grammarchris-84180

I gave this 10 stars, for very specific reasons, both technical and artistic, which are detailed below.

This is a superb production; it honours the thriller genre, which has become a very sophisticated genre in recent years, but also brings its own spirit, at times lively and charming, at others very dark.

The story takes place in two eras: 2017, or 'now', and 1997; the visual recreation of the earlier period is meticulous, as well realised as a very good feature film; and the cultural and social fabric of that time, its complexities and contradictions, is beautifully evoked. Events are centred around the Hualin Steel Works, a huge factory, more like a small city with its own housing, hospital, and a large security force. The Steel Works is in steep financial decline; the middle-aged workers belong to the old China of Mao-style Communism ("I was a Model Worker!" says Wang Xiang), while the younger characters belong to the new China, still in its infancy. Economic fears, severe personal financial fears, and fear of what the future holds, pervade the community; corruption and crime are high, and, Wang Xiang, the hero of the story, struggles to be a good man in society where the costs of doing good are high, and where the community and many of those close to him have stopped believing in the morals of the past.

The narrative style is subtle, sophisticated and genuinely enthralling. The story unfolds slowly; the interwoven timelines blend gently, jumps in time at first catch you unawares. The story contains many minor characters, some of whom graduate to major characters; facts and details, hints and suggestions, are revealed here and there; a lot of guesswork and deduction is required of the viewer. Slowly the dark threads are drawn together. There is a thematic thread about 'fate', in the shape of forces outside personal control; and much of the cast consists of anti-heroes (those trying to do the right thing, but failing), and sympathetic villains (forced into wickedness by desperation), while the truly evil lurks for a long time in the shadows.

To aid with the viewer grappling with this perplexity and darkness, the script is generous with character comedy, particularly in the 'now' timeline, woven together with scenes of friendship and unresolved sadness.

The soundtrack is excellent; the show is visually cinematic; the acting is wonderful (Qin Hao, who plays Gong Biao, for example, executes one of the most convincing performances of aging 20 years that I have ever seen, so good that it was hard to believe he played both roles). My Chinese guide tells me the dialogue is also rich in idiom, accent and dialect.

In short, this is a brilliant and unique work of story-telling that both honours the genre and goes beyond it.

The premise is unusual, although not original, and it gets worked pretty hard, to the point that it dominates the narrative, perhaps more than it should. Certain of the apparitions work very well, the little guy with the moustache gets annoying (which I suppose was the point), and Nicola Walker is good but not up to her usual standard.

As a whodunnit, it's a bit weak, the twists and turns are a little predictable. Overall, it feels like something based on a graphic novel.

Having said that, Stellan Skarsgård, as the tormented sleuth, is pretty good, and I'd like to see him in something more conventional and less gimmicky. Lesley Manville, as River's boss, gives a very strong performance.

So, pretty good, not first class, but with enough to make it worth 6 episodes of your time (unless you hate graphic novels, in which case you'll hate it).

I've only seen Series One, but...

The two aspects of the thriller genre I enjoy the most are the depiction of the dark side to a society and the psychology of the protagonists and villains.

The narrative in Reyka is a little meandering, but for a reason - because the writer tries to incorporate many of the groups and strata of South African society and explore their tensions. This is done with considerable success and there are many moments of suspense, horror and pathos built on exploring minor characters' lives.

Other production details add verisimilitude too - English dialects are often a feature of modern thrillers; but this show tops them all, with characters who speak several different languages as well as English and some of its international dialects. The 'code-switching' (Linguistic term: when multilingual speakers switch languages when speaking bout different topics) is used very well, adding a subtle social dimension, such as when speakers of indigenous South African languages also switch between English, Afrikaans and their own languages, for various reasons, and in more contexts than you might imagine - fascinating.

The major and secondary characters are also a patchwork - the narrative is slowed by exploring a number of different subplots, but the end result contributes to the same exploration of the social setting as above. There are one or two stereotypes, but most of the secondary characters are well-rounded, we even get to understand the obnoxious, loud-mouthed, young male Afrikaaner cop who I thought was going to be a minor pantomime-villain we the audience could hiss at for light relief.

Having undertaken such an ambitious task in the setting, the psychological back-story of the heroine needs to be extraordinary too - the story itself (of her traumatic childhood) would have seemed far-fetched in any other setting, but here it kind of works!

The main actors are pretty good, excellent in places; but such an intense set of interwoven stories (and particularly the backstory) are hard to portray perfectly. It's an ambitious series and it has flaws; but the things it gets right are done so well it's definitely worth it.

Ambitious (really ambitious!), exciting, dark (ugly in places), interesting, thought-provoking (educative, actually) - one of the best in the genre!