maciconte

There is nothing wrong with having a flawed, brusque lead who is hard to like. (Like Vera). But they should have redeeming qualities and their brittle behavior only serves as a facade to good, honorable empathetic people. Not so with McDonald and her superior, CS Houseman. Geez, what unlikeable self centered bullies. Houseman yells and snarls if the case isn't solved in the first 10 minutes, denigrates Dodds who is the only one finding any clues, and makes decisions based on pressure asserted from the local gentry. Mc Donald is just unpleasant and also bullies and insults Dodds who is simple and unassuming. I guess we are supposed to find their disparity in personalities to be delightful but it's hard when one of the characters has no redeeming qualities.

I went into this with a big old chip on my shoulder. I hate the "Love Actually" contrived, everyone is connected in some way storyline. I find it painful. But I had gotten tired of streaming dark British crime dramas and gave it a shot. I almost turned it off in the first ten minutes. Really? They are going to start the series with a lot of actors we've never seen. And then the magic happened. It stopped seeming contrived and became lovely. The characters were good people and I wanted them to be happy. No Hallmark moronic misunderstandings. It's not all hearts and flowers, and I have only seen two episodes, but it made me emotional and happy in a way TV seldom does. 30 minutes is too short............and just right.