jeffdstockton

Should be obvious that the story offers great opportunity for a remarkable & special series. Unfortunately, it seems that the writing is too much by committee or that different writers took on different pieces and then it was thrown together in a less cohesive whole.

Also, almost every woman character, with rare & specific outlier status, is a negative. The mother is a dreadful selfish impediment who actively works to undermine the project - as if trying to sink the project will make her life better than she thinks it is. The teenage brat is another example of shallow selfishness. There is no one in the list of characters who rallies the family, who seems capable of translating George's vision into an identity that could have, in fact, been a powerful source of common ground. Instead, the writing and directing posits simple opposites against each other in little episodes time & time again. The story, as such, thus doesn't really move forward with discernable development. Through at least half the series, there is very little movement away from the oppressive frustration and almost endless occurrences of evil graft & backstabbing in the 'community' and, to too large an extent, the family.

Viewers would like to root for someone, here, particularly in this story, but the writers, directors & producers seem intent on extending the bleakest tone possible.

Also, the brother-in-law is so stereotypical and SO on character with the actor playing the complete cowardly idiot, it's just a perfect example of how the series suffers from stupidly simplistic writing, acting and directing.

OMG, a bear gets out of an enclosure through a chain link gate, then a heavy wooden barred gate, a closed barn gate and then out the OPEN main property gate! So, let's understand: this bit of contrivance is the bridge of tension between two episodes. And, the stupidity of leaving the gate open occurs at the end of the family's most triumphant day to date. This kind of sloppy writing is unnecessary, unless fundamental writing talent is lacking. So,.....

Why did they take such a great opportunity, such a largely greatly talented cast, and produce this sad, bleak and ultimately manipulative series?

Considering that this is built on - rips off stories essentially verbatim - the original Astrid TV series, it's hard to understand how the producers, directors, so-called writers, and actors could come together to make this such an absolute embarrassing failure.

Most notable, the lead actress has no talent whatsoever. Completely opposite of the actress in the lead for the French original, Astrid, this actress creates a character who generates no interest, nothing compelling, and she obviously did not even the most cursory research into neurodivergence or autistic behavior. She is as shallow as any high-schools wannabe could be in this role.

She is the most glaring example of how the entire production seems to have skipped over that key element - that the lead character suffers barely functional autism. This character (Patience) has no trouble with eye contact, displays every facial expression that every teen 'actress' seems to learn in the same generic acting classes that they all take on their paths to their 3 minutes of 'stardom'. Just awful. Awful. And, it's an insult to real neurodivergent people, as well as to the original TV series on which this cheap rip-off is based.

Also, as is typical and tiresome for most Brit TV police shows, the female cop leader has a troubled child and is portrayed as being a bad & inattentive parent. The portrayal of this character is a deviation from the original series, and is a big - but typically British - mistake.

Similarly, as with most Brit cop shows, this one has the stereotyped male detective of some unspecified ethnicity, who is rude and gruff, and in this case, displays no detective skills or even common sense. Neither the character nor the actor bring anything to this show other than meeting low expectations for 'more of the same' Brit cop crap.

How this show even credits a writer is baffling. The real writing was done for Astrid (the original), and each episode of Patience follows the original fairly closely. Yet, as would be consistent with the thought (and likely the integrity) behind this show as a whole, no writing credit is given to the writer of Astrid.

This lead actress is SO gawd awful frustrating, worse and worse with each episode, as she as no clue how to portray what should be most important - most distinctive - about the character. Obviously, the directors have been instructed to leave her to it, or are in full complicity with her in not caring one whit. It's hard to figure how she got this role.... But, then again, maybe not hard to figure.