Mandi Herauville

Disappointing. I tried so hard to like the characters & the story and the 80s setting but there was just nothing interesting at all about this show. Eli was annoying. Gus’ muteness was a poor & trivialised attempt at trauma. Lyle has nice eyes. That’s about it. If you’re going to be a filthy bunch of hoboes then at least be charismatic! I ground through 2 episodes hoping it would get better but with such immense quality coming out of the uk tv shows, this was like watching Married with Children does drugs in Oz. Acting was terrible! Failed to engage with any of the characters. I expect more than this drivelling attempt at The Castle sells heroin & has no morals. Fail 👎🏻

Terrible. Tried but couldn’t get past episode two watching “Nina version two” as the pathetic female lead. Just no! Boring! I realise the character is at crossroads in her life, but so is everyone in a drama! So there’s no excuse that she handles life like a wet rag & watching it was uncomfortable, but not in a good way. It also feels like Asher Keddie is playing the same character in everything she does lately? Sad to limit their acting range in that way. Or doesn’t she not have a range? Stereotyped as a “hysterical female” & typecast in these shallow roles that are in no way representative of the deep or nuanced lives of us flawed but strong, hardworking & beautiful Australian females. Who, by the way, don’t forget their children at school & other such ridiculous things. Not funny in any way, just embarrassing in 2023 to see women as half asleep dunderheads not coping with any aspect of life. Women work so damn hard yet when having a crisis, are still shown to be brain fogged, open mouthed fools not knowing what day it is. If anything we remember the kids but forget ourselves! We manage the crisis but not our relationships or health! That’s the real story! And surely Mia Freedman would not & could not be in any way akin to this flakey & cringe worthy portrayal of a professional business woman with her own company. Come on Aussies you can do better. To say it was worse than Bay of Fires is not a compliment! At least I watched all of that, even though it was that clueless female again as protagonist. Not worse than Fisk fortunately, which was the epitome of unfunny comedic drudgery. Deadloch was brilliant risqué quirky brave & dead funny! And smart. As was Collin from Accounts. Great! Strife, sadly, is unimaginative & poorly scripted and acted drivel sadly. Disappointed