The Assassin

I was barely able to make it through the first episode, which is never a good sign. After a generic bit of bish bash boshery set in the past, we find a supposedly retired Julie (Hawes) living a grumpy secluded life on an otherwise idyllic Mediterranean small island buying Wagu for her soon to arrive son, Edward (Highmore), whom she hasn't see in years. Highmore seems to be still locked in to his Good Doctor character, the same nervous energy and inability to look even his mother in the eye - I wondered if he was supposed to be on the spectrum. Anyway, he turns out to be vegan - the hilarity is deadening. Julie gets a call from her old boss to do one last hit - as you do - as the target is handily located on a boat offshore. By the magic of some spidey sense plot device, Julie twigs the voice isn't her real boss. This is the level of 'noooo...really!... I never' brainmelt this show is happy to dredge.

There is absolutely no chemistry between the two leads - Highmore looks embarrassed to be there. So much so that a scene with them at a picnic table is mostly made up of head on single shots of each of them, as if they couldn't stand to do the scene together.

The dialogue is clunky AF. The characters paper thin. The humour is witless and delivered with no sense of timing.

An utterly joyless and less thrilling work will be hard to find in 2025.

Neither funny nor gripping so far fetched it becomes unbelievable-yes I know it's fiction-but theres got be something to hang your hat on. Scenery great, plot and storyline 2/10. Nothing in the first episode made me want to watch any more. Whacking great plot holes, and despite being a Keely Hawes fan, her talents are wasted by this mish mash of clichéd set pieces and disconnected story.

Love Keeley Hawes & Freddie Highmore in everything they've done, such talented actors. In this they are also fabulous but the script & some of the cast let them down. It went from a fun farce to what felt like a dated daytime soap opera. Not great & certainly not interesting enough to make me want to watch more than the 1st episode & that was painful.

As usual, Freddie Highmore is unwatchable and ruins the show. The kid cannot act, no matter how many roles he gets cast in. I dearly wish he would take an interest in another career and do that instead. He is a blight on this production and just renders the whole thing farcical. Please stop casting him!!

If Freddie Highmore wasn't playing The Good Doctor- soggy, soft. Borderline slapstick humour on what could have been a great series. It's not satire, it's not slapstick and it lack seriousness. Flatlining follows some action / fight scenes. Keeley Hawes is let down by script, production and any credible energy. Was expecting drama, got some good scenic photography.