The Crow Girl

This one is an exception for me. Usually, if I see a show or movie, that starts in a way, that suggests that we should know something about what's already happening (no matter how small those things are) and does not start with some flashback like "You must be wondering how I got here", and it's not a sequel - I drop those. Intention is clear: they want to show a "busy world", but more often than not that's just covering up bad writing, since neither the world nor the characters get a natural introduction. It may work in extremely rare cases, I guess, but I can't think of a good one.

The Crow Girl does it right, though. It feels completely natural, as if we are walking in on the characters going on about their days. The interactions that we see also do introduce the characters to us properly and, again, naturally. The introductions do not feel forced, and they are meaningful, starting to explore the relationships right from the start. This generally keeps up through the whole season, too, although quality does drop somewhat sometimes, but still the feeling of "natural" is preserved for the most part, which is really important for a crime series, especially when it's trying to be psychological, as well.

Until the ending happens. I won't spoil it, but the plot twist was shown in a way, that is only possible with because it's a visual medium. It's just the camera showing us 1 thing, when in reality it was another one. It felt like I was lied to, even though the twist itself does kind of make sense. I really wonder how this was handled in a book (probably just omitting descriptions at certain points), and I can get it, that it might have been difficult to do certain shots differently, but in general just obscuring the view would have worked much better, than this. Because of this, I can't give it more than 6/10.

Dark and gripping, Crow Girl is a murder mystery series that masterfully blends grim themes with sharp, intelligent writing. I think the show captures the city of Bristol's eerie charm as a perfect backdrop for a tale of betrayal, corruption, and deeply flawed characters. The writing is razor-sharp, full of unexpected twists that never felt forced. The show delves deep into the psyches of its leads, crafting complex, often harrowing arcs that resonate long after each episode ends. Equal parts chilling and captivating, Crow Girl is a must-watch for fans of atmospheric crime dramas. Couldn't recommend it more.

I'm ok with a slow burn start as the characters aee introduced and the initial mystery is laid out . I'm ok with twists and turns as characters react to events and reveal their strengths, weaknesses and secrets.

I'm not ok with characters who do stupid things for plot reasons, especially in the last episode, which is an absolute mess and undermines much of the work done getting us there.

The Big reveal is largely telegraphed, but is one of the few things that makes any sense.

And of course the dreaded To Be Continued appeared as the screen faded to black.

I wont be holding my breath for season 2.

What do you get if you take Eve Myles's Faith from Keeping Faith and Dougray Scott's DI Ray Lennox from Crime and send them to Bristol? You get The Crow Girl!

Maybe I am too cynical these days and Police shows have to have the smart talking main character detective who plays fast and loose, they put their work above all else including their family, then there needs to be the incompetent police sidekicks who have to be told to do everything, and the stern boss who berates the main character but relents when they see that the unconventional methods are working, so if you're into that then take a peek at this.

To be fair the wife liked it, I found it frustrating in the first episode but then it did get quite creepy in terms of the subject matter.

Ultimately it's OK in the grand scheme, you could do worse, like watching a Harlan Coban adaptation.

Complicated in an unintelligent confused way that played like the writers made it up as they went along, then suddenly realised they needed an ending. An ending unsupported by the previous chaotic episodes trying to make several different stories into one and failing to tell any completely.

Filled with frustrating slow scenes of characters badly acting struggles with inner demons which any responsible adult would be able to dismiss in a breath.

Disappointing and obvious,boring at times, shallow drama belonging on daytime TV if anywhere.

The very annoying thing about this kind of show is like the dentist, you have to suffer to get to the result or ending, just bad but gripping enough to make me want to see what Happens next.