IR TV Review: CAPE FEAR - EPISODE 10 [Apple TV]

With Anna heading down to Cape Fear at the end of the last episode the question became process of action here in Episode 10, the season finale. The idea of what Max Cady will do is becoming less and less refined. Anna (Amy Adams) does some interesting interrelations in terms pf her character at the beginning of the episode but it doesn't quite deliver in the end. The biggest issue is that the narrative keeps trying to shift the "who did what". While that is part of the intent, what happens in the prologue is better than the rest of the episode all together (which shouldn't be the case) and it also adds so many questions...when it likely should have been more finite. One was hoping that Martin Scorsese would actually direct the final episode (which would have been a cool full circle moment) but it was not to be.

The switch and bait of the scenes leading into the final showdown works but it leaves a lot of holes on purpose where it would have been nice if it was wrapped up a little more than it was. Everyone really keeps an eye out for a second season in a way now which doesn’t really work as much here. Also across the streamers, this is becoming a strategy that tends to backfire in renewals. The ending here is much different than the original which is part of the point but after the beginning explosion, it feels anticlimactic. And the epilogue just doesn’t satisfy as the original did. Bardem’s control begins to expound (and expand in its overplaying) on purpose but it makes his character less believable. He is whip smart but there is a breakdown is psychology that doesn’t really feel quite right even if earned to a point. In that way the finale dropped the ball especially with a lot more possibility unreleased. But in writing the new concept the endgame comes off a little more woke than it should be. B-

By Tim Wassberg