Lucy Scardino

This series attempts to be a serious historical drama that succeeds on many levels: raising interest in the period's people, locale and events, good cinematography and great casting. However, for the English speaking audience it falls flat and sometimes ludicrously so because the subtitles are so crudely written that it is impossible to follow the story line or even understand what's going on in any particular scene. There is also the issue of multiple names used for each character in the script so that the viewer can't know to whom any speaker may be referring . For all the money spent making it, it really is ruined for English speaking audiences by this amateurish final step. Continuity is staggered in many episodes, again making it difficult to follow a tortuous plot. I recommend it with the above caveats at a 3 star.