It has all the literary merits of a Shakespeare play - and I can't think of a filler episode yet. But you're right - it is a product of the boxset revolution and that fizzled out with the advent of Facebook and Youtube - almost before its time.
The characters drive the plot and Charlie Brooker summed it up great on his Screenwipe episode. As much as I detest McShane for his anti-scouse sentiments in he 80s and Jeffrey Jones (who did this after his paedophilia case), they are two of the greatest characters in the whole programme.
Timothy Olyphant is quite good - but is possibly the weak link of the programme, but by god, every other character is fantastically written, superbly directed and very well acted.
The concept of the town being built with the timeline is genuinely involving and the stage is perfectly set for the time - even the casual racism is handled with a degree of believability (long before Quentin Tarrantino). Speaking of whom, the dialogue is as good, if not better than Django and H8ful put together.
Anyone looking to get their teeth into something new but old - give this a go, as it doesn't infantilise you like many Youtube-era programme do.
Amazing. Go buy it on eBay.
