grimswold Reviews

The Village (2013–2014)

A Fantastic Start but.....................

[7/10 · 29 August 2014]

I watched the first series of the village and was completely glued. The events surrounding the first world war were particularly moving and made one think of how terrible a time it must have been. The time generally, of course, was quite hard for the working class people and this and the class divide are vividly brought to life in this well shot and directed series. John Simm and Maxine Peake are always great and they don't disappoint in this, indeed all of the acting is excellent. The story is gritty and mainly revolves around a couple of families with other characters dipping in and out of the story. Having said all of that I am utterly perplexed as to why the second series has suddenly become: 'The Village - a period soap'. Why on earth are we suddenly faced with what female loves what male etc. etc. to the exclusion of any real meat on the bones? I for one would like a return to what life must have been like and what challenges people faced at the time rather than tipping my hat to Mr and Mrs, or whatever the case may be. So I have to give the second series a rather paltry 4 out of 10 and hope that someone sees some sense and doesn't miss a great opportunity to carry on making a more realistic program that has an edge to it.

Orphan Black (2013–2017)

Very Promising

[8/10 · 11 July 2013]

Just a Note to people who said the accents didn't sound real, as a British person - English no less, they do sound real. There are plenty of people in the London area who speak exactly like them. In fact they sound more English than a lot of young people today who have developed a rather lazy English accent which has emerged in the last 20 years out of a mish mash of foreign accents and sounds particularly awful to me, and sometimes unintelligible. Just to put the matter straight.

As far as the first episode goes the only one I have seen so far - I think it appears very promising, I will stay tuned! I think the acting of the 2 leads is very good and I like what appears to be an original Idea or two emerging already.

The Bridge (2011–2018)

Well acted, brilliant story.

[10/10 · 8 May 2012]

I haven't seen the Killing yet, but I will. I certainly will if it is as good as this Scandinavian crime drama. The story is very compelling, gripping and brilliantly executed. The acting is first rate, especially that of the two leads Kim Bodnia who plays Martin Rohde and the utterly brilliant Sofia Helin who plays the clever but quirky Saga Noren. I have to say she makes the show for me, alright she is blonde, beautiful and Swedish, but her performance is exceptional and you can't help but love her character. Saga works very well with Martin in trying to solve the crimes and the satellite characters and stories work equally as well. I also have to mention the direction, camera work and general production of this series as it is as good as anything I have seen. I shall be very sad when it finishes.