I thought the two lead parts of Adso and William of Baskerville held the 8 episodes together but really I think the writers tried too hard to cram in too much material. This made it a little too long and over produced at times. Also,the weakness in the plot was spelled out by the abbot when he said that William had been tasked to discover and stop the murders but he singularly failed as 4 further murders occurred. So despite his wisdom and insight fulness, it was a little use to William in the end.