THE CONTINENTAL Review: Winston Scott Would Like to Speak With The Manager
The year is 1977. The place is New York City. On New Year's Eve Winston Scott’s estranged brother, Frankie, has gone and done something foolish. Frankie has stolen from his boss Cormac, the current manager of The Continental Hotel in New York. If you are new here, The Continental Hotel is one of a chain of havens around the world used by the criminal underworld and is usually neutral territory. Usually.
No one steals from Cormac. Also important, no one steals something that is a key part of the operation of the High Table, that high and mighty governing body of the global criminal underworld. What Frankie has stolen is invaluable and once he disappears Cormac, to put it lightly, requests the honor of Winston’s presence back in New York. Shit rolls downhill as they say, and just as the High Table puts pressure on Cormac so does he on Winston.
Winston's search for Frankie spreads out throughout New York’s criminal underworld. From old friends to Frankie’s war buddies Winston will learn that anything and everything always leads back to The Continental. As the High Table comes down on Cormac so does his fury on anyone who stands in his way of getting back what Frankie stole from him. If Winston is to escape Cormac’s wrath he will have to face it full on. But he will not be alone.
What is The Continental: From The World of John Wick apart from three feature-length episodes that tell the tale of Winston Scott’s rise to power? It most definitely part of the Wickiverse. Says so in the title. But from the first episode’s opening action scene, when Frankie steals from Cormac, you know you’re in the Wickiverse. That fight scene (already available on YouTube from streamer Peacock) is fully ballistic, tightly and intricately choreographed, and violent. Everything you’ve come to expect whenever the name John Wick is uttered. It turns out though, The Continental is much more than just guns, fists and blood.
The Continental is a crime-drama series first, action spectacle second. I was having a conversation with someone about the series the other, having watched in through once already. They had not seen the series yet and said they were apprehensive about this new show because the John Wick films left them overwhelmed. They felt the movies were too action heavy, and they had to stop the films part way throught just to have a mental margerita. I told them that they should not shy away from the series when it airs because there is a lot more breathing room inbetween set pieces, time for them to recover. Does that mean that the series is… less than it’s predecessors? Far from it.
We, as ardent fans of the spectacle and, pardon the pun, execution in every film of the John Wick franchise are still very happy with the series. The opening fight scene and the spectacle of the chase at the end of the opening chapter are top notch. The taking over of the hotel in the final chapter is the chef’s kiss. Unlike the movies the series simply takes its time to give us more fleshed out characters and reasons to root for or against them. You can only kill someone’s dog so many times before even the hardest heart says, okay, stop, we get it, I’d be pissed off too, but what else have you got for me? What other reasons are there to be so pissed off at someone that you’d pick up a gun, or a lot of guns, and kick down the doors to their fine establishment? That’s where the players come in.
The Players
Winston Scott is a businessman (hence the cravat), and his brother Frankie is the muscle. Tightly knit together as kids they since grown apart and estranged from each other. While Winston and Frankie may have grown apart, another sibling duo, sister and brother Lou and Miles are tight, Lou runs their dad’s old dojo, and Miles runs guns out of the basement with his army buddy from Vietnam, Lemmy. Miles and Frankie used to work together which is why Winston has come to them, looking for him. Yen is close to Frankie and followed him back to the States after the war in Vietnam. The last of our cadre of good guys is Jenkins the sharpshooter. A customer of Miles’ who would not mind a chance to cut off the head of the snake that is Cormac.
Nhung Kate as Yen is a standout role in the series. Through her, you see what effect Frankie’s actions and decisions have on those around him. Yen is also featured in some of the best action set pieces in the series. Colin Woodell is a good Winston Scott, but he’s in the shadow of the great Ian McShane. No one comes to mind that can out-Winston the McShane. Lemmy and Jenkins provide much of the comic relief throughout the series.
Our bad guys are led by Cormac played by the dubious Mel Gibson. Every story needs a villain and Cormac is one of the most villanous of them all. Gibson chews up the scenery every time, all the time. From outbursts of anger to subtle changes in expression Gibson’s really good here. Cormac resorts to hiring some of his guests to get the item back, and he singles out ‘the twins’. Known here at Hansel und Gretal (Malgnant performer Marina Mazepa, a Ukrainian actress and model who I remembered from her show-stopping contortionist act on a popular summertime variety show some years ago) despite their stylish but also comical appearance, clad in all black with leather overcoats Hansel - played by stunt performer Mark Musashi - has a Ramones style mushroom cut that is quite disarming until you see him at work. Neither of the twins speak. They let their assassin craft do the talking.
And who have we got stuck in the middle of this escalating power struggle in New York? KD and Mayhew, New York City cops. KD has something to prove and Mayhew is just along for the ride (you’ll get my meaning when you see it). He knows what The Continental is all about and tries to steer the head strong KD away from it. She’s got her reasons to keep investigating this though. Then there is Charon, Cormac’s faithful attendant. Ayomide Adegun had the enviable task of following up Lance Reddick one of the most recognizable characters in the Wickiverse with that distinct Nigerian accent. Credit the casting department for getting someone of Nigerian descent who can pull it off with ease. This is also one of those enviable roles to try to fill after someone like Reddick made it so memorable. Adegun does it though.Wherever the late Reddick is looking down from I’d imagine he would be pleased with Adegun’s performance.
And once again, hail the women in this show. None are to be trifled with. Lou and Yen kick and punch their way through the story, with the help of their stunt doubles Liva Rafidison/Ivy Haralson and Rorelee Tio respectively. KD is tired of the shit she has to deal with on the force, taking justice into her own hands - which will get bloody soon enough. Gretal is silent but extremely deadly. None of these are just filler roles. Well, Gretal doesn’t say anything and her conscious appears to remain untroubled by her choice of profession. But the other three are more than just female placemarkers opposite the boys while they run around town with their guns out. Yen. Lou and KD all have their own struggles to work through as the story goes on.
The Action
Action-heavy episodes bookend the event series. The series starts with an amazing set piece, reminding you which universe you are now in, the Wickiverse. After our first run through all three episodes, we were left with the impression that the middle episode was more of a bridge between the two but on repeat viewing of the series again it has its fair share of good action moments.
Michael Lehr (John Wick 2 & 3) was a fight coordinator for the series, along with Roger Yuan for one episode. Malay Kim is listed as both the assistant fight coordinator and fight coordinator.
Larnell Stovell should be a name familiar to readers of the site. He and Domonkos Pardanyi are listed as the stune coordinators for the series and actress Rorelee Tio was Kate Nhung’s stunt double and listed as the assistant stunt coordinator. They’re all folks that have a mountain of experience among themselves and it shows on screen every time someone throws down or guns down.
Unlike a syndicated series of weekly television where you have to punch out lackluster action scenes on the regular, sometimes with little or no planning involved, you can see that showrunner Greg Coolidge and their team understood the assignment. This is John Wick, we have to do this right or the fans will riot. There are no bad action scenese in any of these chapters. On the regular we yelled out in approval of the acton on screen.
The Result?
Can the franchise succeed without the Baba Yaga? It was always going to be a difficult job to make something set in the Wickiverse that did not have its titular character involved in it. Greg Coolidge and company aim for something more than just a thin storyline that ropes together a lion’s share of top tier action sequences. We think they mostly succeeded.
Admittedly, it took us another run through all three episodes to fully appreciate how difficult that task really was, and for us, we like what this event series gave us. It gave us the level of action that we have come to expect from the John Wick films but it also gave us more than the simple story of a one-man wrecking crew set on taking down the organization that made them. Winston Scott has never been about muscle and mayhem, but empowering all of that around him as a means to his endgame.
Just because The Continental is different than the movies doesn’t mean it’s not good. Anything with John Wick in the name comes with a certain expectation. A very high expectation. Rather than just dishing out three more John Wick type movies for streaming they’ve taken time to build and establish character - to round out the Wickiverse more than the movies have ever done.
Do you feel this content is inappropriate or infringes upon your rights? Click here to report it, or see our DMCA policy.
