Max cancels Tokyo Vice
To be fair, the decision sounds pretty amicable between the streamer and series creator J.T. Rogers, who thanked the streamer for its patience
Aux News Tokyo Vice
In his review of the (much slower, more confident) second season of Max Japanese crime series Tokyo Vice, our own Matt Schimkowitz wrote that “This is a show preparing an audience for the long haul.” Well, uh, not so much: Max revealed today that the series, which starred Ansel Elgort and Ken Watanabe as guys trying to get the (apparently infinite) bottom of the underworld of modern-day Tokyo, has now been canceled after its second season.
This is per Variety, which notes that the decision does, at least, seem fairly amicable between Max and series creator J.T. Rogers, with confirmation of the series’ end coming while Rogers was sharing space with the streamer’s execs during a panel about the show in Los Angeles today. From the sounds of things, Rogers and his co-creators knew two seasons was roughly what they were getting when they signed on for the project, with the first season ending on a series of massive cliffhangers, and the second having a bit more resolution. (Max also apparently granted the show two extra episodes in its second season to “land the plane,” which, in the world of TV cancellations, is ridiculously generous.)
That being said, Rogers made it clear that he does hope to one day revisit this particularly shady look at Japanese life, saying in a joint statement with his co-producers that “We know there is more story to tell. Of course we’ll see what the future holds, but we are indeed grateful to have been able to share this story on Max until now.” Meanwhile, Max issued its own “sorry it’s over, let’s work together again some time” press statement, saying that, “From Tokyo Vice’s richly written material to the gorgeously composed shots to the lived-in performances, the care and creativity of this enormously talented cast and crew shines in every frame of the show.”
14 Comments
Aw, too bad for Lesne Grolat.
He’s no Orsen Agllet.
I prefer Lanse Trelgo
I like Argon Umlaut
What about the wickedly talented Adele Dazeem?
Sloane Grelt
Ansel Elgort? Plegh. This wouldn’t have happened if they got Alden Ehrenreich or Taron Egerton instead.
Oh god I’m only just realising now Ansel Elgort and Taron Egerton are different people.
Hell I’d even take an Aaron Eckhart
You can’t just pound on your keyboard and expect us to believe those are the names of real people.
They said their names weren’t important.
Most of the good will for the show came from the pilot episode, directed by Michael Mann, and specifically from the opening sequence, which was a flash forward to events that finally happened in season 2. It really needed to be shown because otherwise people would have felt cheated. The pilot bought a lot of interest that the rest of the show was occasionally able to carry. I remember the season 1 finale to be very bad. It’s as if every character was on drugs, as they all acted as complete idiots, to pave the way for some cliffhanger. The grizzled cop played by Ken Watanabe would make in particular some rookie’s mistake. They actually needed two episodes to rebound from it in season 2, and there’s a gap afterward that makes it look like it would have been the natural end point for season 1.Otherwise, Jake Edelstein’s book is about as reliable as A Million Little Pieces or Sounds of Freedom. Adelstein exaggerated his role a lot. And the adaptation made him look as the guy who almost single-handedly saved Japan from being ruled by yakuza. The more interesting aspects in the show were most of the time the ones that didn’t involve the character, but even the stuff with the hostess club is much more interesting and informative in the early chapters of Yakuza Zero. And they really struggled to give Rinko Kikuchi some time during S2. The plot line about her brother and her dating life was the very definition of a filler.As the book covers more or less the rise and fall of the yakuza from the first two seasons, a third season would have been entirely fictional (not just 99% as it was most of the time), and it would have been something of an issue.
I only saw the first season but it was a great show.
I tried watching this show but just couldn’t get past the incredibly bad ADR in episode 1.