Hap and Leonard is een Amerikaanse dramaserie van de zender Sundance. De serie ging in première op 2 maart 2016.
Hap Collins, een Oost Texas blanke jongen, met een zwak voor Southern vrouwen, ontmoet Leonard Pine, een homofiele Afro-Amerikaanse Vietnam veteraan met een opvliegend karkater. Wanneer Hap's verleidelijke ex-vrouw Trudy opduikt met een deal die ze niet kunnen weigeren, verandert het snel-rijk plannetje heel snel een bloederig rotzooitje.
There is a treasure. Not a The Goonies-esque treasure of golden goblets inlaid with emeralds and rubies, but a sunken Cadillac with a shitload of cash in the trunk. As is often the case with treasure, everyone has a crush on it. Everyone is wrong. Omar Little, who still sewed gangsters' ears on in The Wire, likes the treasure. The busty pretty, who outwitted even The Don in Mad Men, would know what to do with the sweetheart. Even the narcissistic cult leader from The Following can't wait to squeeze in the treasure. So many people and only one treasure, that's asking for trouble. You can now watch those problems in Hap And Leonard. I would just do it. Is fun. Eight people, one loot and a lot of bullshit. Hap And Leonard is actually nothing more and you don't need more. The new one from SundanceTV feels - yes I'm just going to say this - almost Tarentinoan at times. A cast of, to say the least, colorful types, absurd dialogues and an almost hidden and subtle sense of humor. You need an episode or two to get your bearings, but after that it's in a straight line to the finish. Had Game Of Thrones 'The Red Wedding' towards the end of Season 3, Hap And Leonard has 'War' and that too is forty minutes of OMG and WTF shouting through your living room. SundanceTV had proven long and widely with The Red Road, Rectify and Deutschland 83 that they know how to make beautiful television and with Hap And Leonard they now put an exclamation mark behind that claim.
It's not bad, but I still had some comments about this series that spoil the fun for me. A) The car with the money is found very quickly, even if it is no longer in the same place as 20 years earlier but in a different tributary. It is also quite coincidental that it would already be in another tributary. The whole area was flooded and I understand that there is a chance that other tributaries will form and the initial tributaries will dry up when the water recedes, but we are in the middle of the swamps. It is great that the car can be found exactly in the first place in the very river where they are going to look and that it is not somewhere on the other side in some swamp. B) There are one or more (because I assume that the police do not know how many exactly) serial killers are walking around in the neighborhood and the police are closing the roads. Up to three times a car arrives within a hundred meters of a road block, of which again in the middle of the night in the pitch dark. The chance that they have not seen you in a place where no one passes and there is no other light is almost non-existent. Still, they just go the other way with no response from the police ... A little strange, as far as I'm concerned. C) After Trudy first escaped, she decides to turn back with her van which is very noble of hers. When she gets back to the house, she goes full throttle and drives through the wooden wall into the house exactly where the villain on duty is ready to shoot Hap and Leonard. Very well done of Trudy, especially since she cannot see them, let alone know where everyone is in the house. D) Angel gets an arrow down her throat and is initially near death. Actually, it is made to appear that she actually dies in the arms of Soldier. However, nothing could be further from the truth when she shows up in the kitchen a few minutes later to have a fight with Hap and Leonard. Apparently a neckerchief was enough to get her back on track.
Very strong dialogues, great cast, the film adaptation with the typical Texas atmosphere is very well rendered, not an average relief, I enjoy it. ;) May I have more, more ... Season 2 & 3 are a lot more serious, about racism (ku klux klen) and voodoo. Hap and Leonard's friendship, the chemistry between the two is intense, beautifully put down. And to my pleasant surprise, Louis Gossett Jr. joined the cast in season 3. It is a shame that it has been canceled, it cannot have been due to the viewing figures. Have a ray of hope that another network will take over. https://www.thepetitionsite.com/en-en/917/759/181/netflix-or-amazon-should-pick-up-future-seasons-hap-and-leonard