The Night Of

HBO's new crime drama 'The Night Of' has sucked me in right from the very beginning. The pilot starts up very slow but builds suspense as it starts to tell the story, and that's where it shines; in it's storytelling. It was dramatically convincing and had a pleasantly dark atmosphere.

The pilot was very long (1hr 20min) but it felt much shorter, it was tense from start to finish, in the sense of the story it was actually very predictable, but it was the acting and how the story was portrayed that made it so gripping and watchable. Not a second went by where my attention wasn't glued to the TV screen.

What really made me love the pilot was how REAL the story felt, there wasn't a moment that made me think that it was a stupid story, it felt REAL. The acting was superb by everyone, the cinematography was perfect with it's overall dark tone and lighting, and the music just set the scene playing in the background to the tone of the show.

The overall mood of the show has been set for the series, and if it stays at this standard for the rest of the series it will be an ultimate success. I look forward to where the rest of this series takes us! No complaints yet!

9/10

What I like about this kind of series is that the story is good by itself but its by no means outstanding. The most important aspect is the storytelling, the presentation, the psychological tour of the characters, the portrayal of different cultures, and family, and relationships, and professions. That's the most impressive thing about this series.

One of the most fascinating things about shows like this is the characters itself are so rich. I've seen very few TV shows that covers extremely sophisticated characters like Matthew on True Detective, and this girl on 'The Night of', and Naz himself. For me, just focusing on the story line for the sole purpose of entertainment is like just focusing on guitar sounds in a piece of music.

This is the reason why I love the first season of True Detective, and this is the same reason why I love this series just after one episode.

What struck me after watching the first episode of "The Night Of" is that this is a story that has been told on countless iterations of "Law and Order". The difference is the luxury of not having to tell it in 40 minutes and the bringing to bear of HBO's prodigious production values combined with a first-rate cast of mostly little-known actors.

The portrayal of the police is unlike anything I've seen before: annoyance about working past the end of a shift, the passing of the buck so someone else gets a case that will doubtless go into the wee hours of the morning, the careless handling of evidence due to available manpower. Here the police are neither heroes nor villains, rather they're just working men and women doing a job.

The atmosphere of the precinct house in the middle of the night is palpable as is the overwhelming sense of helplessness felt by the naive lead character as his night goes from bad to worse. John Torturro's portrayal of a low rent defense attorney who stumbles onto a case much bigger than he imagined holds great promise for future episodes.

As I said at the beginning, it's hardly a story we've not seen before but we've never seen it told this well. I look forward to watching it develop.

The Night Of is a great mini-series that won a bunch of awards including five Emmy's. This series will hook you from the start and keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the entire series. The twists and turns will keep you guessing and mesmerized until the very end. It has a great cast, led by Riz Ahmed and John Turturro, who are all just terrific in this. It's also beautifully written. It's about a college student who meets a girl and the next thing he knows he's in custody for murder. If you're looking for a great crime drama to pass the time then give this a chance. You won't be disappointed.

Pros:- 1. Acting - Brilliantly acted by the entire cast, Riz Ahmed delivered a brilliant performance as the protagonist.

2. Storytelling 3. The Directors have made an attempt to keep it as simple as possible, something a lot of the directors fail to achieve, leading to too complex a show to watch to. The Night Of directors do not make this mistake. Loved how they did not overcomplicate the trial.

Cons:- 1. Plot Hole - With the sort of stabbing, no blood stains at all on the accused, and neither the defence, nor the investigation team notice it. The prosecution could have easily used it to corroborate the truth regarding the incident.

2. Character Arcs inconsistent - Yes, the makers attempt to reflect on the fact that a falsely accused young man may not be as simple or innocent as one might think, through Naz's character, but they make him inconsistent by making him remorseful and repenting at first but then turning him into a cold and sort-of-seasoned convict inside the jail.

3. Pace- the pace at which the show moves forward is really slow. You might watch an episode and still have the feeling that you haven't really watched anything because there is just so little to learn from the episodes between the first and the last. You can also observe this from the fact that the first and last episode are 75+ minutes each, but the rest of the episodes are around the 55-minute mark.

4. Personal opinion - I did not like the love angle added by the makers between Naz and Chandra. When they kissed in the jail cell, I wanted to see where are the writers headed with this, but by the end it just felt like a way to get Stone to deliver the closing statement of the defence. Not to highlight the fact that Chandra being a straight-up smart and career-oriented woman made such a stupid error, which any prudent human understands can cost them their career too.

Special Mention - The direction, story-telling and acting of the first episode really make you, as a viewer, feel the protagonist. I absolutely felt the anxiety and nervousness like Naz would have from the moment he discovered Andrea's murder.