Three seasons, 25 episodes. Tin Star is a very violent series that doesn't appeal to everyone, but if you have watched you have to admit one thing; Tim Roth is an actor of stature. The first season of Tin Star had ten episodes and was set in Canada. Cold, snow, friendly and not-so-friendly residents in a small mountain town where Jim Worth has become the local enforcer. Worth is married with two children and is a former British undercover agent. So far nothing seems to be going on. He's in Little Big Bear to escape his violent past. Unfortunately for Jim, his violent past quickly catches up with him.
What then unfolds is a bizarre gory season where Jim turns out to have an extremely anti-social alter ego. Jack Devlin is an alcoholic killer who doesn't run away from highly explosive situations. In fact, Devlin prefers to seek out the situations or, in the absence thereof, create them. One thing's for sure Devlin/Worth, played by a great Tim Roth (Lie to Me), makes sure that the people who want to hit or hurt his family won't (read: ever) do so again.
In the first season, I was blown away by the violent nature of the series and the fact that I felt like I was watching a Fargo clone. During the fifth episode, I was put in my place and understood that this series was far worse than anything Fargo could ever produce. I still have the episode, or rather the scene, still on my mind. I think next to the Red Wedding from Game of Thrones, this scene is one to add to the annals.
You used to be fun
The violence that Jack/Jim does not shy away from, eventually also turns against him. Of course, this is very logical because violence begets more violence. But the side where this comes from is quite unexpected and the first season ends on quite a cliffhanger. Fortunately, the second season begins where the first left off and in this season too the violence is excessive and Jim Worth's behavior is even more outrageous than in the first season.
I'm coming for you, and there is nothing you can do about it
The daily life of the Worth family is turned upside down and something must be done to stop this family. The visuals in Canada are fantastic, the direction is fantastic and the camera work matches the violence and insane actions of Jim. His alter ego Jack flows effortlessly into his character Jim and sometimes you don't know where Jim starts and Jack ends. Angela Worth (Genevieve O'Reilly, Glitch) probably hates Jack even more than her daughter Anna (Abigail Lawrie, Strike), but needs the man to run things.
A bizarre love/hate relationship ensues, which eventually leads to the return of the Worths to Liverpool, the place where it all began. While the unspeakable trauma from the first season played a big part in the first and second seasons, the third season doesn't seem to want to return to that. Was the violence in the first two seasons already excessive, the third season takes it a step further.
Roth has really got the hang of it and makes his character even more over the top. With some characters, you would say you have to, but with Jim it is necessary. The Worth family must fight against corruption and ruthless opponents who, like him, kill people without batting an eyelid. The city of Liverpool is doing its best to look its most beautiful and gruesome and Angela and Anna are also helping to make the third season as bloody and gruesome as possible.
The third season will be strange, but completely completed. There won't be a fourth season and that's a good thing. The first season with the fantastic fifth episode as the highlight was the best. The third season, with six episodes, was there to wrap things up for the Worths and give viewers a rounded and clear ending.
8 points for a series in which, with a very thin edge of jet-black humour, excessive drinking and violence are not shunned.
Seasons one through three are available on HBO Max.
