Gina is my favorite character on the show. She keeps me watching. Show pretty good also! Stories solid good whodunnits. Very good watch! These reviews are too long.
The Brokenwood Mysteries (TV Series)
The Garotte and the Vinkelbraun (2021)
User Reviews
Review this title6 Reviews
Gina!
jerseygirl49-674-59955927 January 2022
Funny Gina and original plot - but bit too intense for me
SunnyDaise10 January 2023
I've frequently complained that certain Brokenwood Mysteries themes come up too often, making the mysteries unoriginal/predictable/boring. This is definitely not a boring episode - there's a fair bit of humour, especially with Gina, and the plot is different ... I just found it the murder scenes a bit to full on, clever though. However, even though I don't like many of the mysteries, it amazes me how much empathy there is for the killer and their loved ones - most of the wrap-up scenes really tug at the heart strings to some extent. And of course, I love the regular characters and their ongoing jokes.
Lacked needed structure
wjspears27 September 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I would not rate this episode of Brokenwood Mysteries very high either. The mystery was a sufficiently complicated whodunit. The problem was the construction of the story. It was too much "all over the place".
There were arguably 6 or 7 suspects, with varying and changing alibis. That is a lot of storylines to juggle, and for an audience to absorb.
To do that successfully, the writers need to either build clues on top of one another, or to do a handy "review of the evidence on the suspect board" several times to keep viewers "in the know". This episode did neither very well.
Finally, it never made a lot of sense why the detectives focused so much energy and time investigating Lord Ashbury and his significant other, when the victim was clearly hated by most everyone in the crew.
The final reveal in the last few minutes--which was oddly never mentioned previously by any of the crew--proves crucial to solving the murder.
There were arguably 6 or 7 suspects, with varying and changing alibis. That is a lot of storylines to juggle, and for an audience to absorb.
To do that successfully, the writers need to either build clues on top of one another, or to do a handy "review of the evidence on the suspect board" several times to keep viewers "in the know". This episode did neither very well.
Finally, it never made a lot of sense why the detectives focused so much energy and time investigating Lord Ashbury and his significant other, when the victim was clearly hated by most everyone in the crew.
The final reveal in the last few minutes--which was oddly never mentioned previously by any of the crew--proves crucial to solving the murder.
Disappointing start to new season
mlouns1 April 2021
I've seen all Brokenwood episodes up to this one, and I do like the show. But the season 7 opener is a letdown.
The good: It starts great, with a gruesome locked-room murder. The best part of the plot is the process of zeroing in on the timeline for the crime, with, as usual, everyone apparently having a good alibi for why they could not have done it.
There was good material for Dr. Kadinsky, the pathologist, who is always a colorful character in the series. Also, the surfer / electrician character was well written and well acted.
The bad: the rest of the writing is not up to standard. The show really loses its narrative thread by the middle, and mostly becomes scene after scene of short interviews with various suspects. This can work for one-hour detective shows, but there needs to be a stronger thread to keep interest over 90 minutes.
In other Brokenwood episodes, there is often an attempt to flesh out some local industry or hobby. This one had little more in that regard than tiresome squabbling among TV personalities.
There has been an effort to deepen Detective Sims' character in the past few seasons, but unfortunately this episode has her reverting to the shallow snippiness of the first seasons. Nor was there much of interest to color Mike or Breen.
The scenes of someone watching the gruesome zombie movie go on for way too long for my taste. I understand "Braindead" is supposed to be a classic NZ horror film in real life, but I'm not a fan of the genre, and I really didn't enjoy what seemed like minutes on end of splattery gore.
I'm hoping the rest of the season improves from here.
The good: It starts great, with a gruesome locked-room murder. The best part of the plot is the process of zeroing in on the timeline for the crime, with, as usual, everyone apparently having a good alibi for why they could not have done it.
There was good material for Dr. Kadinsky, the pathologist, who is always a colorful character in the series. Also, the surfer / electrician character was well written and well acted.
The bad: the rest of the writing is not up to standard. The show really loses its narrative thread by the middle, and mostly becomes scene after scene of short interviews with various suspects. This can work for one-hour detective shows, but there needs to be a stronger thread to keep interest over 90 minutes.
In other Brokenwood episodes, there is often an attempt to flesh out some local industry or hobby. This one had little more in that regard than tiresome squabbling among TV personalities.
There has been an effort to deepen Detective Sims' character in the past few seasons, but unfortunately this episode has her reverting to the shallow snippiness of the first seasons. Nor was there much of interest to color Mike or Breen.
The scenes of someone watching the gruesome zombie movie go on for way too long for my taste. I understand "Braindead" is supposed to be a classic NZ horror film in real life, but I'm not a fan of the genre, and I really didn't enjoy what seemed like minutes on end of splattery gore.
I'm hoping the rest of the season improves from here.
season 7 letdown
taylorfrost-0803717 June 2022
I so looked forward to each and every season and episode 1-6 so I was really happy to hear there was a season 7 What happed?!! New writers? I don't know but the first episode of season 7 fell flat so did episode 2 so started watching something else too bad the characters are so likeable.
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