terry-stamatis

Of course they start in with the racial profiling in the first episode, but that was expected having seen season one. Tiring.

It's poorly written, the dialog is plain and seems forced, the characters are not convincing, and it's poorly directed and edited. Not up to normal BBC standards. The writers assume you need every little thing explained to you as if you have never seen one of these before, it's reminiscent of run-of-the mill American network series. For example, I watched the second season of Showtrial on the BBC before this, and it's night and day, in all aspects. I was disappointed with the first D I Ray, the second one falls right in line.

There aren't many 10s these days, this is a definite 10. This expertly researched series has everything, and it is supported by superior production values. Character development, plot, acting, directing, editing, music, mood-all of it top shelf. The protagonists are all vulnerable anti-heroes and you have empathy for the villains. Dialogue that is not dumbed down yet smoothly moves the story-line along and makes the usually complicated financial system very accessible. All of it highlighted by the golden rule that basically says that loyalty in the cut-throat world of finance is at best 5 seconds. Highly recommended.

The struggle to properly end a series can be evident quite often as it happens here. Also, half the cast really is unconvincing and painfully miscast. And Adam's hairpiece changes position and shape with just about every scene. The British spy-genre is my all-time favorite vehicle, but you can almost tell when it's not a BBC production, there simply is a lack of quality control in the production values. The fight scenes and the editing are both noticeably poor. The script is decent but poorly executed. If you're going to do another spy mystery (the villain became apparent to me by the third episode), keep it a proper mystery.