Crá

Cra aka Boglands was one of the shows that I wanted to watch for a while, and finally I was able to see it. I must say that it was fascinating to watch a TV show in the Gaelic language, and I enjoyed it. At the same time, it was great to see the Irish landscape and the beauty of the shores. Although the show starts well with the discovery of a woman's body who was missing for about 15 years, the show gets quite boring after the 4th episode. I wish there were no plot holes and that the acting were a bit better. I did not like the acting of Dónall Ó Héalai, and I must say that his performance was really poor. I give 6 out of 10 for this series.

Only six forty-five minute episodes, so it is easy to watch.

It kept me interested, kept me guessing until the end.

The acting seems somewhat wooden at times. Direction is zippy enough.

The series would have worked just as well had the dialogue been in English, although sub-titles would probably still be needed for many to understand the accents.

The plot is somewhat laboured, with a somewhat improbable end that I did not guess, although there are faint clues.

The bleak scenic coastline and langscapes of Donegal adds atmosphere and interest.

The wardrobe budget must have been small, the Dónall Ó Héalai gets a single pair of trousers! But he goes get some lovely wool sweaters :-)

But there was so much wrong with the dialogue, the miscasting, the endless red herrings and misbehaving cops who would have been fired in any other police force.

Cop shows like these need to be believable.

Now I am Irish by birth and I positively adore movies when they're in Gaeilge.

But there were so many tropes in this I lost track. The rogue cop. Endless staring at oceans and waves, finding others on beaches and houses when you need them, cops missing major clues (cell phone, laptop) the saucy irritating young reporter with seedy access to everything the cops missed.

The scenery was stunning though.

But the ending was cringe worthy, a total disasterama.

What an absolute waste of time for this incredulous viewer.

4/0 Acorn.

I want to give it a higher rating, because I liked that it's in Irish and in Donegal. It had an interesting setting, and I really would like to see more of this (I'm from Scotland). I thought the main male actor was quite good, so was his other half in it. The character of the journalist/podcaster was just really bad, quite cringe worthy and not well written. Nothing against the actress, she worked with what she had.

Some of the acting wasn't that great, but I think the writing is what let it down the most. I really wanted to give it a higher rating, but it's just not that well written. Lots of things don't make much sense, the dialogue between the characters is a bit bland, there's too many cringe worthy moments that feel out of place with the nonsense plotline of the true crime podcaster getting away with/doing stuff that just wouldn't happen. It could honestly be a lot better.

I see the potential in it though, and I hope this starts more series funded that are in Irish with this kind of theme. I think they just need some extra help with the writing. So I'm giving it a 7, cause I still enjoyed it when I shut my brain off for a bit, and it is quite unique.

I would still recommend people watch this series, just shut your brain off a bit if some things seem a bit far fetched and you'll probably enjoy it. If we support it, hopefully more stuff like this will come out in the future!

Having seen just about every Nordic, Welsh, Scottish noir type murder mystery series out there, I was really excited to see this Irish offering.

I had a hard time at first trying to place the series politically- was it taking place in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland? I needed to look it up on google maps - if it takes place in Donegal, then it's the Republic but right next to Northern Ireland.

Basic requirements of the genre are met - scenery was suitably bleak, people insular and non communicative, lazy provincial police work, speaking in native language.

I watched it all in one sitting but the acting of the old man playing the father, the 3 police officers (from the town, not the hamlet) and that Janine butcher lookalike who played the reporter was so bad I thought I'd have to switch it off.

The main actor was very good and his expressive glare spoke volumes about his current state of mind.