A man has amnesia after a car accident and does not remember who he is but is suspected of having murdered his missing niece.
This was shown on BBC4 as 10 episodes of series 1 (truncated, not abridged, from the original Spanish 16 episode series). Many reviewers on IMDb thought this was the complete story and were disappointed by the cliff hanger (demise of a character), which they assumed was the resolution. The BBC have now shown the second part (series 2, with episodes 11 to 16, in Spain they had all sixteen sequentially) and so the series can now be judged properly. The reviews that assume it was edited down to ten episodes are flawed themselves.
This is a long story with a contorted plot, with many twists. This is not an American thriller, with cardboard cut out characters where everything depends on the action, this is European where the characters are complex and irrational, as humans are, and it is all about how they inter react. If you are impatient and like the plot to unfold quickly before you, you may find this hard going or tedious, particularly if you can't relate to the characters, which is hard in this production. If however you enjoy following through all the possibilities as they open up, only to find a dead end and have to look for another route, then you may enjoy this.
There are plenty of twists in this story which are often dealt with in an episode; a twist occurs as a cliff hanger at the end, or at the start, of an episode and then is worked out during the episode. There is little reworking of events that happened several episodes away, so that you have forgotten them, and the twist produced like a rabbit out of a hat. These are done in full view which needs more skill and imaginative writing.
The characters are a problem, they are in the main hard to empathise with. An example is Marta Hess (well played by Eva Santolaria) an attractive woman, but with unlikable behaviour and always smirking. The two main characters are very well portrayed Juan (Francesc Garrido) and Alicia (Blanca Portillo). Juan is a quiet, cool character (appropriate for a lawyer) but very active inside his head, you can see it in his eyes, continually scheming and looking for his best advantage. "Inscrutable" was how another reviewer described him. His wife is more ebullient, but a very hard person and is not to be taken advantage of. As the series progresses we discover that they didn't get where they are, top lawyer and judge, by serving tea to the vicar. By the end of the series these are perhaps the two you can most empathise with; their morals may be different to yours but you can understand why they are like they are, they care about their own family and will do anything to preserve and promote it.
As the series nears the end, things start to slot into place and you can sense a resolution coming. However it does not appear as you might be anticipating and it is left ready for a second series. I am not sure if there will be one (third in the BBC way of reckoning), but it is possible, there is the interaction of Juan and Anna to play out.
This was shown on BBC4 as 10 episodes of series 1 (truncated, not abridged, from the original Spanish 16 episode series). Many reviewers on IMDb thought this was the complete story and were disappointed by the cliff hanger (demise of a character), which they assumed was the resolution. The BBC have now shown the second part (series 2, with episodes 11 to 16, in Spain they had all sixteen sequentially) and so the series can now be judged properly. The reviews that assume it was edited down to ten episodes are flawed themselves.
This is a long story with a contorted plot, with many twists. This is not an American thriller, with cardboard cut out characters where everything depends on the action, this is European where the characters are complex and irrational, as humans are, and it is all about how they inter react. If you are impatient and like the plot to unfold quickly before you, you may find this hard going or tedious, particularly if you can't relate to the characters, which is hard in this production. If however you enjoy following through all the possibilities as they open up, only to find a dead end and have to look for another route, then you may enjoy this.
There are plenty of twists in this story which are often dealt with in an episode; a twist occurs as a cliff hanger at the end, or at the start, of an episode and then is worked out during the episode. There is little reworking of events that happened several episodes away, so that you have forgotten them, and the twist produced like a rabbit out of a hat. These are done in full view which needs more skill and imaginative writing.
The characters are a problem, they are in the main hard to empathise with. An example is Marta Hess (well played by Eva Santolaria) an attractive woman, but with unlikable behaviour and always smirking. The two main characters are very well portrayed Juan (Francesc Garrido) and Alicia (Blanca Portillo). Juan is a quiet, cool character (appropriate for a lawyer) but very active inside his head, you can see it in his eyes, continually scheming and looking for his best advantage. "Inscrutable" was how another reviewer described him. His wife is more ebullient, but a very hard person and is not to be taken advantage of. As the series progresses we discover that they didn't get where they are, top lawyer and judge, by serving tea to the vicar. By the end of the series these are perhaps the two you can most empathise with; their morals may be different to yours but you can understand why they are like they are, they care about their own family and will do anything to preserve and promote it.
As the series nears the end, things start to slot into place and you can sense a resolution coming. However it does not appear as you might be anticipating and it is left ready for a second series. I am not sure if there will be one (third in the BBC way of reckoning), but it is possible, there is the interaction of Juan and Anna to play out.