Atrapados

What a disappointment! I don't understand how anyone can give this series 7 stars.

The theme is incredibly important and strong, one of those I like, but it quickly turns into a confusing kind of soap opera with a terrible main character. I'm talking about Ema Garay, the journalist.

She leaps to conclusions far too quickly and makes terrible choices. She doesn't seem to worry about the consequences. The subject needs a stronger character, no doubt. And the issue is that pretty fast I had already stopped caring. A protagonist should inspire you to cheer for them. Especially because of the important topic.

As if that's not enough, the storytelling is frustrating and badly edited. It keeps flipping back and forth between past and present, and not in a good way. Rather than enhancing the mystery, it just bogs things down. At times, I didn't care anymore and I was more exhauted than excited to see more.

Not even the performances do much to hold you. If you're a big fan of Harlan Coben's work, you may want to skip this one. Don't expect anything fabulous or exciting.

If you're just seeking for a solid mystery thriller, I will not send you here; best to find something else.

This is another weak Harlan Coben adaptation, and a real bad one.

This showed promise at the beginning, but it required way too much suspension of disbelief. Were the police incompetent, or corrupt? An Investigative reporter given free rein to explore the crime scene? This is one series which could have used the usual Netflix Rainbow- United-Nations-Diversity Casting method. The early problem with this is that so many characters are introduced and they all look alike. It was hard to follow who was with whom? The women are all the same build, with long black hair, olive complexions and heavy eyebrows. With a couple exceptions, the men have short-cropped grey/salt and pepper hair with matching short cropped, gray/ salt and pepper beards. The teenage boys all look like Raj from the "Big Bang Theory." Until the finale- I couldn't tell Bruno from Armando from Gael. Maybe that was the point, since apparently everyone in town had something to do with the crimes- why not make them all look alike? A lost opportunity here. The final twist was obvious from the beginning- did the police investigate at all?

Investigative journalist Ema Garay is relentless in trying to discover what happened to seventeen year old Martina, an enquiry that leads to some shocking revelations and places her in mortal danger.

It's a good watch, if you're used to The British adaptations of Harlen Coben's books, it will feel very different, not just because of the language or location, it just feels different, maybe a little darker or grittier.

It's a book I read some time ago and all but forgotten, it deals with some pretty grim subjects, some now considered slightly taboo, possibly too controversial to warrant a British production.

Mystery and intrigue all the way, just when you think you know what's going on, you're thrown a curve ball, they definitely make you wait.

I've read some criticism about the central character Ema, but I liked her, sure she's flawed, but that's human nature, she is one dogged journalist, I thought Soledad Villamil was excellent.

It looks really good and I love the setting, Argentina looks so cool, the visuals are strong the whole way through, a real feature.

7/10.

I was pretty intrigued after episode 1. The plot was solid with a lot of different ways the story could go and plenty of characters to keep you guessing. After that first episode however the execution was unfortunately pretty awful.

I kept having to remind myself that the main character was a journalist and not a cop because the amount of access this woman gets as events unfold in active investigations is that of only those actually investigating the crimes. That aspect alone was frustrating because the show is so focused on the main character. She is increasingly frustrating to watch as the show continues, making very cliche poor decisions. The conclusion is unpredictable, so it gets points for that, although admittedly by the end I was just finishing the show for the sake of finishing it.

For the people like me who love Spanish thrillers don't listen to the bad reviews!

I don't dissect a film into smithereens, I just go by the emotions and feelings I get out of it.

The acting was excellent, I see no problem with any of the actors , the main character actually reminded me of Ann Bancroft lol, even the same mannerism, RIP Anne.

The landscapes were beautifully filmed.

The plot started out with you thinking , oh I know what's going on, but step by step unravelled. Every time you thought you knew the ending , nope, there comes another twist. I like this kind of narrative very much I guess that's why I gave this film 8 stars.

I can completely and without hesitation recommend this series!