White Lies

An equally impressive crime drama series with thrilling storyline and plots, for what is worth, with great acting, especially by Jaime whose sulfurous ego and tempestuous character stood out. She is perfect for Agatha Christie's novels.

The narrative and pace take their time without hastening things, all the while gracing us with that dysfunctional family history in sunny and beautiful South Africa.

The ending and the dancing were well-done and because of that nasty acidic chemistry between Daniel and Jaime, I really hope there's a second season.

• Screenplay/storyline/plots: 7
• Production value/impact: 6.5
• Development: 7.5
• Realism: 7
• Entertainment: 7
• Acting: 7.5
• Filming/photography/cinematography: 7.5
• VFX: 7
• Music/score/sound: 7
• Depth: 6.5
• Logic: 5.5
• Flow: 7.5
• Mystery/thriller/crime/drama: 7
• Ending: 6.5.

I'm only on episode 5 atm. Natalie Dormer is fantastic in every role she portrays. This is an interesting story so far I think I've figured it out but my mind changes with each episode. The acting by other cast is pretty basic. The brother and sisters acting is really bad and at times uncomfortable to watch. If it wasn't for Natalie I don't think I'd be sitting through each episode although I need to finish so I can get through to the end.

The scenery is nice to look at, the writing could've been a little less wishy washy.

I will persevere and see if my thoughts on what the go is are right or if I'm completely wrong.

Overall I would say it's a worthy watch if only for Natalie.

Basically I thought the series was good. At halftime it was actually pretty clear who did it or had a hand in it. But it was worth the time to see it through.

But what really caught the eye was the acting/non-acting performance of the actor playing the son.

I kept thinking: Did the director tell him to look so dumb or is that just his natural facial expression? Who is he related to that got him this part? Please never give this young man a part again. Or send him to acting-classes, for five or six years.

The sister was only half as bad, but not really good either.

I liked Dormer, Janks and Daniels, in that order.

I used to consider Lifetime or Hallmark stuff are bad, but if compared them with this White Lies, they'd immediately transform into masterpiece. I don't even know why I need to write a review on this horrible drama series. The screenplay is so bad, all the actors, except Dormer, who's also the producer, are just so amateurish, especially the young guy who plays the son of the murdered parents and the elder brother to his sister. His bad acting in addition to the bad screenplay and those horrible actors who played the cops, are the major reasons that nearly ruined this drama from the very beginning. I have to admit that I didn't waste my time to watch the whole eight episodes; I really didn't need to since it's so predictable. After in the middle of the second episode, I skipped to the last one, and voila, nothing really out of my prediction. I have to say that even in the last episode, it's still so bad and I was lucky I didn't so mindlessly waste my time going through the whole series.

Writing this review is perhaps the hardest one that I've ever did, because it's just so bad that I don't even know how to put it into words to describe it. To fulfill the required words is just so painful like a torture.

White Lies: South African Noir. A journalist is drawn into a tangled web of crime when her estranged brother is murdered and his wife left in a coma. Her teenage niece and nephew are suspects and she must now try and care for them. She is a stranger to them though. A hard boiled detective is convinced that the nephew did it. But a myriad of suspects emerge as a shoal of red herrings swim into the script. Some pointed social commentary on race, class and corruption in present day South Africa. There are some violent scenes but the real violence exposed is land grabs. A few interesting plot twists. Created by Sean Steinberg and written by Darrel Bristow-Bovey. Eight episodes on Channel 4. 7.5/10.