I am writing this review after watching just the first episode, so maybe, and hopefully, it gets better later on, but the opening episode was quite honestly terrible. I remember that the original series also lacked in quality and good acting and was thus cancelled originally, but this one is ever worse. It looks like some cheap Canadian weekend love movie with poor sets and rather dull costumes. Speaking of dull, just like in the second season of Fellowes' Gilded Age which was ruined by dark lighting this one also has natural lights which makes most of the scenes dull and lacking in any glitz and glamour. It makes the visuals very lifeless and I really hope they would stop using just natural lights in shows.
Acting is mostly subpar, Hallmark TV level, I am not sure why the two leads were cast, they have no chemistry together. They are both lost in every scene, have lack of acting talent and also screen presence and charisma. The only good and interesting actors are Liam Garrigan, Toby Regbo and Elaine Cassidy, and their characters fill up otherwise very boring series.
Hope it gets better as the episodes progress, but the first episode should be the one that draws you in and I am deliberating whether to even continue watching or not. After the atrocious Winter King this is the second major flop for MGM Plus this year, they should stick to good series like Domina not these cheap looking dramas with terrible casting choices and awful production degisn.
