Reviews
Ridley (2022)
Location...and that's about it
This series has the atmospheric look of that now standard, middle of the road, UK police procedural. But it never rises above what feels like a first-draft of a series following a formula of a scenic and brooding location, an emotionally damaged brooding detective who has a thing for music, a socially appropriate subplot involving gay marriage with children (and more on the way!), and twisting plots that seem familiar...if not memorable, or the point in this exercise. No character or cast member pulls you in. The lead character, retired detective blah blah blah...mopes along, more depressed than anything interesting, and well-known actor Adrian Dunbar seems wholly miscast. Then again, he's given little to work with: a murky tragic past that isn't revealed til episode 3 and plodding, wooden dialogue. It feels like it was torture for him to put on his location-specific woolly jumper and get through this production, one painful scene at a time. And then he sings! Which has more of a comic relief effect than, well, making him human when not staring at a cold corpse on the moor. Also rather comic is how the plot drags along, challenging you hang in there, hoping for a memorable moment, if not an original crime. But, please, no more singing.
Marriage (2022)
Brilliant series for serious minds
This short, 4-hour series will be a surprise if you're expecting these two actors in a crime tale as they often play. And if you can't bear drama with moments of comic relief, more like a stage play, you'll call it boring. But by the end of the first hour, it hooks you, a family all with issues or pain and funny/familiar defense strategies. Eventually, you find yourself wondering why more TV isn't this good, this inventive. This is not a comedy, but in form and daring it reminds me of Fleabag and Catastrophe, two hilarious and unconventional British hits. And how shallow American TV generally winds up feeling.
Beck (1997)
Absolutely one of the best procedurals & characters
This tv series has little to do with the classic Beck book series, beyond location and titile. Yet, it's a wonderful, wholly invented new character-driven police procedural that no doubt paved the way for so many Scandinavian and German, in particular, series. Beck is perfect, square and a worrier, yet he has a life outside the crime tales. The real invention, though is his sidekick, counterpart, Gunvald Larsson, played so well by his co-star, a very accomplished stage and film actor. Really, it's the secondary characters and storylines that work so well, quirky and ever-evolving that makes this a model production. Inger, Beck's daughter, the nutty neighbor to Beck, and even the senior police execs who drive Beck nuts. So much depth.
Three Pines (2022)
A fair production of a classic book series
A little slow and predictable, as anything based in Canada seems to yield. Excellent choice in Molina to protray an iconic protagonist. Then, only eight episodes despite listing of ten. What a disappointment. Nothing gets resolved, we are only expected to hang on til further seasons, maybe. Take a tip from more brilliant European series that go whole hog in 8 episodes, develop secondary characters, and deliver satisfying drama. This is more of a made-for-tv flavor of procedural. Setting has atmosphere but the charcaters are one-dimensional, the plot thin. And enough with the mystical indiginous theme.
Kommissarie Winter (2010)
Great Scandinavian novels reduced to TV formula
OK, so this show is over a decade old, but new to the big streaming world obsessed with gruesome crime and the weary detectives who solve them. The series is based on one of the best, seminal Scandi-crime series of novels by Ake Edwards. The books are full of a wonderful cast of oddball cops and elliptical plots, great dialogue. Which has been entirely left out of this show. Lead character Winters is unrecognizeable, now an MHz standard-issue cop, scruffy, haunted, all wrinkled linen. Could be filmed anywhere, no sense of Sweden as locale. Read the books, watch this series for the comfort meal that most of MHz is, wall to wall copycat crime shows.
Die Toten von Marnow (2021)
Drama plus crime, nicely textured series, another German hit
I'm all for the character-driven crime series from Scandanavia, but Germany delivers some of the best, more nuanced series in the genre. Marnow Murders (as titled/viewed in the US) has great, movie-quality characters, beautiful filmaking, quirky storyline and...two central figures that draw you into their individual worlds. Exceptional "tv."
Brotherhood: Genesis 27:39 (2006)
An Indy Sopranos for New Englanders
If you're from or have spent a time in New England, this family crime set in Providence RI will grab you. It's like an independent film with a 'Sopranos' vibe. The music ending each episode is rich-but someone PLEASE figure out the correct artist at the end od Season 1, episode 7. Great song, but it ain't Paul Westerberg as credited!
Engrenages (2005)
The most brilliant series in any language
'Spiral' ('Engrenages') is simply the most brilliant, engrossing, produced drama/cop series. Now watching Season 7, and amazed at how well plotted, acted, filmed this contines to be. If you think 'The Wire' is great, this show goes much further. Somehow, the writing has kept--over 10 years?--the drama of the characters front and center, full of twists and depth.
Flesh and Blood (2020)
Fun soapy thriller, great cast...but disappointing tease w/o ending
This is the new Brit genre of ensemble soap-thriller. Frustrating for some viewers, fun for others. Really good cast-Stephen Rea is great as usual, oozing creepy charm as everyone's prime suspect-and everyone-guilty-of-something back stories all around. The only letdown is an abrupt end four episodes in, more of a tease that leaves you feeling a few more episodes were needed, not another season.
The American (2010)
Subtle thriller than most Americans know
Respectfully rendered adaptation of Martin Booth's meditation on the last days on ths job for a secretive enabler of hits, assassinations, etc. As much of the book is first person, it's hard to fault Clooney for failing at times to convey the full depth of the writer/protagonist's growing attachment to the Italian village, and possible normalcy, after a life of hiding and running. Alas, the ending was changed to suit someone, completely upending Booth's fine tale.
The Tunnel (2013)
Good remake but ultimately not The Bridge
Through two seasons, a good French-British take on the highly original Swedish-Danish "Bridge." Excellent casting of the leads. But a tad too much BBC-like formula. The third season was a letdown-barely including the leading character, who essentially disappeared by episode 4. Whereas The Bridge roared into season 3 with a stunning story and new second lead.