grizzlydblair Reviews

Overspel (2011–2015)

I am completely unstunned

[3/10 · 14 March 2023]

The rave reviews on here coerced me into sticking with this through five episodes, thinking that it must be my fault. But I perceived no chemistry whatsoever between the actors playing the adulterous couple;, who seemed to be going through the motions; the sexual scenes between them were colourless, evasive and tame; I found nothing interesting about the other characters and the enfolding plot, and I just gave up after trying rather than putting myself through another half dozen episodes of tedium. I guess tastes differ; this was not for me. I'm pleased for those who enjoyed it. And found it 'stunning'; it utterly failed to hold my attention.

Coroner (2019–2022)

Nope, sorry

[2/10 · 1 October 2022]

I came to this show seeking a temporary relief from watching in succession a number of intense, gruelling, multi-episode, long-arc Scandi crime and angst series. One crime at a time, done and dusted, and without the need for subtitles, I thought would be a welcome change. However, after the second episode I just baled out, when the last 10 minutes were entirely given over to Jenny and her personal dramas with her son, new lover and dead husband. The crime plot was at best desultory. I could see where this was going. I'm sure there are people who like this sort of emphasis in a crime series, but I want police procedural not soap. Sorry.

Britain's Most Historic Towns (2018–2020)

Meh

[2/10 · 13 May 2022]

I watched a few of these about towns that I know well and about periods of history about which I know a considerable amount, and it is really just laughably over-simplified history for people who do their food shopping in Marks & Spencer. Regrettable to see a serious academic drawn into the cosplay stunts that often accompany the narratives. If you have any serious interest in the history of Britain, read some books.

Snöänglar (2021– )

Brilliant

[10/10 · 25 March 2022]

Sometimes almost too painful to watch, but this features an astonishing performance by Maria Rossing as Maria - I cannot find words to adequately describe it and don't want to issue spoilers. But the acting all round is just superb, and especial mention has to go to the young girl who plays Nicole. Best drama I have watched in ages.

The X-Files: Familiar (2018) Season 11, Episode 8

Top episode

[10/10 · 14 January 2021]

For all the reasons advanced by other 10/10 and 9/10 reviewers on this forum, which I will not repeat, this was, for me, the strongest episode of this season - with 'Plus One' a close second. All the more remarkable because both the writer and director had never previously contributed to the show, but captured the classic X-F vibe. Mr Chuckleteeth is a brilliant creation. With all respect to reviewer kuarinofu, however, and to whoever posted on 'Connections', this is not channelling 'Teletubbies' but another UK show called 'Boobah'. 15 years ago my youngest kids were glued to this, but it really creeped me out (as it clearly did the writer of this episode). I was very grateful when in due course they graduated to 'Spongebob Squarepants' ...

The X-Files: Rm9sbG93ZXJz (2018) Season 11, Episode 7

A weird deviation from the show's raison d'etre

[4/10 · 13 January 2021]

I totally agree with lnvicta in this review section that this is NOT an X-File, but is somehow a missing episode of the UK show, 'Black Mirror'. OK, there have over the years been other X-F episodes that have not been FBI business but just something weird that happened to one or other or both of the protagonists (Chinga, anyone, or Detour, or Audrey Pauley in the post-M&S era?), but those who think this is groundbreaking maybe need to seek out, for example, 'Hated in the Nation' from the Black Mirror repertoire.

Into the Night: Sylvie (2020) Season 1, Episode 1

I'm going to die in Scotland with Belgians

[9/10 · 9 June 2020]

Worth watching just for that line. Anyone old enough to remember the early 1970s 'Airport' movies will probably be inclined to regard this as a homage to that genre, and quite rightly. Pushes all the Airport buttons and then resets them again and again. Nonsense, scientifically and aeronautically, of course, but hugely enjoyable.

Bordertown (2016–2020)

How do you solve a problem like Janina?

[8/10 · 29 May 2020]

OK. As a practiced viewer of crime dramas and devotee of subtitles I fully acknowledge that these days, any cop worth his or her firearm in whatever country or continent they are employed has to have a troubled teen in the background. Usually, daughter; sometimes (as in The Killing) a son. I get that. It often bores me, but it comes with the territory.

I have just rewatched season 1 of Bordertown after watching season 3, and I love so much about this show, but has there ever been a more annoying troubled teen than Janina? Katia (here you get two troubled teenage daughters for the price of one) I can deal with - she is better acted and has more to be troubled about - but Janina is just completely and utterly annoying. While she was going through her prison scenes in the last 2 episodes of season 1, when she was involved with the revolting Elias throughout that season, and then during her emotional meltdown after Pauliina's death in season 3 I found myself fast-forwarding though her scenes, which, for me, ruined several good crime narratives. Maybe some viewers value these 'soapy' family, overarching narrative arcs in shows such as these, but please just give me the crimes and spare me the family dramas. They just, for me, take the edge off a show that is brilliant and absorbing for all the reasons given by the other positive reviewers on this site.

The Gift (2019–2021)

Half-time review

[7/10 · 24 April 2020]

Well, after 4 episodes, what is good and what is so-so about this? Gobeklitepe is a fascinating site and, as someone interested in archaeology, I have been following its excavation for several years from here in the UK. Binding its mysteries into a contemporary narrative is an interesting way of bringing it to wider attention, even within Turkey. The cinematography is often striking and the landscapes fascinating for someone wholly unacquainted with that remote part of Turkey. Both Beren Saat in the lead and Melisa Senolsun as her sister have been excellent. The parents on both sides, on the other hand, have been two-dimensional and cardboard-manipulative. The fiance is just super annoying, and really I could have done without him and that plot thread, which would also have taken the manipulative families out of it. I see the intention to position Atiye between the conventional cultural narrative of a safe, socially-advantageous marriage and children and, on the other hand, her identification with a much older, more mysterious identity, but this contrast is rather crudely set up and managed in my view.

And then in Ep.3 the disappearing grandmother and the house transformed overnight to gaslight the hero/ine into thinking she is delusional! Spare me. This is such a cliche - see The Lady Vanishes, The Moving Toyshop, So Long at the Fair, Flightplan and a hundred other variations on this. And Zuhre in Ep.4 is a masterclass in ham overacting.

I am just sufficiently engaged, that said, to carry on to the end, but the rapturous 10/10 reviews seem little - ahem - promotional: a substantial number of those rating 10 seem to have joined IMDb only to post a review of this and have no other reviewing history... So 7/10 at the moment. Let us see how it develops and concludes.

Unit 42 (2017–2019)

Good, but ...

[7/10 · 2 July 2019]

I am on the third episode, and I feel I should be enjoying this more than I am. It has so much going for it. Patrick Ridremont was terrific in En Immersion and La Foret and is good again here; and sometimes it is welcome to have an anthology series, which I sometimes like to watch after watching 8 or 10 episode serials with a demanding, continuous story arc. It has good, edgy storylines; it has well-written dialogue (I have enough French to be able to understand a lot of it in the original with subtitles helping me along with the rest). The problem, for me, is with the editing. During Episode 1, I replayed a 10-minute segment I had just watched, and the longest any single shot was held was 6 seconds - most of the cuts came much more quickly than that. There is therefore a relentlessly manic quality in the way the final product is put together. I think this is possibly intended to mirror in some way the contemporary, unstable, high-tech, high-speed world that the investigators work in, but, for me, it makes it quite hard to watch and retain concentration