Lisa Marenghi

I enjoyed this movie and the story it told. While it was hard to see Maiwen as being outstandingly physically attractive, the playfulness and disregard of formalities she exuded made her appeal more believable. Depp was standoffish just enough to project royalty, yet he still projected the charisma and personality to be a likable character. The story was well-told, the acting strong, the costuming noteworthy and the scenery/directing fantastic.

UPDATE(March 2022): I tried watching another episode (#9) wondering if the first 3 episodes were growing pains. Nope. Special Agent in Charge Tennant is SO bad. Instead of leading, she pretty much tells everyone what happened as if SHE herself discovered it rather than being a team effort — even times where she immediately repeats what was just told her but again as if it’s new information she alone discovered. Then, she chases a suspect wearing 6” heels. Really? The other characters try valiantly to save the show, but it’s a mess. It still bothers me that they focus so much on her personal life & family. Are females less interesting if they aren’t portrayed as nurturers & supermoms? Can’t they be seen as successful entirely based on their professional merits? She talks WAY too much — an absolutely horrible team leader. (Nov. 2021) I was really hoping this would at least be as enjoyable as NCIS: New Orleans (because nothing comes close to rivaling the original). Unfortunately, the Special Agent in Charge is totally unconvincing. Instead of leading a team, she’s talking all the time like a narrator summarizing and speculating all the time and the first one in at every culminating event. Furthermore, unlike shows with male leads, there’s a huge focus on her family life. Some characters are excellent and easily believable, but having the lead basically vomiting dialogue without enveloping the character ruins the show. Oh, and picking her up by helicopter at a soccer game in the first episode didn’t help. I watched 3 episodes before judging, and while the other characters grew on you a bit, Tennant remained dry and uninteresting.

I love Olivia Coleman, but the story seemed disjointed and chaotic. Another reviewer noted the book being so much better and explaining how the scripting of the character Leda made her seem to be more frazzled than conflicted. Her stealing the child’s doll came across only as being mean and ugly rather than any deeply moving representation of the character herself.