Both episodes available to date start off very well and they pulled me in right away- the acting, the cinematography, pacing, characterization, and suspense-building were all brilliant. However, something strange happened in the last quarter or third of each episode: the detectives and/or characters start taking ridiculous and implausible risks and general foolishness ensues. I truly don't understand how this happened- but in one episode t the hero Detective Superintended Grace puts himself absurdly in danger, even turning his back on a lethal suspect; in the other he shows complete ineptitude in failing to deliver protection he'd promised to a witness. It makes no sense that an otherwise brilliant officer would suddenly become asinine. That brilliant officer is badly treated by the higher ups (a familiar trope in shows from the UK) but the later folly for which he *should* have been reprimanded barely raises a brow. The ending of the first episode had a few holes and resorted to cliches. I haven't seen the ending of the second yet because I got frustrated I had to stop watching a couple of times. I haven't read the novels, so maybe it's a problem in the original plot- or maybe it's something in the execution but either way it's a disappointment. The show is so promising in other ways- it doesn't set out to break the mold but does a good job with some suspense formulae, and that's usually good enough for me because I do like the formulae, but here there are sudden let-downs later. Hope they fix these in future and keep going- I could watch this show with pleasure for many seasons if it improves in this respect.
Grace
(2021– )
Sudden absurdities late in the episodes of an otherwise promising show
20 July 2021
Warning: Spoilers