The Swarm

A few scenes of activity split by LOTS of boring dialogue between characters so two-dimensional that it is hard to relate to them. The personal interaction relates to previous, unknown events which do little to add to the storyline.

Scenes filmed are very dark, even those shot outdoors. Unnecessarily irritating. The jumping from suggested location to another creates a discontinuity which shouldn't exist.

I forced myself to watch all episodes. Instead of saying "wow, that was great" I was left thinking that something was lacking and I felt unfulfilled as an audience. I hope there isn't going to be a follow-up series.

A bit derivative and formulaic, it doesn't really scream top of the line. But, at the same time, there is no nonsense. And viewers are not treated like idiots, as is the case in most productions of this level. Big thanks to the producers for that. Of course, here and there the screenwriting "heavy handedness" forces a naive or illogical "drama", but, for the most part, 90% of what is shown makes sense.

A refreshingly thoughtful and consistent TV product whose current IMDB rating doesn't reflect its true value and one were "why on earth is this character doing what he's doing" hallmark of bad and cheap TV will not pop up every now and than and spoil the overall experience.

Once again I almost miss out on a series because I made the mistake of reading reviews on imdb, but thankfully I decided to watch it and make up my own mind, yes it is a little bit slow in parts, but nowhere near as bad as some have said. The story is actually very good, as is the acting, and yes things do actually happen, also there's a couple of familiar faces, Rosabell Laurenti Sellers from Game of Thrones, and Rune Temte from The Last Kingdom.

So if anyone is thinking of watching this, don't be put off by the reviews on here, watch it for yourself and make up your own mind, like me you may be pleasantly surprised.

The book "The Swarm" is an entertaining, thrilling and because of the well researched scientific facts educating novel about nature fighting back against the human invasion and destruction of marine ecosystems.

With the TV adaption, you won't get any of that so far, at least not in the first three episodes. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad show. It's just not a good one, either. For years, there was talk about making the book into a movie, which didn't happen.

If you read the book and then watch this show, you'll understand why: Education is the enemy of thrill and in a series, there just isn't room to cover both without destroying the suspense.

The cast and setting on the other hand are all on point, and the filming locations are stunning. Sure, casting is a matter of personal opinion, if you know the novel, you'll have your own images in mind. But to be fair, that the makers didn't get wrong.

So order a copy of the novel and watch this show while waiting for your book to arrive.

The Bad: stiff and badly written dialogues, awkward voice acting, annoying accents that aren't even cliché like a lot of things in this adaption

The Good: an intriguing story about a biological/environmental threat and how to deal with it (different than your standard zombie apocalypse show) with the right amount of nerdiness to my liking.

The portrayal of the story's philosophical/spiritual aspects was executed too cautiously, imho and deserves more focus.

By the way: I hereby offer my services as voice acting coach for (German) actors.

Years of experience and a fine ear for subtleties. ;-)