Susan Christian

I've never written such a negative review and I'm just as bored writing this as I was watching this drivel . •Tamala Shelton as Kate - constantly commenting on colonisation, stolen land etc.. definitely not the sweet, strong intelligent character as seen in the UK and US series.. •Rowan Witt as Sean - insipid character who just speaks really quickly.. about nothing of interest.. •Mandy McElhinney as Eileen, an Irish potato famine survivor, mother of 13 and publican - Rhonda should have stayed in Bali with Ketut.. Seriously, Mandy swaps between Irish and Scottish.. mid sentence even.. •Brent Hill as Gideon, a stoic naval officer - blatantly rips off the Isaac character from the US.. But without the dashing aplomb and naivety.. he's playing the closeteted gay part but just comes across as a leering creeper.. •Ines English as Miranda, a 1900s socialite/bride-to-be - this to me is the worst character.. just displays over effusive facial expressions.. relentlessly.. •Michelle Brasier as Lindy, a vibrant 1980s aerobics instructor - screeches non stop.. I think that she's supposed to be a blend of Kitty and Alberta.. very hard to watch.. •George Zhao as Joon, a Gold Rush-era Chinese miner - he could have been great.. it's such a shame that he had so little to work with.. why on earth would they make him the one to have no pants? A mid 19th century Chinese gold miner with no pants.. they've blended Trevor, Sassipis and Thomas, very poorly.. it makes no sense at all.. •Jackson Tozer as Satan, a misunderstood 1990s motorbike gang member with a heart of gold - Jackson is great.. sadly though another poorly thought through character.. he shines in the first two episodes and then kind of just blends in.. Guest ghosts.. •Ned Kelly - uses 'sheila' to describe women.. when asked if the gun was dangerous says 'nah, I shot me load'.. nuff said.. • Peter Rowsthorn as Richard • Helen Thomson as Joy - the neighbours - Pete must be embarrassed by this I'm sure.. As for Helen, I literally can't remember her.. I could keep going but it just doesn't get any better..

I've just started watching this and I'm three seasons in and about to binge the fourth.. I've never been a fan of espionage and only started watching this because of Gary Oldman.. It's exceptionally good.. Every single cast member is a standout.. Packed full of drama, action and most importantly, wit.. The characters display almost human complexity that you can imagine superbly.. I've not read the book/s so I have no comparisons but I'm considering doing so once I've finished watching this.. I would highly recommend this series..

To be honest I only made it 20 minutes into the first episode.. The soundtrack is horrendous.. So loud and totally irrelevant to what's happening.. It's as though they couldn't bear the thought of any moments of silence.. It was so distracting.. And don't even get me started on the guy in the fertility clinic having a toss while his wife takes a smoko break to talk him through it.. Totally irrelevant and naff.. Sometimes when I don't like something from the get go I will go back at a later date and try again.. But unless they somehow magic the music away it's not going to happen..

Right from the get go they portray Chloe as an intelligent, determined woman.. And then they have her act like a real numpty.. She's getting death threats and she walks into the house and doesn't turn on a light? Let's the coppers tell the son that his father is dead? Even after it's obvious that the female copper is a nasty piece of work.. Coppers can't see the knife so clearly visible? And she puts it in the glovebox 😂.. Then Chloe is wandering the streets of New York aimlessly reminiscing? Again, death threats AND her husband has been murdered.. I'm only halfway through the second ep and I'm writing a review because I'm so bored, confused, and uninterested.. All of the characters are just creepy.. And not in an interesting way.. More in a pervy snowdropper way.. I think that I'll leave it and try again from ep one and hopefully see it with a better mindset..

How is this show still on air? Is it really something that Americans find funny? Or is so entrenched that nobody has the guts to cancel it? I mean it has some very funny people working on it.. But they're just not funny in this show.. Maybe it has something to do with the ridiculously looooong sketches? It's as if they think that every sketch should be a little mini sitcom.. Every time I think wow that's a great line-up, great guests, and I give it another go, it doesn't take long for me to remember why I dislike it.. And it's really not obvious what it's political leanings are is it? Even the opening and closing credits are like a mini-series..

I've read the Cross books.. In fact almost everything that Patterson has written.. This doesn't do the character justice at all.. Alex Cross is a thoughtful, caring and supremely intelligent man.. This character is an insipid, selfish man.. The first four or so episodes should have been sufficient because after that it was blatantly obvious that it was just filling in time.. And to believe that Alex Cross would make so many mistakes is just incredible.. It bought the believability down to zero.. Just the warehouse scene for example.. All those police inside but not one single police car or officer outside? That's just one example.. The last episode borders on ridiculous.. Needless to say that I probably won't watch any future series.. 👎

I'm about 3/4 through episode 4 and I just can't take it anymore.. The only character I liked was the detective.. It reminds me of one of those 90s reality shows.. Leiv Schreiber must be broke because I can't think how else he was roped into it.. I went into it with a positive attitude because Nicole Kidman is usually great in a drama/thriller but this is atrocious.. I don't care who did it or why.. I'm done..

I really loved this show.. So much so that I was thankful that I started watching it on a cold miserable day and therefore had an excuse to binge the whole series.. I thought that the ensemble cast was brilliant.. My personal favourite is Michael Smiley as Ward Clancy.. Siobhán Cullen was exceptional.. The sets were gorgeous.. The filming was beautiful.. I loved the storyline.. So many twists and turns in every episode but they all made sense.. They all served to prove that assumptions are more often than not, way off the mark.. I really, really hope that season 2 happens because this quirky little dark comedy has me excited to see what this fabulous psychopath does next..

I can't rate the entire series because I'm not done yet.. I'm up to S8E6.. I'm doing it now though because I'm not convinced that I'll see it through till the final episode.. The complexity of the characters is phenomenal.. Hopefully the writers got really rich from it.. I'm only going to mention those who affected me most, either positive or negatively.. I'll rate what I've seen.. Raymond Reddington (James Spader) is exquisite.. I always think that James is playing James in every thing that he does.. This character has captured my heart.. Even if in the last two seasons he turns out to be lucifer himself I don't care.. If he played this character in a film he would have won an Oscar.. The pure humanity of him is undeniable despite his actions.. It's always justifiable to me.. Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boon) is mediocre at best.. I think it is her sheer stupidity that annoys me no end.. I understand that she's being portrayed as naive but she just comes across as simpering.. She's an FBI profiler for God's sake.. I actually can't wait until someone kills her (I can't believe I said that).. Harold Cooper (Harry Lennox).. Wow.. He portrays the role exactly as I would expect the real person to be.. I think that he was robbed though.. There was so much time wasted on other characters personal life that should have been spent on his.. Every now and then they'd throw us a storyline that told us a bit about him but it seems that he was often just used as a filler.. He deserved better.. Dembe Zuma (Hisham Tawfiq).. This guy is amazing.. Even when he goes through episodes without many words he speaks volumes.. What an incredible actor.. Donald Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) I thought that he was brilliant up until around S7.. It's like they decided that he was incidental to the show then.. When absolutely everything became out Liz, his character just shrank.. A great shame because this guy can act.. Glen Carter (Clark Middleton) to me, Glen was second only to Raymond.. His dedication to the role knew no bounds.. Bravo Clark.. As to the support and guest actors.. Wow.. it's impossible to espouse the greatness of the casting of the guests.. Christopher Lambert, Brian Dennehy, Christine Lahty, Fisher Stevens, just too many.. Every episode has guest actors playing roles so brilliantly that you totally forget anything they've ever done before.. As I said at the beginning I'm not done yet and I am actually finding myself fast forwarding anything that involves Liz, because she's just so whiny.. And people like Donald and Cooper are just circling the drain because they have to be there but they're serving no purpose that I can see.. Maybe that will change in the next few episodes.. I certainly hope so because I can never get enough James Spader.. i've loved his acting for so long.. we're around the same age and I feel like we've grown up together.. So please watch this because you are missing something if you don't.. I waited far too long.. I'll update this once I'm done..

We all know that Ripley is a psychopath.. But even psychopaths have some sort of personality.. There is not one of the main characters for whom I felt anything but irritation towards.. Marge is unnecessarily sceptical and rude from the outset.. Dickie displays not one iota of the vim and vigor his character should display.. Tom.. Well Tom is just depressing.. How on earth we are to believe that he could con anyone is just ridiculous.. Freddy is just painful to watch.. Phillip Seymour Hoffman's depiction of a flouncing, but intelligent character was superb.. The supporting cast of characters were more exciting and interesting than the main cast of actors which is sad because with the exception of Eliot Sumner they are all brilliant actors.. The cinematography is brilliant but the black and white despite being gorgeous, adds to the painfully slow tedium of the characters.. I love the true detective, noir genre but this misses the mark on every level except the filming of it.. It assumes that the audience has no ability to think for themselves.. I spent the entirety of this screaming hurry up will you.. Perry Mason is an example of how this should be done..