Passenger

Well there's 6 hrs of my life I won't get back

Only watched this for want of something else to watch - learned my lesson there. Probably the most unsophisticated thing I have watched for a decade. I'm still scratching my head at why I kept starting a the next episode. Each episode was like Groundhog Day. Unconvincing characters - felt sorry for the actors who were expected to do something with a scrip and storyline like Hollyoaks on a really really bad day.

Perfect example of why trying to lever Stranger Things into North Manchester should. Ever be attempted again.

Need a lie down now.

Fumin' at the end.

Plenty of things dragged this potentially enjoyable, but ultimately topical and unsophisticated, production down, such as:

• Underdeveloped characters/relationships
• Slow pacing
• Repetitious events; too many coughing scenes; many characters involved in 'terror in the woods', but no reveals by two thirds of the way through the series; alarms and goo in multiple lab scenes, but no conclusive data/outcome at all; animal mutilation images on a loop; and the same with overly dramatic conversations...
• Annoying relationship dramas that don't drive a story
• Some of the comedic scripting works, but not much
• An unsympathetic and generally negative tone (damaged and/or unlikable characters, and that's supposed to be funny)

A compelling and pretty original show that's kind of a Happy Valley with a weirdness angle. The dialogue is great, the pacing moves things well, nothing is spoon fed to the audience and the performances are all first rate. Every episode is tantalizing and interesting. The ending leaves things rather open, with several unanswered questions hanging about, suggesting a possible follow up, though I think it works just fine as is. A very pleasant surprise. Having said that, some folks won't like it - people who need to have everything wrapped up and explained, or who use TV shows as second screen content while they browse on their phones. This requires attention and, not patience exactly, but a willingness to let go and let the story take you where it takes you.

The village of Chadder Vale is beset by a series of bizarre tragedies, DI Riya Ajunwa is keen to investigate, but her boss wants a lid kept on things.

The amount of people I've spoken to that said they gave up after ten or twenty minutes, and I totally get why, this is the most frustrating series I've seen in a long while.

It's all over the place and very patchy, I'd argue half is just plain bad, and half is actually very good, the last two episodes were so much better, but getting to that point is hard work.

The story was very good, the acting on point, but the storytelling side of it was all over the place, at times it was virtually impossible to follow. When it finally falls into place, it's actually very satisfying, and it does come together well.

I've heard people rightly mention Twin Peaks and Fargo, personally I got more Fortitude vibes from it.

Very well acted, Wunmi Mosaku as always is great, at times she's better than the material allows.

6/10.

If Sally Wainright (Happy Valley) and M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) got drunk while watching an episode of The League of Gentlemen they would end up writing something like this.

After watching the first episode I am confused and intrigued. People drive around in 25 year old cars but have smart phones. Someone plays a computer game from the 80s but they are an anti-fracking protester. Is this place even 'real'? I'm thinking 'Lost', 'Life on Mars' even 'The Truman Show'.

The first episode was quite disjointed and demanded patience from it's audience, that's a big ask these days. They did enough to get me watching episode 2 but only just.