Chris

I thoroughly enjoyed this series. Having read some of the mixed reviews, I think the reviewers who criticised many aspects of the series gave up on the show too quickly, and therefore missed out on some really lovely scenes/ interesting episodes, which also answered questions about events that happened in the earlier episodes. It's not possible to write an accurate review without having seen the whole series, any more than one can write a decent/helpful book review having only read the first two pages of a book. I do agree with the criticism regarding the overuse of profanity, which doesn't do anything to add to the story, and the comments saying that the violence in the first episode was over the top (killing most of the residents of a small village) which made it very difficult to feel any sympathy for Julie's character at first. This does change somewhat as the series develops, however, and we start to see... spoiler alert ... that Julie does have remorse, and some major regrets over her actions in the past. There are some lovely and touching moments between mother and son (and with Julie and Luca) as the story unfolds. Regarding the acting, I thought Keeley Hawes and Freddie Highmore were both very good in their roles, as were the other main actors. The humour is often understated rather than 'in your face'. This was refreshing in my opinion. The character of Julie is criticised in some reviews for being very cold and not showing remorse/lacking emotion, etc. (paraphrasing some of the comments) however in later episodes this changes, and we definitely see her softer side and remorsefulness for her actions. Freddie Highmore is excellent as Edward, whose character is intended to be a stark contrast to the character of Julie, and once you have a better understanding of his 'back story', his behaviour makes more sense. Both Hawes and Highmore did their best with what they had to work with in terms of the limitations of the script and a very limited number of episodes in which to tell their somewhat complicated story. I would have liked to have seen more time spent exploring their relationship and back stories-this would have allowed the audience to be able to relate to / feel more empathy for their characters. Hopefully, if there is a second series, that could be more of a focus for the show rather than so many action scenes, or at least a more balanced combination of the two. Anyone who has seen Bates Motel and The Good Doctor (the whole series or at the very least whole episodes rather than 20 second clips with no context) will know that Highmore is very well known and widely respected for his ability to portray complex characters with great depth, however this degree of depth isn't really required in The Assassin. It's not a drama per se, but more of a fun adventure and lighthearted escapism with a surprising amount of 'heart' that builds, especially in the last two episodes. My family and I thoroughly enjoyed it overall and would love to see a second season.