As painful as it is to say given the vast levels of hype and interest it generated – which has unsurprisingly been translated into instant success on the viewership charts – FUBAR is not a good show. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that if it starred anyone other than Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead role, it would have been quickly dismissed as Netflix’s latest inane action-packed offering.
However, through sheer force of will and undeniable star power alone, the inimitable icon has single-handedly turned the spy series into must-see TV, which was an outcome everybody could have admittedly seen coming from a mile away. The CGI is unconvincing, the jokes are cringeworthy, the set pieces are perfunctory, and it’s about as derivative and uninspired as its central concept could possibly hope to be; but dammit, it’s Arnold, so it gets a pass.
That’s a feeling clearly being shared by subscribers all over the world, seeing as FUBAR has shrugged off lukewarm reviews and an underwhelming response from audiences to debut as the platform’s number one episodic effort on a global scale. Per FlixPatrol, the spiritual successor to True Lies in everything but quality has snagged the top spot in an impressive 64 countries around the world, but the big question is how long it can stay there.
It’s not a spoiler to say that FUBAR ends with a blatant setup for a second season, so the pressure is on Schwarzenegger’s hefty shoulders to ensure that his name and his name alone are enough to guarantee a renewal for something that wouldn’t be faring anywhere near as well as it currently is with anybody else in front-and-center.
