Bernthal does a good job channeling Julian, if you've seen the movie you know what I'm talking about, the walk, the gestures, when he tries on his new age early 80s suits that were all the rage back in 1980, he even gives a nod to Breathless 1983 with the broken heart tattoo on his chest, ala Jesse Lujack, aka Jesse Burns aka Jack Lee Burns, the moola is in the coola, lol. The MG convertible nod to Breathless this one being Oxblood Red vs the Candy Pink one in Breathless.
He has put in his work and it shows if you know what to look for. It's refreshing to see the back story especially with the Swedish madam now Asain, it all makes sense why she was upset with Julian in the movie, she feels she gave him his new exciting life and it's hers to destroy, the daughter Isabelle should be interesting to watch, mom was ruthless and cold, as ruthless as Leon and Madame Malibu were in the movie. And as far as people complaining about frivolous things like the Mercedes now being a Jag, the music, that's what happens in interpretations of a movie 42 yrs old, why not update and change a few things, the Mercedes is only a $14K car now vs $100K plus for an E type Jag so I'm glad they switched it up lol. There's not much to dislike, as it goes along Emmett Walsh comes in, character development and more protagonists than a bad dream with good plot twists to the story and Gretchen Mol, O Donnell and Bernthal? Need I say more?