only reason I watched, besides a couple of the actors that I liked.  I've never enjoyed being hateful to a particular actor/actress but Stiles is just a no in this role.  I've liked her in other acting gigs but this one...not a good fit.

[Norma Desmond]

How in the world did Neil Jordan and Julia Stiles get into this mess? Were they blackmailed? Dear Gawd.  This is like a bad telenovela. Twist after twist and it doesn't make any sense.

[ribboninthesky1]

I recently binged season 1 and 2.  Even though I'm extremely late to the party, I get why there wasn't much discussion.  Getting to watch the sumptuous scenery and fashion was certainly refreshing in these times! But as others stated, there's no logic to the plot at all.  I think I'm supposed to feel for Georgina, especially with the brief look into her past.  Eh, I didn't really care.  But it sure was a nice escape to watch all of the gorgeous landscapes and stare in awe at the actresses' ability to trance around such rugged terrain in stiletto heels and lovely clothes, all in high definition.  

[Joimiaroxeu]

I didn't binge it but I collected all my comments for the season in one post:

Just started watching the third season. Still loving the scenery and the women's gorgeous clothes.

Am on the second episode and was surprised by the use of the term "gypsies." I thought that was considered a slur now. Maybe it's still okay in Europe?

On third episode and I'm still confused. Are these people in South America or Europe? They keep mentioning Saint Tropez but then there's this whole subplot with the Argentinean politician.

Now on fourth.
When you find yourself in a mental hospital against your will, everything you say will be deemed insane and not believable. Georgina really got herself into a pickle by underestimating the people she was accusing of political shenanigans.

And, when you're escaping from an asylum it helps to have a friend who can not only bring a car, but he can also do the European version of Tokyo drift to lose a pesky tail.

Five episodes in, I'm strongly wondering why I should care about Argentine politics, or at least a fictionalized version of it.

The sixth: this is the second show I've watched in as many hours where someone got flipped over a moving car. Yikes.
 
You could see that hit on the mayor coming down Broadway. Or whatever the iconic main drag is in Buenos Aires. The pharmaceutical company woman was the one which surprised me. Hope the mayor was wearing a bullet proof vest under his fancy suit.

The seventh
I don't think that woman who claimed credit for the assassination actually did it. I think it was one of the mayor's sons.

Late in the game for such a huge plot twist. This season hasn't been quite as cohesive as the first two. Having the storyline jump back and forth over the ocean didn't help, IMO.

Eight, the season finale
I get wanting revenge but killing all those innocent people for the death of one man? Nope. Bad business deals happen sometimes. Killing those people in the drug trial wouldn't bring Ellen's father back or reverse the deal. And killing them on live TV would make the test subjects' families and friends suffer too. Ellen and her mother could've just put a hit on Alex.

The producers went all out with the CGI for this episode. Not sure why.

Georgina is very agile. Wonder how she stays so fit? Constantly running toward and then away from trouble I guess.🙄

The (fake) Buenos Aires police dress very casually, lol. Polo shirts?

"This rosary was stolen by the Nazis? No problem! Some of my best friends were Nazis!"

Crazypants Daphne was looking to start new career as a serial killer apparently. Not a very good one though. Georgina is no one to fcuk with.

So to England instead of back to Saint Tropez. Wonder if there'll be a fourth season after the pandemic is over?

[AnimeMania]

Riviera Season Two will air sometime in May 2021 on Ovation TV. It will follow after the airing of the first season.