Liaison

The show starts out OK, and looks to be promising. But the further the story goes, the more lame/unbelievable the writing is becoming.

Over the course of the series we get to know the characters and a bit about their backstory. Vincent Cassel and Eva Green work well together and should have had the back of better writers.

The technology involved is as always not really good read up about by the writers. They make it seem too simple, especially since it also involves a Cyber security agency which would certainly have noticed some leads, as it's impossible to leave no traces, especially IF someone on the inside would be part of it (I'm not saying that it is in this show).

But the ending is just lame writing, especially considering how certain people behave during the series. It really puts a big domper on the whole series as you really think, is this what I have spend almost 6 hours watching for? The whole last episode is just a culmination of bad writing. And that's really sad, as it could have been a great show, but the ending really ruins it (and some parts in the middle also drag too much).

Good thriller with Eva Green and Vincent Cassel are pitted against each other.

Tensions between the nations are shown as contemporary and story line is engaging.

The director (Stephen Hopkins) is able to maintain the momentum to keep the suspense alive.

Eva Green is beautiful as ever. She emotes well, where melodrama is required.

Vincent Cassel is getting old and it is very evident. Most of the other characters are well etched and their performance is up to the mark.

Story, even though not very unique, helps to maintain the tempo. Saw 4 episodes and good going guys. Attractive locales in rural areas of France and London add charm to the story.

So far the story is quite intriguing. Yes, it is a typical spy thriller, but if well done I think spy thrillers can be very entertaining even if they follow cliches and tropes (Jack Ryan does this very well). So far this series is a mix between "Jack Ryan" and "Slow Horses".

Vincent Cassel and Eva Green are great actors and they can make this a worthwhile watch even if the story is quite predictable so far and does rely on the typical cadence of spy thrillers.

If you watch it, I recommend not using the "English" audio setting as they decided to dub the French, Arab and Russian dialogue in this setting and it's horrible. If you select the "French (France)" audio setting you get English dialogue in English, French in french, Arab in Arab and Russian in Russian - just makes the international atmosphere much more authentic instead of dubbing everything to English.

I have not wanted to watch a series, or binge watch, in a long time. For me personally, Peripheral was awesome and believe it or not, i totally wanted to watch this entire series, but it only comes out weekly. It really gripped me. And I am very, very picky. It just feels very unique. A list actors. Written very well and a nice pace which is great for my ADD media watching. Eva is awesome is as always. Cassel, Mulan, etc are awesome. Really all the acting is the best. I really got brought into the story right away. I forgot everything else, I forgot and just sunk right in. And that is hard for me to do. I usually have my critic hat on for a while before I believe the story. But not with this. So I hope you like it as much as I did.

There seems no escaping the fact that this show is being wrecked by a script which is at times just woeful.

As an example, throughout the show we see some pretty sophisticated IT infrastructure and deployments, and yet on the Brit side, the guy basically in charge of the governments IT platform demonstrates less understanding than you would expect from an undergrad - and who says things that are just plain wrong on so many levels. Not good.

Then there's the hospital scene where the PA announces "Can any doctors go to room # (can't remember the room #) - I mean - it's a hospital, hospitals are full of doctors... do they need a brain surgeon or an oncologist?

Despite the frequent gaffes like these the actual story is a good one - and with some very sharp script writing it could have been an excellent one. Shame.

On the other hand, Liaison is almost saved by having a great cast, great locations, and some snappy cinematography, all of which convey a slick production - so it's actually a real shame that the script is so bad at times, because that just wrenches you out of absorption. And it's not just a dialogue problem, there's also an awkwardness to some of the plot exposition that has left me more than little confused at times.

So the real quandary here is how could something with so many promising and professional elements have been so badly mismanaged in the script development department?