Le changelin

It felt more complimentary; not to be spoon fed the whole bowl of porridge and instead puzzle along the pieces of each episode.

Lakeith Stanfield shines in his ability to portray a character that feels grounded and complex. While Adina Porter brings a graceful presence and Malcom Barret provides a warm sprinkling of comedic relief to the uncertain horror.

This series opens with the classic line "Once upon a time" over a ship battling stormy seas. Narration reels the viewer through a flowing multi-current of journeys. Embarking on two similar and (perhaps not obvious) related stories of boy-meets-girl. The progression of both couples relationships is well distinguished by utilising the shifting time periods through sound and visual affect.

The sweet and airy nature of the initial pacing twists itself into a spiral as (Clark Backo's character) Emmy, finds herself caught in a questionable darkness amid a crescendo of unsettling and tense scoring.

I found it neither slow or boring while character connections were established. The light start is littered with breadcrumbs of skillful shots from the director to develop the backstory and engage the viewer.

Kudos to the wardrobe, SFX and set teams as they seem to have been passionate in their work. They complimented the directors storytelling and added differentiating hints of nostalgia and colour theory.

So far it has left me wishing for more.

It requires patience and suspending any disbelief as the story unwinds. I know it's slow going and yes, it did feel that this could've been done in fewer episodes. (Sometimes Fast Forward is your friend, I consider it at home editing) But the story is fascinating and compelling it's a giant mystery with a few clues. And it definitely left me wanting more.

I'm looking forward to season 2. I hope it provides some answers.

But, honestly, if it does the same stalling for 2-3 episode then I'll be on the side of the haters. I'll forgive it for season 1 because I'm willing to see what the real truth is.

The story starts out with an interesting premise. It plants seeds of intrigue. Yet, it meanders so much that I am having a hard time finding a reason to keep watching.

Rather than letting the acting and dialog tell the story, there is an overwhelming amount of narration makes the show BORING. For example try suffering through Episode 7, it is horrible.

In general, the story is ALL OVER THE PLACE. Just when you think you found the storyline and can engage - they jump to another storyline - filled with more monologue and narration.

This would have been better suited as a podcast rather than a TV show.

... because you will find the characters likable and become invested in what happens to them.

But this turns out to be a terrible investment to make. You will at no point in the last several episodes be glad that you subjected yourself to this show. But it will be too late for you because you watched the first episode and became invested.

If you disregard this advice and watch the first episode, know this: Nothing that you want from the rest of this series will be given to you. Nothing. Fill in the blank: "I want to watch more episodes to at least ________." Whatever you filled in that blank will not be given to you whether you watch the rest or not. You cannot have that. And the situation that you now want it could have been avoided if you had listened to my advice.

I love the cinematography displayed here. The acting is spot on but just like everyone else has said, the story is just all over the place. It's slow paced and goodness gracious, boring. It's what you get when you take a 'not so great' book and try to turn it into a series. I guess you can call this a thriller, because it's not scary at all.

Just finished watching episodes 1-3 and sadly I am really not excited to continue watching. But affer reading a couple of great reviews here, am kinda curious to see what they talking about. And I truly want to be wrong so am gonna try and watch 4 and see.

Look out for my updated review afterwards.

Update: Nuuh, not for me, episode 4 was just as boring and ridiculous as the first 3. It quickly went from supernatural to just plain old nonsense. Am done.