JabezGill

Listen, it held my attention in Part I. But when "Part II" started I felt like it had been on for 2.5 hours already. I started losing interest after the old man and the wolves story ended. The pacing was slow-making it feel like much longer than a 2.5 movie. Some of the stylistic choices were strange. It is like 80% historical looking but 20% futuristic. Not fond of that style.

The script was okay, the actors were okay...but the main 3 were just so... average. Overall there was just nothing that made me go "I can't wait to watch this again/recommend it to everyone I know." The fact that it was told in dueling flashbacks... was just ehh.

Things I love: The Chateau and the property.

Things I hate: 1. The couple, they're annoying. Especially the woman.

2. Their design capabilities. They're making a 500 year old chateau/castle look like a millennial home makeover for an Airbnb. Things just look cheap and plain. If they had shiplap in France... I guarantee every wall would be ship lap.

3. THE MANUFACTURED DRAMA... it is unnecessary and so so so so so stupid. The fake wind storm that showed hypersped up video of the breeze blowing through the trees.

The little jokes and quips between the couple that is clearly staged and forced. Potential Disaster after disaster that is always conveniently avoided. Also, let's not forget that they had trespassers on ATVs and dirt bikes... that we hear but never see... even though there is a camera crew filming everything... 4. Their Budget... they're clearly giving the prices in Francs and not in USD because there is no way the bland Solar cost them 35k the French Franc equivalent of 6k Francs seems more plausible. The budget just doesn't make sense and they never said "we have 200,000 dollars to do this" or what it is. So far it seems the budget is whatever they need it to be for drama.

They need to focus on the restoration and bring in some historical preservationists and advisors that can give more information and help with their accuracy.

We get it, you want to be immersive and give honest portrayals of characters... but when the show is as average as this... people are barely watching the screen... so don't make us have to read 50% of the show. We are watching an American show in English for a reason.

Don't get me wrong, when done right (and used sparingly) it's awesome to have accurate languages in movies... but not for a "face paced" action movie. Let them talk with Russian accents but speak English. Let them talk to each other in Russian with certain lines or the top secret info. But not 5-8 minute scenes of it.

Overall... this show just isn't great. Pretty boring. Jensen Ackles is charismatic but even he seems to be giving half effort here. Everyone else is generic and forgettable.