Shooter Season 4
Bertoldo Beyer
Shooter is an American drama television series based on the 2007 film of the same name and the first three novels in the Bob Lee Swagger series by Stephen Hunter.[1] The show stars Ryan Phillippe in the lead role of Swagger, a retired United States Marine Corps Scout Sniper from MARSOC living in seclusion who is coaxed back into action after learning of a plot to kill the President.[2] USA Network picked up the pilot in August 2015[3] and ordered the series in February 2016.[4]
The series was originally set to premiere on July 19, 2016, but it was postponed to July 26 due to the July 7 Dallas police officer shootings.[5] USA pulled it entirely after the Baton Rouge police officer shootings on July 17.[6] On October 3, 2016, USA announced that the new premiere date for Shooter would be November 15, 2016.[7] On December 19, 2016, the series was renewed for a second season that premiered on July 18, 2017.[8] On December 4, 2017, the series was renewed for a third season.[9]
On July 6, 2016, while filming a scene at Agua Dulce Airpark, actor Tom Sizemore accidentally ran over a stuntman. Sizemore was supposed to enter the Cadillac Escalade and stay there until the scene ended, but the stunt coordinator told him to pull out, not realizing that the stuntman was behind him.[19]
On July 26, 2017, the second-season episode order was cut back from the planned ten episodes to the eight episodes already filmed after Ryan Phillippe broke his leg on July 16, 2017, in an incident unrelated to the series.[20]
About the cancellation, Omar Epps said: That was all backdoor politics. It had nothing to do with the numbers. Me and Ryan [Phillippe] had a great time. We were like kids in a candy store. We used to laugh every day we showed up to work, like, 'We're kids again!' We just get to run and jump, push, punch. You know, stuff that little boys do. It was like playing in the playground in the sandbox. I had a great, great time on that show. I have a lot of respect for John Hlavin, who's a showrunner on there. And like I said, Ryan and I got cool and had a great time on that show. That was just the backdoor politics.[21]
Shooter aired on Thursdays at 10:00 pm on USA Network. The episodes are approximately 43 minutes, and are broadcast in both high- and standard definition. In addition, the streaming service Netflix started to broadcast the series in certain regions worldwide, the first season weekly on November 15, 2016, with a one-day delay with respect to the original United States broadcast.[54]
Shooter received mixed reviews from critics. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series has an approval rating of 47% based on 17 reviews, with an average rating of 5.75/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Ryan Phillippe's efforts aren't enough to salvage Shooter, a tedious, under-developed drama that lacks an original voice or perspective."[55] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the series has a score 60 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[56]
Shooter season 3 aired in the Summer of 2018 and the show was cancelled following the conclusion of this 3rd season. Looking at the series from the viewpoint that I knew it was going to be cancelled I can not say for certain why it was cancelled, I think the show was well done and appealed to a large majority of potential audience members. While also having a distribution deal with Netflix for an international audience, I am surprised at the decision which was made, but the story itself wraps up in the most suitable way possible for it I think. While also giving the option and time for a 4th season to happen, but alas, despite shopping the series around to other television networks there was no-one who picked up the show, meaning Shooter ended. Without any further ado I guess lets start looking at the show a bit more in-depth. (Unless you can tell me why the show was cancelled in which case, please tell me in the comments below so my mind can rest easy!)
As season 2 was cut short due to Ryan Phillippes broken leg, this season was really 2 stories told in the 1 season. But in saying that the show rushed through a conclusion for the season 2 arc making it finish in the premiere of season 3 so instead of taking 2 episodes, it was concluded in 1. As Solotov had Swagger hostage, the opening to the season is fast and unyielding in terms of tempo, we see Swagger remembering his father which goes on to lead the story for the remainder of its run. After Solotov is killed, he mentions to Swagger the fact that his father was not alone on the night he was killed, which is something that only a couple of people knew about, making Swagger believe that there is something else to the death of his father that he never knew about.
This begins the 2nd arc of this season, the sins of our fathers. Swagger did not have much mention of his father in the other seasons, but now this time around, there is a focus on what his father did and how he lived during him time in Vietnam and as a sheriff in Texas. As he was not aware of his fathers life and some of the shadow that we all live in went on to cause trouble for Swagger and how he is trying to move on with his life, he needs the truth. After Solotov implies that there is something connecting Atlas and Earl Swagger, Bob Lee begins a journey into the deep dark world of undercover operations. Alongside Nadine and Isaac, Bob Lee begins research into a conspiracy that is operating out of his home town in Texas, but makes it all the way to the top of the totem poll in the US political system. With the help of a couple of friends, how far can Swagger go before he begins to lose his mind and potentially his family in the search for secrets that want to remain buried.
On the flip side to Swagger there are 2 characters who are in the show from minute 1, Isaac and Nadine played by Omar Epps and Cynthia Addai-Robinson. The characters who had to be similar to Swagger and at times they are threats to him and others they are allies, but for this to all work, you have to feel that Swagger respects them, especially considering the relationship he has with Isaac and how it developed. He may not have forgiven Isaac for his actions in the initial season, but during the flashbacks and the time spent covering each other in season 2, it is seen without a doubt the respect that each man has for one another. Seeing the pair of them on screen they played off each other well and made it easy to want both of them to be on the screen together even when they are chasing each other or trying to kill one another. Without this chemistry between them which is something that Omar managed to bring to the role, then the show would have had to either recast or manoeuvre itself around the storyline that the show went on to deal with. While Cynthia had the role of playing the bureaucratic woman in the story, considering her previous turn as Amanda Waller in the Arrowverse, I think she was a great choice and watching her play in such a role that gave her 3 seasons playing a star role, it made me beyond happy. The chemistry she had with Ryan & Shantel and went on to develop with Omar had me thinking the 4th season with her in charge of Prometheus could have been a sight to behold, but of course we never got to see it.
We saw over the course of this show that it was always able to have beautiful scenes within it, but the CGI could be poor, this was notable in the final 2 episodes predominantly with the use of explosions and semtex to take out the bus and Supreme Court safe house which were poor effects and took away in a manner of speaking the beautiful scenes that we received with in person camera work. So lets begin to look at what the show has done expertly, which is the in person camera work, the time spent for directors and cinematographers to create scenes that took time and care to be perfect.
There were multiple examples throughout this season so I will go through a couple of the standout scenes here and we can see if you agree with me! We had spent the first 2 seasons going back to Afghanistan to see the lives of Bob Lee and Swagger, but this time there was a focus on Earl Swagger and his time spent in Vietnam, which of course if a very different type of place than that of Afghanistan. It is rich with vegetation and the colour green with rivers rather than the yellows and oranges we are used to seeing. So the show demonstrated its ability to shift its visuals while still being exceptional, getting to see the Viet Cong portrayed and the manner in which Swagger tried to deal with his time spent in Phoenix was an interesting addition to the show that at times could be argued was filled with factions of the alphabet.
On 2 occasions there was a safe room or bunker utilised by characters which were breached by a group this season, with them being in vastly different environments. While Harris, Swagger, Isaac and Nadine are in a bunker surrounded by Red Bamas men, we get a great shot of the wasteland that they are surrounded by on all sides with the subsequent explosion of the door using a timed belt charge which exploded all the way down the spine of the door giving a great shot of the door falling off its hinges. On the other hand when Swagger is trying to stop the Atlas cleaner from going on to enter the SC justices safe room, we get a shot of Arlington cemetery and the surrounding area which was in direct contrast to the other area utilised by the show for the same type of scene, which is the only reason that the same thing felt clean and new.
The show ended after 3X13, with the ending to the show being announced halfway through the season and the show being shopped to other networks, there had been plans for a 4th season that they were unable to bring to fruition, but that does not mean the show got an open ending. The ending was great, but so sad. I have not read the books and do not know if anything was brought forward in the show compared to the books or something developed outside of the original literature. The assault on Swaggers ranch brought about the death of Julie Swagger after Bob Lee had made the decision to go on and retire in peace to look after his wife and child. But Red Bama was not willing to let the defeat of Atlas and the death of his son to go quietly, so he took a shot in the hopes of taking out Swagger with a long gun, but following his move, the bullet struck Julie through the neck killing her basically immediately. It went on to take 3 months for Bob Lee to track down Red Bama, but once he did, he wasted no time, taking him out with his black king rifle through the lower eye socket and the show ends with Swagger walking through the snowy mountains in Canada away to I presume go back to care for his daughter raising her in Julies memory.
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