The Madness

Boy I wanted to like this. Have liked other things Colman has done, but this is a waste of time. Some really questionable and predictable script choices and, sorry to say, not great acting across the board. And poor Colman is just miscast here. He's not this kinda lead. Reminded me of when Tyler Perry tried to play Alex Cross. Just not believable. As the series dragged on, and scene after scene of two people inexplicably whispering to each other plot points (why not SHOW us?) it was really hard to stay awake.

Watching Colman run was painful. Always funny to me when non-athletic actors get the opportunity to play action-heavy roles. (He wasn't great with the action on Fear the Walking Dead, and he's not here either). It always takes me out and smells like a vanity project. His mouth hangs open every scene when he's "thinking" (a tell that he's not comfortable and preoccupied with playing "straight" in my opinion). Not everyone gets to be an action star.

On to the next. Skip this one.

Started with plenty of promise but the story was unnecessarily dragged out with far too many episodes!! Half of the episodes would have sufficed imo.

The main character pmo. He's supposed to be highly regarded and intelligent but kept making one bad choice after another which (I think) helped undermine his credibility.

I appreciated the concept of the show - exposing corruption and showing how ordinary people can be caught in the crossfire of systemic greed and political schemes. And also highlighting the dangers of unchecked corporate influence!! But the execution was a little disappointing.

I'm sure glad I ignored the bad reviews and watched this show anyway. I found it very entertaining, relevant, and interesting. A few well placed twists and hearty laughs, too. I simply did not see the issues anyone mentioned in the negative reviews. The pacing, acting, etc are all fine, good even. I liked the balance between the interpersonal dynamics and the big mystery. It takes its time but the slow moments were worth doing. Sure there are things that are unrealistic at times but not any more than is typical for this genre. It's not perfect but it was a good watch and it never pretends to be something it isn't.

It certainly leans into the politics of a political thriller but I found that made it more compelling, not less. If you like this sort of thing, give it a chance.

6 Episodes in but still so much of it is cringeworthy, the script is its own worst enemy. Unfortunately the writers have made the characters all seem like total morons where they make decisions that are simply not realistic, From the main characters who make decisions that no sane person would ever do to the police and FBI who all do things that would just never happen in real life as they would all get the sack to all the supporting roles, it really hurts the overall story. It is like watching one of those horror movies where the characters all decide to split up as they don't want to work together even though there is an axe wielding maniac somewhere. I like the premise of the story and the acting while not great is ok but the script is just awful. I am really struggling to finish this.

After watching 4 episodes, the first thought I had was- that could easily have been done in 2! And therein likes the problem. It's not the acting, the actors or the plot. It's just that somebody decided to drag this across 8 episodes.

This means that the plot is needlessly stretched, the story meanders and sometimes you feel like just fast forwarding 10 mins so that they get to the point.

As far the people rating this 3 stars, it's really not that bad. Netflix really needs to start undertaking understanding that people won't get dragged by shows that are stretched just to keep one on the platform. And that's all this is- an effort to keep you on 8 hours!