What I’m Watching: Hunters (Series Finale)

Hunters: Season 2, Episode 8 “The Trial of Adolf Hitler”

After the penultimate episode diverged considerably from this show’s central characters and storyline, I was pleased to see an installment that felt as satisfying as possible given this show’s truncated conclusion and the scope of what it was trying to do. Seeing protesters outside Hitler’s trial with white power signs was very disturbing, as well as the indication that the chief justice might be biased and allow for very strict readings of the law that might allow him to actually not be held accountable for all he did. Hearing from Mindy and other survivors was very powerful, and having a Jewish defense attorney, played by Josh Zuckerman, added a whole lot to the importance of what was happening. Nyasha Hatendi was very memorable as Oliver Frankel, the prosecutor, who was standing for nothing and continued pushing, and, as is often the case in real life, self-righteousness and a desire not to be thought of as weak was ultimately Hitler’s undoing on the stand. Using a direct Mel Gibson quote and ideas that Donald Trump expressed caught me by surprise, demonstrating just how cyclical things can be, and I found that to be a very emotional and worthwhile creative choice. After the guilty verdict was rendered, this show kicked back into full gear for one last extended sequence, which fortunately did fell the still-alive Travis, have Eva die in the process, and put Hitler in prison as an anonymous number, the worst fate for someone with such an ego. The confirmation that Meyer was Ruth’s killer was an interesting wedding gift from Harriet to Jonah, especially since the show ended with him still trying to track down the Nazis who were still out there. That was a fitting way to close out the show, with most of the characters getting happy endings but the resounding knowledge that evil still exists in this world. I might have been open to more of this show but I’m glad that this second season was very strong, better even than the first, and I’ll remember it fondly to recommend to those okay with seeing more than a bit of brutality on screen.

Series finale: B+
Series grade: B+
Season MVP: Jennifer Jason Leigh as Chava
Season grade: B+
Series MVP: Al Pacino as Meyer
Best Season: Season 2
Best Episode: “Only the Dead”

What I’m Watching: Hunters (Penultimate Episode)

Hunters: Season 2, Episode 7 “The Home” (B)

After the powerful finish to the previous episode and with so little time left in this show, I didn’t love that this episode was entirely unrelated to the characters we’ve come to know and felt like it was told in a much more satirical tone. It’s also interesting to me that the man featured was supposed to be the chief Nazi architect given that the real-life parallel, according to some quick research, appears to have been a true believer who was allegedly much more than just a cog in the machine. Taking out the three Nazis who were there happened in a suspenseful but playful way, and the arrival of the missing persons unit who also kill Jews felt much more like “Jojo Rabbit” than the unhinged violence we’ve become accustomed to seeing. The inhumanity of the Nazi who shot the residents because he liked their house and they couldn’t come back empty-handed was disturbing, and the ability of the hidden Jews to fight back and take over the house still ended in a degree of tragedy since they weren’t willing to take an innocent child’s life. That the boat captain Jonah handed off Hitler to was the kid from the story had some resonance, but I do hope that we’ll get a finale which features this show’s regular characters and delivers some sort of cinematic justice. Having seen the title of that episode, I’m optimistic, and I also hope that the marketing of this season as the final one means the ending will be appropriately satisfying.

What I’m Watching: Hunters

Hunters: Season 2, Episode 6 “Only the Dead” (B+)

I have to say, I have no desire to go hunt down Nazis or exact any sort of revenge, but there was something very powerful about two moments in this episode. The first was when Chava kept emphasizing the responsibility to the six million, and the second was when Jonah was walking down the tunnel hallway with the ghosts of so many people murdered in the Holocaust cheering him on. On another show, I might have expected something to happen because actually apprehending Hitler with two episodes to go feels almost too easy. But it hasn’t been that way, and there’s still a long way to go to ensure that he’s held accountable for his crimes. Jonah stopped him from shooting himself in the head, which in this show’s reality he was apparently going to do anyway back in 1945 before Eva convinced him not to do it. Chava also sacrificed her life, and we got to see her in the flashbacks with Meyer where he was able to continue his ruse by expressing genuine surprise to see her even though she knew the real Meyer. Roxy being the one to stop them all from killing Joe was an interesting development, and he more than proved himself by taking out the other guards moments after warning them and blasting away to ensure that he could kill as many of the people he had recently been helping. I’m very ready to keep watching and to see what happens, presuming that there’s going to be a major bureaucratic fight and a potentially much less violent end to this series than I would have imagined.

What I’m Watching: Hunters

Hunters: Season 2, Episode 5 “Blutsbande” (B+)

This episode started out from such a devastating point, with Jonah distraught at Clara having been taken by Travis, and fortunately, somehow, things were looking up by the very end. That penultimate scene with Travis and crew down below was all too reminiscent of two Tarantino films - “Inglourious Basterds” and “The Hateful Eight” - and fortunately this crew was able to react carefully and cleverly in order to avoid being completely blown to bits by their precarious situation. It was interesting to hear Harriet step in to advocate for going after Clara when Chava was ready to abandon her entirely because she knew it was a trap, insisting instead that their responsibility was to the six million. Harriet and Millie have apparently also started a relationship, one that’s particularly intriguing because of how different their approaches to this whole business are. Travis tried to scare Clara by laughing at the idea of her being frightened by him when Jonah has killed many people, and appealing to Joe seemed like a bad idea given the shaken condition he’s in. Fortunately, when the moment called for it, he chose to shoot Travis, who I’m worried is like a cockroach and won’t die, and decided to cooperate to identify Hitler’s location. Even Eva may be willing to give up her dear husband based on the demeaning treatment she’s receiving from him. Roxy is not in good shape, but her nearly dying may have been what was needed to snap Lonnie back into action. Meyer saw his true identity far too easily exposed in this episode’s flashback, which makes me think his scenes don’t actually have much to do with what’s happening in the present.

What I’m Watching: Hunters

Hunters: Season 2, Episode 4 “The Fare” (B+)

Clara showing up definitely changed things, and it was fascinating to see how Chava initially reacted and then how she insisted she was going to make chicken. She wasn’t shy about chasisting Jonah in front of her for marrying a non-Jew and throwing away all their family heritage, and Clara responded impressively by pointing out the many Jewish rituals she had become quite familiar with over the course of their time together. But then she had to go ahead and snoop around, leading Chava to explain to her exactly what it was they were really doing, a helpful piece of information since now what Chava had warned Jonah about is very much happening. While Joe emotionlessly shooting Roxy was frightening enough, Travis is still the most terrifying villain given that he seems to enjoy the chaos, and tricking Clara into thinking he was the police then led to his very brazen act of just carrying her out in full view of everyone else there. Let’s hope that Harriet isn’t too distracted by the gift Chava got her and that this team can rally to save Roxy and get Clara back, since things are looking worse than ever for the entire group. I’m curious also if the flashbacks to Meyer sponsoring “Fiddler on the Roof” performances and having a synagogue theater named after him will lead to anything relevant to the present, or if he is just a specter of the past whose influence hangs over all these hunters and what they still do.

What I’m Watching: Hunters

Hunters: Season 2, Episode 3 “Duck. Quail. Goose. Crow.” (B+)

It’s good to know that, even if it took them some time to get on the same page, the people who knocked out all the hunters are actually on the same side. Jonah agreed that they would work together before immediately turning on their new friends with all of his colleagues as soon as they were free, but Chava was able to convince him to at least listen to him when she revealed that she was Ruth’s sister. He didn’t let go of the fact that she hadn’t ever reached out to tell her she was still alive, but they were both testing each other, playing a dangerous game that is likely to result in some Nazi escaping if they’re not eventually on the same page. Millie had more luck with her new partners, even if she chewed Harriet out for betraying her after she had been completely open and honest about everything. The maid mission in the hotel was a close one and they nearly all got killed, but this group has never been about keeping a particularly cool low profile. That final scene featuring Hitler prepared us for Joe to go hunt the hunters, an interesting development which may well end in him ultimately allying with them rather than betraying them, but I’m sure there will be plenty of bloodshed before we get to that point. In the meantime, Lonnie should really try focusing and stop worrying about how famous he is and instead about how he can help get his head in the game. Jonah’s fiancée showing up is also definitely going to create some issues.

What I’m Watching: Hunters

Hunters: Season 2, Episode 2 “Buenos Aires” (B+)

That opening scene was quite traumatic for the young children who witnessed the murder of their father by their beloved governess, but Harriet has never been too concerned about softening her kills. It appears that she’s also involved in some questionable behavior, given that she seems to be in league with the masked men who subdued each of the hunters during their big operation to get Klaus. While that revelation will have to be unspooled in the next episode, it was fun to see the team reunited again, with Millie doing the talking since Jonah has apparently angered everyone enough so that they don’t want to speak to him again. He also left behind a clue to his real identity that may put his cover in jeopardy if his fiancée is eager to find him. I love that Lonnie was starring in a movie called “Eight Ways to Shabbat” where he played a hitman who has to kill eight people before sundown. I’m never fond of seeing Travis, and at least he’s now made it away from poor innocent people in civilization down to Argentina, where he laughed at Joe being the one to welcome him in to the compound and then fulfilled whatever fantasy Eva was acting out with him. I’m seeing more of a purpose of having Meyer around this season, and I’m curious if each episode will feature his recruitment of a different member of the team to provide some helpful backstory before the show signs off.

What I’m Watching: Hunters (Season Premiere)

Hunters: Season 2, Episode 1 “Van Glooten's Day 1972 Butter Sculptor of the Year” (B+)

I honestly didn’t think this show was coming back. I remember watching all of season one while I was quarantining at the very beginning of COVID more than two and a half years ago now, and it was way back in August 2020 that the show got renewed, with no news of anything happening after that until last month, when season two was confirmed as the last. I think that’s fine given that two seasons will probably be enough, and there’s enough depraved violence that can fill just the remaining seven episodes. I couldn’t figure out where I knew the woman introduced in Germany in the opening scene, and I realized when I saw her name in the credits that it was due to Jennifer Jason Leigh’s accent. She was chilling in her new role, and cutting out the shopowner’s eyes was quite a brutal act. It’s interesting to see that Al Pacino is sticking around as Meyer given that we know that’s not who he is and he’s dead, and it seems like it’s just going to be to explain more about how he maintained his cover identity for so long. I like that Millie called Jonah for help when she found herself in trouble, and that he’s now armed with the knowledge that Hitler is still alive. That final shot of a much older Hitler was intense, and I think Udo Kier is a superb choice to play it, even if seeing him always makes me think of a funny moment from a virtual press junket where he used his signature booming voice to encourage a reporter to unmute himself.

What I’m Watching: Hunters (Season Finale)

Hunters: Season 1, Episode 10 “Eilu v’ Eilu” (B+)

One of the problems of watching streaming shows one week at a time is that you’re bound to encounter spoilers. It actually doesn’t happen nearly as often as it could, but unfortunately that was the case with this show for me. Halfway through this season, I asked if a friend had seen this show before stating that I was still watching it, to which she instantly replied, “I knew he was a Nazi,” incidentally right as I was about to watch the fifth installment which, to me, provided the one clue that Meyer wasn’t who he said he was when he shot Tilda without explicitly confirming her identity. It seemed obvious that Meyer could be the only candidate, and I had a feeling he was the Wolf. It didn’t play out exactly as I expected, in that he had a less vicious explanation that I thought he would have after he murdered the doctor played by William Sadler who had done his plastic surgery years back to help him become Meyer. I also thought there might be a revolt by the team against Jonah since he couldn’t prove it, but instead they just rallied around a new mission. Suspecting this twist left me completely unprepared for the other one, which is that the Colonel is Eva Braun and both she and Hitler are very much still alive and living in Argentina. I suppose they chose Joe because he’s the only member of the team who’s not either Jewish or black, which might for some reason make them think of him as superior. Biff made it safely to Russia, where at least he might not cause too much more trouble since he’s more concerned about himself than building the Fourth Reich. The same can’t be said, unfortunately, for Travis, who is somehow worse in jail than he was out in the real world, inspired to create an army of white supremacists for his cause. Starting a chant of “Jews will not replace us” hit me in a different way than much of this show’s vicious hatred has since it was the same slogan used during the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. I’m not sure why it is that this show hasn’t been renewed by Amazon for a second season since, disturbing and gratuitous as it is, it has been one of the most consistently interesting and watchable series I’ve seen in a long time. I’d be interested in watching more, especially considering Millie now has a task force, Harriet has ulterior motives, and the team is taking things abroad.

Season grade: B
Season MVP: Al Pacino as Meyer

What I’m Watching: Hunters

Hunters: Season 1, Episode 9 “The Great Ole Nazi Cookout of '77” (B+)

This episode kicked things into even higher gear than the last two packed episodes, with seemingly little left to be resolved in the final hour of the season (though I’m sure that won’t be the case). Everything happened pretty quickly, with Millie recognizing her boss and heading straight to his house to take Biff with her and rendezvous at the plant where all of the evil Nazi plans were about to come to fruition. Lonny and Harriet’s trip to New Jersey was productive, and I like that she stepped in later to coach him through a truly harrowing situation when he realized just how many Nazis were in between him and the exit. He did a solid job improvising when he couldn’t hear Mindy anymore, and even more impressively, he pretended that he had to bomb so that he could survive until Joe showed up to take out all the guards. Travis looking right at Lonny after he got flagged for not saluting the colonel made it seem like it would really be it this time for him, but this was definitely a victory for the hunters. Travis tried to bait Jonah into killing him, but somehow Millie convinced him not to as her own mother died unbeknown to her in the hospital bed. I’m not sure if Jonah’s friends are going to continue to pursue him, which could lead to trouble, but the biggest issue now is that the car with both Meyer and the Colonel in it just plunged off a bridge into the water. I’m sure the finale will be memorable and, if this episode and the ones before it are any indication, bloody.

What I’m Watching: Hunters

Hunters: Season 1, Episode 8 “The Jewish Question” (B+)

Well, I guess things aren’t as bad as we thought, except of course for the fact that, in the alternate universe of this show, corn syrup is being introduced to the world not as a suitable alternative for sugar but instead as a poison set to rid the world of its lower classes. The Colonel singing the jingle with a smile on her face was haunting, and it’s likely too late for the hunters to do anything about it even if they do believe what Wernher told them. It felt quite easy for them to find him after he had been presumed dead, but with only two episodes left this season, I don’t mind the pace of everything being accelerated. Meeting Simon Wiesenthal, who was played by Judd Hirsch, was interesting, since he was a real person and his work largely inspired this show, though there’s obviously a huge difference in their approach, which Wiesenthal expressed when he met them. The rabbi revealing at Murray’s funeral that he had come to him to request a traditional Jewish funeral was powerful, and having him show up to see Mindy and tell her that she should show mercy on their hostage was also very effective. I’m glad that Millie is finally on board and working with them, and that Biff fleeing the scene of the double murder at his home has put him firmly in their crosshairs. The bad news is that the contact he met is none other than Millie’s chief boss, which means that Millie’s life is probably in more danger than we thought. At least some of the Nazis are killing each other, with Travis unable to stand Tobias and eager to take him out in broad daylight in his car. That game show parody was pretty intense, very over-the-top but also hinting at more serious undertones.

What I’m Watching: Hunters

Hunters: Season 1, Episode 7 “Shalom Motherf***er” (B)

This episode really accelerated the covert Nazis’ plans, and it appears that one or two of the hunters have already become casualties. After earlier struggling with Mindy to decide what to do with their prisoner and imagining how they might kill him, Murray had no trouble staying calm and helping to save the lives of everyone else on the train by forcing Jonah to evacuate them, staying to unsuccessfully defuse the bomb and sacrifice himself. Lonny was so excessive and comical when he was posing as a veteran in the support group, and therefore his stabbing by Travis after he came to the rescue and tailed him was a real surprise. I’m actually pretty shocked that this show so freely killed off two of its characters (though Lonny might not be dead), but I guess it’s just following its narrative and committed to the best story possible rather than ensuring everyone survives to the end. Meyer’s confirmation that he is Jonah’s grandfather was met with anger from Jonah for not having been there, while no one else seemed to care, and it didn’t matter much anyway since, just after that, Millie swooped in to arrest Meyer, which couldn’t have come at a worse time. The city-wide blackout is worrisome, and there just aren’t enough good guys working together to stop the Nazis from whatever they’re doing. Let’s hope that the reporter Juanita set on Biff contacted someone in power to warn them of the impostor who is much too quick to anger, but I sincerely doubt she had time to do that. I don’t know what to expect in the final three episodes, but things don’t look good right now.

What I’m Watching: Hunters

Hunters: Season 1, Episode 6 “(Ruth 1:16)” (B)

There’s always a bit of a calm before the next storm after a huge event like Meyer’s car being blown up at the end of the last episode. The last scene definitely accelerated all of that, but we’ll get to that later. The flashbacks in this hour were particularly disturbing, with Harriet forced to abandon her Judaism in order to be allowed to eat in the convent and Murray having to watch his son shot while he was in his arms. I probably should have concluded, as many likely did, that Harriet took the Nazi from Alabama with her because she recognized who he was, and delivering him as a wedding gift for the parents of the bride was, I’d say, really what they needed, particularly Murray as he was haunted during the wedding by memories of having to let one child go. Jonah reciting the Birkat Kohanim in place of his grandmother felt a bit strange, but it ended up being very moving to see him opt instead for the Birkat Ha-Gomel, an appropriate expression of gratitude after undergoing a life-threatening ordeal, and imagine his grandmother reciting it with him. It shouldn’t be a surprise at all that Meyer might be Jonah’s grandfather, and he didn’t even try to deny it, instead pushing off the conversation. Biff completely threw Juanita under the bus in front of the president, and he revealed his truly horrific and vile nature when he threatened her quietly to ensure that she didn’t get in his way. Millie is closer than ever to the truth, and let’s hope her chief actually wants to protect her rather than put her in more danger. I’m glad that Travis called off their attempted storming of the wedding, but discovering all those files and setting them on fire is a worrisome occurrence that is going to mean this group going into an entirely more defensive mode.

What I’m Watching: Hunters

Hunters: Season 1, Episode 5 “At Night, All Birds are Black” (B)

This show really is pretty gruesome, and I thought that watching a young Meyer being tortured by the wolf was disturbing enough until we got to the horrific method of execution for one of the Nazis and the revolting treatment of the other whose identity they never managed to confirm. I do appreciate the casting on this show, with recognizable faces portraying the Nazis they’re pursuing. Raphael Sbarge from “Once Upon a Time” was Dieter, while Barbara Sukowa from “12 Monkeys” was Tilda, and both were strong, each responding differently to their interrogations. Dieter didn’t seem apologetic at all for his actions, while Tilda kept up the act of not being who they said she was but revealed an overly informed knowledge of each of them before she was killed instantaneously by Meyer, seemingly to cover up whatever it was she was about to say. Learning about so many Nazis living in Alabama was unsettling, and Harriet went off-book to murder one man there and then take another for a joy ride while leaving her accomplices behind. The fake commercial with German-accented Alabamans advertising a haven for Nazis was typically absurd, but that’s one of the ways this show embraces its excessive parody of reality. Murray and Mindy’s rabbi was a bit over-the-top, but it’s worth noting that his portrayer was Josh Mostel, son of the legendary Zero Mostel. Biff is really pushing to have more influence, and he may have screwed himself over with Juanita, who has no desire to help him even if it has implications for her. That big blowout at the end is a huge tipping point, showing that Travis and those he works for are very much onto them, and it’s going to be hard for Meyer to explain why his car exploded outside of a murdered woman’s house. If Millie isn’t too afraid to continue investigating after being beaten up, she’ll now be able to confirm that all of her theories were completely correct.

What I’m Watching: Hunters

Hunters: Season 1, Episode 4 “The Pious Thieves” (B+)

This show is getting more into its rhythm, embracing some of its eccentricities and putting them to good use. We barely saw Travis in this hour, which featured Biff making a power play to make sure the Colonel was appropriately valuing him (amusingly, the woman he met with was played by Dylan Baker’s real-life wife Becky Ann Baker). I also recognized John Noble from “Fringe” as Frederic Hauser, the manager of the bank who we saw Meyer talking to before it was entirely clear what that conversation was about and precisely when it was happening. Lonnie got to put his charm and chatterbox nature to good use by sweet-talking the branch manager, who wasn’t impressed by him nearly as much as her husband was, and then working with Harriet to play dead, refusing to get up until she officially called cut. Discovering the underground vault of possessions taken from the Jews when they were hoarded into concentration camps was a big breakthrough, but one that’s going to have to be carefully calculated, especially since Meyer’s meeting with Frederic resulted in him shooting himself in the head. As she navigates her personal relationships, Millie is closer than ever to getting to the truth, and while we don’t know what Danny plays in all this yet, she’s tracking down all the right leads. Debating doing the right thing and who the good guys with Jonah was thought-provoking, and while she wouldn’t approve of what this crew is doing, she’d be a great ally for them against the vicious enemy they’re fighting.

Take Three: Hunters

Hunters: Season 1, Episode 3 “While Visions of Safta Danced in His Head” (B+)

I’m picking this show back up after two months off, and it’s definitely one of the more intense streaming series I need to catch up on and finish. It’s still difficult to watch the scenes that take place within the concentration camps and then move on to satire like Lonny listing the ways to spot a Nazi, namely looking at white people. Jonah being haunted by visions of his younger grandmother was unsettling, especially when it took him to the shop where he found Artie shot. It’s disturbing to see just how many people are in danger just because they know Jonah or Millie, and the fact that the Colonel and her top henchman don’t fully trust Travis only makes him more of a loose cannon likely to ignore orders and kill anyone who doesn’t fit his idea of the pure white race. After all his talk of Robin being more than just a sidekick, Artie was brave to pretend to be Jonah when Travis walked in looking for him, and he paid for it with his life. Millie is getting close to uncovering answers, which of course makes her more vulnerable now that Travis is tracking her so closely, and I hope she gets to Jonah before he does. I thought that the cop friend she met looked a lot like Tim Daly, and it turns out it’s because he was played by his son, Sam. I’m intrigued to learn more about whatever Mindy and Murray now know is planned to happen in two weeks, and to see how long Biff lasts with his mother-in-law as his new guest.

Round Two: Hunters

Hunters: Season 1, Episode 2 “The Mourner's Kaddish” (B)

After a heavily expository ninety-minute opening episode, this normal hour offered a true sample of what this show will likely be like going forward. It’s undeniably and unapologetically gratuitous, showing depravity and cruelty by the Nazis in the camps, exacted in turn by the hunters, and then revisited upon those few actually trying to do the right thing by the sadistic Travis. The opening with Hava Nagila being defiantly played by the Jewish musicians was haunting, and also quite disturbing, as most plotlines on this show seem to be. Introducing the hunters as bat mitzvah guests all coming up to light a candle was clever, and is emblematic of this show’s very committed and purposeful style. I imagine we’ll get into the backstories of each and how they really came into this work in each successive episode, and this hour was just about naming them and their general roles, with Josh Radnor’s Lonny Flash seeming to be the most disposable member of the team aside from its newest and most conscientious member, Jonah. Carol Kane and Saul Rubinek are definitely comic relief as Mindy and Murray, the bickering couple that is also skilled in deactivating alarms. It was obvious that Jonah would take pity on the Nazi pianist, and his codebreaking skills are only going to come in so handy if he constantly wants to take the kinder approach. If he knew what Lena Olin’s Colonel and her horrible henchman Travis were capable of, he’d probably be less reticent about his approach. Let’s hope that the determined Millie doesn’t push too hard and instead realizes that she’d be better off working with the people hunting Nazis than being snuffed out by those trying to rebuild a reich in America.

Pilot Review: Hunters

Check out my one-minute take on every new pilot, which is embedded below and you can also watch by subscribing to movieswithabe on YouTube.