Disappointing
I watched this based on a friends rave recommendation on how good it was - I was disappointed to say the least.
I literally had to force myself to finish all the episodes as by the second one I was bored.
The story centers on a barrister, named Ingrid Lewis, who defends John Webster against stalking charges, only for Webster to turn his attentions to her.
The story itself seemed drawn out with lots of repetitious flashbacks, poignant and pointless walks and silences that appeared to act as filler just to make it last 6 episodes. In the book, by Jane Casey, from which this series was adapted I could see that this would have been time used to give the reader the inner thoughts, monologues and mental turmoil experienced by the characters, however on the screen it really just resulted in boring overused filler that added nothing to the screenplay. The story is fairly basic and shallow with 'twists' introduced to try to fatten it up, however for those who like a good mystery it was obvious where this was all leading and the ending was no great surprise.
None of the characters were particularly likeable and failed to elicit even a modicum of empathy for the situations they found themselves in due to lack of character depth in failing to humanise them outside of the main mechanics of the story.
Ingrid Lewis, the main character, seemed to have no problem finding time in her busy schedule, as an up and coming career focused Barrister, to drop everything while she interfered in a Police Inquiry. John Webster being self employed it was easier to understand how he had the time available to come and go as he pleased. The other characters, whether victims or related family members didn't evoke any sympathy in the viewer and perhaps had some of the 'filler' time been devoted to fleshing out the characters a little this could have been avoided.
Emma Appleton was mediocre in the series. Perhaps it's just me but she seems somewhat limited in her acting skills, facial expressions etc. Or maybe she just tends to play repetitive characters.
Colin Morgan was excellent despite the poor script and screenplay he had to work with.
All other actors may have been very good but due to their easily forgettable characters they really didn't make much of a impact and were just there to provide some interest and complication in what was a fairly unimaginative story.
Overall if you have time to waste and don't want to engage your brain you may enjoy it. It's less of an edge of the seat story and more of a can I keep my eyes open to the end.
I rated it as 5/10 as it wasn't absolutely terrible but was no more than mediocre.
I literally had to force myself to finish all the episodes as by the second one I was bored.
The story centers on a barrister, named Ingrid Lewis, who defends John Webster against stalking charges, only for Webster to turn his attentions to her.
The story itself seemed drawn out with lots of repetitious flashbacks, poignant and pointless walks and silences that appeared to act as filler just to make it last 6 episodes. In the book, by Jane Casey, from which this series was adapted I could see that this would have been time used to give the reader the inner thoughts, monologues and mental turmoil experienced by the characters, however on the screen it really just resulted in boring overused filler that added nothing to the screenplay. The story is fairly basic and shallow with 'twists' introduced to try to fatten it up, however for those who like a good mystery it was obvious where this was all leading and the ending was no great surprise.
None of the characters were particularly likeable and failed to elicit even a modicum of empathy for the situations they found themselves in due to lack of character depth in failing to humanise them outside of the main mechanics of the story.
Ingrid Lewis, the main character, seemed to have no problem finding time in her busy schedule, as an up and coming career focused Barrister, to drop everything while she interfered in a Police Inquiry. John Webster being self employed it was easier to understand how he had the time available to come and go as he pleased. The other characters, whether victims or related family members didn't evoke any sympathy in the viewer and perhaps had some of the 'filler' time been devoted to fleshing out the characters a little this could have been avoided.
Emma Appleton was mediocre in the series. Perhaps it's just me but she seems somewhat limited in her acting skills, facial expressions etc. Or maybe she just tends to play repetitive characters.
Colin Morgan was excellent despite the poor script and screenplay he had to work with.
All other actors may have been very good but due to their easily forgettable characters they really didn't make much of a impact and were just there to provide some interest and complication in what was a fairly unimaginative story.
Overall if you have time to waste and don't want to engage your brain you may enjoy it. It's less of an edge of the seat story and more of a can I keep my eyes open to the end.
I rated it as 5/10 as it wasn't absolutely terrible but was no more than mediocre.
- coeluracat
- Sep 21, 2023