Caprice

Sly remains solid as a rock as this fine new series' center of gravity, and "Caprice" introduces intriguing new storylines while adding dimension to the regulars who support Stallone so well in the developing saga.

There's a solid action/chase scene, and more nuance to the central off-kilter romance with the ATF agent lady whose own career is a checkered as Sly's. It was nice to see Dana Delaney pop in for some star power, and hopefully her character will not be peripheral to the central storyline.

What impresses me is that the generally flippant approach to this sort of Elmore Leonard tale does not prevent one identifying with the characters and their plight, bucking the recent trends toward facetiousness. I give Taylor Sheridan credit for taking essentially pulp content and investing it with a seriousness usually reserved for "prestige" projects.

It looks like the short episodes are going to be a regular feature of this series. This week and last week's episodes ran about 15-20 minutes shorter than standard streaming series. This week was tighter and more focused in the writing and direction.

Stallone's definition of what college was all about was very funny.

Someone complained that the show was making Tulsa and Tulsan's appear as hayseeds and that using Oklahoma City locations for Tulsa was insulting. I fail to see it.

The relationship between Stallone and the ATF Agent, well-played by Andrea Savage, is developing into an unexpected and very interesting one.

ATF Stacy Beale, played by an actress who strikes me as Jane Lynch's daughter, has an opening scene "saving America from people with b0mbs" or some kind of nonsense. What she and her fellow stormstroopers were doing was SWAT teaming some Okie in his rural home. He had a surprise for them. The only drawback was that they all walked away.

Anyway, if this obnoxious character is gonna be recurring it's gonna wreck the show.

Because the main character, played by Sly Stalone, is a guy who is mystified by fragile, purple-haired, nose-ringed millennials and their confusion about pronouns. He listens to dive-bar blues. And he's an old-school gentleman who regrets a life that led him to be separated from his family.

Don't wreck a good thing by making heroes out of dooshbehg cops wqho think they're ''saving America" by chasing down rinky dynk bikers with gun fetishes.