Mike leeming

Ahh…so most of the show is not funny and falls flat. A lot of the actors are in their 30s and pretending to be 18-21 years old, and it doesn’t come off very well. The few moments that are supposed to be genuine and get at the emotions behind the “over-compensating” behaviours and over-the-top acting scenes get lost.

This is a well developed and thought-out show, with a fairly simple plot and concept that is made to feel new again through the study of its complicated characters. At its heart, this is a story about several families, living in three different timelines, in a small town in Germany. These are deeply flawed characters, afflicted with memories of their failings and regrets, and the pain they have caused one another throughout the years. Nobody is truly innocent in this town, and everyone has something to hide, which of course makes the show far more compelling. You learn fairly quickly that everything is interconnected, and every decision made, every action taken, serves a purpose or inflicts repercussions felt throughout time. It has an unnerving gothic horror feel, without being part of the horror or scary film genre. Certainly there are dark elements that come into play, the disappearance and death of male children that happens mostly off screen, the eerie sounds of the woods and forest, and the darkness of the caves and the suggestion of what may lie within remains a sinister and unknown presence throughout the series. But while it hints at horror, it never truly takes us there; instead the show adheres more to the mystery and suspense genre - a show about children who have disappeared throughout the years, and discovering what may have happened to them. However, one of things I found most confusing about the show was not the twists and turns of the plot or even the time travel paradoxes and plot holes it certainly creates in the narrative, but rather the daunting task of remembering who all of the characters are. There are so many men and women coming and going throughout the scenes, and I hard time remembering who was related to who, not to mention who their parallel selves are in the past and future dimensions. Watching the first episode again, I realized the show made it far more confusing by not bothering to introduce many of the characters or supply them with names. I had no idea what half of the names of the main characters were until more than halfway through the season! That’s crazy and bewildering. One truly wishes that they had Claudia’s map of characters, seen later in the show, strung out on the wall to establish who we are dealing with. Either way, definitely a great show, and one that requires all of your attention in order to be watched.

I’m so sorry that this show has being cancelled, and I wish that we could have been given more time to explore this entertaining world. It took the writers and the production team several years to create the second series, but unfortunately it didn’t seem to land well with the executives, or become a hit with target demongraphics. I’ve been trying to understand why it didn’t resonate with viewers, and I think I’ve found a few reasons that contributed to its downfall. One of the problems audiences might have had was the moral nature of the characters. Despite being well educated and the fact that they have survived to reach their forties, the characters are incredibly selfish, unthoughtful and habitually hurt one another in their whirlwind toxic relationships. They feel guilt and sadness following their actions, and have logic and reason at their disposal, but they can’t seem to fight their inner natures and propel themselves into disasters. Many people find it difficult to root for main characters who consistently lie and cheat on their partners for years, and are more concerned for getting caught, then the pain it might cause someone else. There is little redemption to be found, as just when you feel a little bit of pity for one of the cast, they throw it away by doing something equally terrible. The other problem audiences may have with the show arises in the writing. The show is touted as a comedy in the trailers and advertising, but upon watching, it is far closer to a drama. It encompasses a group of 6 damaged and flawed friends, who just so happen to have moments of situational dark comedy in their lives. And while many of the moments are hilarious and funny for us as viewers to watch, they are also moments that are painful, and the audience is imbued with conflicted sadness. The balance between feeling uplifted or depressed is not quite captured, and at the end of each episode, the audience sometimes walks away with mixed feelings. While many dark comedies work in this regard, Friends from College crosses the line between comedy and drama several times in each episode, and is often blurred. Another issue some people may have had with the show was the undeveloped characters. Even after two seasons, we know almost nothing about Marriane, the sixth member of the friend group. She is portrayed as a free, bohemian spirit that comes and goes in the narrative, often adding well-timed, dead-pan comedic one-liners throughout scenes. She rarely has her own storyline, and really is a spectator to the drama swirling around her. In some ways she mimics Phoebe from the show “FRIENDS”, but is far less developed. I really wished that each episode would have shown segments from the character’s college days. These are the years that bound these characters together in a unique family setting, and were evidently strong enough to be resurrected into a friend group 20 years later. It would have been nice to have seen the dynamics of a younger cast growing as young adults and facing issues together, which then could be tied in with the issues their older selves still faced in the present day. We would have gotten a more complex character and story arc, and perhaps it would have helped gain a sense of stronger empathy from the audience. In the end, I still think this is a very under-rated show and deserves lots of attention and should be watched by old and young people alike. The performances feel authentic, the cast is superb, and the filming of each episode, edited at roughly 30 minutes, allowed the scenes to be well paced and do not drag. The stories feel familiar, and yet they are just the right amount of different to feel new in its re-telling.