Category Archives: DO NOT MISS

2017, Abandoned child, Abduction, Abuse of Women, Bloody scenes, Bullying, Character Driven, Child custody, Conspiracy, Controlling personality, Cult, Cult Brainwashing, Detective, DO NOT MISS, Drugs, Eccentric Detective, Emotional child abuse, Ethical struggles, Lesbian Theme, Mental Illness, Missing Person, Mother-son relations, Murder, Murder by poison, Murder Investigation, Netflix Streaming, Police Investigation, Rape, Serial Killer, Small Town, Suspense, Trial Scenes, Violent

The Sinner (2017)

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From Netflix you can stream 4 seasons of this intense series centering on the central detective character Harry Ambrose.

Each season consists of 8 episodes, each about 42 minutes.

  • Season 1: “Cora”  Cora is a young mother that inexplicably stabs and kills a young man during a family beach outing.   Detective Ambrose must discover why she killed in order to defend her.
  • Season 2: “Julian” Julian is a young boy who confesses to murdering his parents. Ambrose has to investigate the cult to which the boy belongs in order to defend the boy.
  • Season 3: “Jamie” Jamie is the father of a family and is also a serial killer. Ambrose needs to understand Jamie in order to stop his killing and prove his guilt.
  • Season 4: “Percy” Percy is the troubled daughter of the Muldoon fishing family.  In the start of the story Harry thinks he sees Percy commit suicide.  Alongside personal relationship  problems, Harry must once again put himself in danger to get to the bottom of a serious corruption scheme.

As Harry Ambrose the actor Bill Pullman plays a stubborn detective with a very unique personality.  Quiet, always with a knowing shy smile on his face, Harry is his own mystery.  With the other “criminals” he shares a tortured past which we learn bit by bit. Harry takes some remarkable chances in order to solve a mystery.

As far as detective series are concerned:

DO NOT MISS!

2021, Acceptable for teenagers, Addiction, Attempted Suicide, British, Clever Plot, Divorced Mother, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Drugs, Explicit sex, Extramarital Affair, Failing Marriage, Gay theme, Jealousy, Love Triangle, Melodrama, Mental Illness, Murder, Mystery Film, Netflix Streaming, Nudity, Paranormal theme, Plot Twist, Psychiatrists, Psychological Thriller, Surprise Ending, Suspense, Thriller, Unhappy Marriage, Unusual

Behind Her Eyes (2021)

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From Netflix:

A single mother enters a world of twisted mind games when she begins an affair with her psychiatrist boss while secretly befriending his mysterious wife.

From Netflix you can stream the 6 episodes of this British romantic thriller. Each episode lasts about 50 minutes.

Louise is a divorced mother with one child Adam.  David, a psychiatrist, is Louise’s boss and Adele’s husband. Adele is a mysterious  childless stay-at-home housewife.  David and Adele are not happily married. But their relationship is more ominous rather than merely not getting along. David and Louise are having a difficult affair, not the least because Louise has befriended Adele.  Rob is a gay young man who has become Adele’s best friend after Rob and Adele met during their mutual confinement in a mental institution.

If you are not yet intrigued, then throw in a paranormal element (which perfectly suits the plot and is not the least bit hokey) and lots of sex scenes.  Finally, this story has one of the best surprise endings I have ever seen.

If this last paragraph appeals to you, then DO NOT MISS!

2009, Acceptable for teenagers, Amazon Prime, British Mystery Series, Courtroom scenes, Detective, DO NOT MISS, Forensics, Police Investigation, Suspense

Law and Order UK (2009)

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From IMDB:

UK version of the long-running U.S. TV drama that tells the stories of two separate yet equally important groups: the police, who investigate crime; and the attorneys, who prosecute the offenders.

From Amazon Prime you can stream 5 seasons of this police and courtroom series.  Seasons 1, 2, and 3 offer 13 episodes each. Season 4 offers 6 episodes. Season 5 offers 8 episodes.  Every episode is about 48 minutes.

For years Kathy and I have enjoyed the US version of “Law and Order” but we both agree that somehow for us the UK version is better.  Each episode is positively wrenching. Someone, innocent or guilty, will suffer greatly.  What probably adds to the plot urgency is the fact that the villains are often so arrogantly evil that we cannot wait for them to get their comeuppance.

Six characters dominate the stories: two detectives, their boss and three jurists.  Portraits of these six men and women are anything but cut and dried.  Each has a personal life that often figures in a plot.

What is a bit disturbing is how easily the series replaces characters (and as a result, actors)  Don’t fall in love with any one personality which might soon be eliminated one way or another.

There are so many plots that it is not practical trying to add enough categories in the header of this review.

Do you have time to watch 53 episodes? Better hurry and get started.

DO NOT MISS!

2014, Acceptable Trash, Accidental Death, Addiction, Alcoholism, Alzheimer's disease, Amazon Prime, Arson, Art Marketing, Autism, Binge worthy, Brother-Brother relations, Brother-Sister relations, Cancer theme, Cooking and food, Corny at times, Corrupt Prison Guards, Courtroom scenes, Depression, Detective, Divorce, DO NOT MISS, Drugs, Dysfunctional Lives, Ethical struggles, Explicit sex, Explicit sexual discussion, Extramarital Affair, Failing Marriage, False Imprisonment, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Father-son relations, Fishing, Flashbacks, Flirting, Friendship, Gay theme, Happy Family Gatherings, Husband leaves wife, Illegitimate Child, Incompetent or unfit mother, Lawyers, Longsuffering wife, Love Story, Love Triangle, Marital Infidelity, Medical Theme, Mental Illness, Mother-daughter relations, Mother-son relations, Murder, Murder Investigation, Murder Trial, Narcissist, Nudity, Occasionaly violent, Prison, Psychiatrists, Romance, Small Town, Small Town Atmosphere, Soap Opera, Suicide, Surfing, Unhappy Marriage, Unmarried mother, Weird California Cultures, Wife leaves husband, Womanizing

The Affair (2014)

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From IMDB:

A struggling novelist and a young waitress strike up an extramarital relationship that promises to forever change the course of their lives.

From Amazon Prime you can stream the 10 episodes of this steamy romance and crime series. Each episode is just under 1 hour.

UPDATE:  Now from Amazon Prime you can stream 5 seasons of the soap opera that never ends. Season 2 has 12 episodes. Season 5 has 11 episodes. Seasons 1,3, and 4 have 10 episodes. Each episode is still about one hour.  That gives us a total of 53 hours of soap opera escape.

Nothing is perfect. Some portions are downright corny.  There is a strange interruption in plot when Noah seems to be having a series of psychotic episodes.  Did the writers forget to finish that part of the story?   Sometimes present events plus flashbacks from the past might seem somewhat confusing.

Toward the end I watched slowly because I did not want the story to end.  If a LOOOONG soap opera with a fair number of sometimes explicit sex scenes is your thing, DO NOT MISS!

Original review:

Noah Solloway is played by Dominic West,  the British actor with a long acting resumé. At the time of filming he was 45 years old.

Alison Bailey is played by Ruth Wilson, the British actress whose own resumé is just as long even though she was only 32 years old at the time of filming.  Her role as the sociopath “Alice Morgan” in the TV series “Luther” was chillingly unforgettable.

Alison’s marriage is failing while she and her husband morn the death of their young son.  Noah is having trouble writing his second novel and is trying desperately to be faithful to his wife even though he is immediately attracted to Alison.

Along the way there is a death that is being investigated  by Detective Jeffries.

As soap operas go, this one is not too bad.

2021, Acceptable for teenagers, Archaeologists, Art Treasures, Based on a Book, Based on true facts, Bicycles, British, Buried Treasure, Career Competition, Character Driven, Could Be Sad, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Failing Marriage, Fatal heart problems, Gay theme, Love Story, Mother-son relations, Netflix Streaming, Romance, Sex Scenes, Unhappy Marriage, WWII

The Dig (2021)

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From IMDB:

An archaeologist  embarks on the historically important excavation of Sutton Hoo in 1938.

From Netflix:

On the eve of World War II, a British widow hires a self-taught archaeologist to dig up mysterious formations on her land, leading to a staggering find.

From Netflix you can stream this wonderful 1 hour 52 minute complete film.

Ralph Fiennes (who during the filming was 59 years old) plays Basil Brown the excavator and self-taught archaeologist. Carey Mulligan (who was 36)  plays the wealthy, widowed landowner Edith Pretty.

Actually the film is a homage to Basil Brown who was a humble man with no formal education whose industrious intelligence led him through self-study to become an intuitively clever amateur archaeologist.  In fact a major point of the story is that during his lifetime he was given no credit for having discovered a 6th century Anglo Saxon burial site complete with ship and precious jewelry. Instead the glory was claimed by the “experts” who tried to wrest the project from Basil. But Edith Pretty, who is dying from faulty heart valves damaged by childhood rheumatic fever,  comes to the rescue and champions Basil and his right to complete the project which, after all, is on HER land.  All the artifacts are now in the British Museum where the explanatory signage give full credit to Basil Brown.

Remember this film is NOT a documentary. But rather a drama involving many threads featuring:  Edith’s son and who will care for him when she dies, Edith’s cousin,  a young woman excavator whose uncaring husband turns out to be gay,  Basil’s wife, and others.  World War II also plays a prominent part in the plot.

DO NOT MISS!

2020, Accidental Death, Addiction, Adopted child, Alcoholism, America of the 1960s, Based on a Book, Chess, Could Be Sad, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Drugs, Explicit sexual discussion, Failing Marriage, Fashion, Friendship, Husband leaves wife, Mother-daughter relations, Netflix Streaming, Orphanage, Paris in the 1960s, Redemption, Sexual promiscuity, Unhappy Marriage

The Queen’s Gambit (2020)

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From IMDB:

Orphaned at the tender age of nine, prodigious introvert Beth Harmon discovers and masters the game of chess in 1960s USA. But child stardom comes at a price.

Nine year-old orphan Beth Harmon is quiet, sullen, and by all appearances unremarkable. That is, until she plays her first game of chess. Her senses grow sharper, her thinking clearer, and for the first time in her life she feels herself fully in control. By the age of sixteen, she’s competing for the U.S. Open championship. But as Beth hones her skills on the professional circuit, the stakes get higher, her isolation grows more frightening, and the thought of escape becomes all the more tempting. Based on the book by Walter Tevis.

From Netflix you can stream the 7 episodes of this  remarkable drama. Episodes vary in length from 46 minutes to 67 minutes.

You need not understand anything about chess to appreciate the tension of a chess match and to enjoy this story.  Although there are an awful lot of chess matches and much discussion about the game,  Beth and her personal life remain the center of attention. Watching the obsessive inhabitants of the world of chess can be a revelation. Granted that a person can obsess over just about anything, nonetheless the hold that chess has on some players is remarkable. Indeed that hold is the core of Beth’s ultimate problem: exactly what is her life about?

Anya Taylor-Joy,  the British/Argentine actress who plays Beth, is as perfect for the role as she is beautiful.  When she says “I like clothes”, consider that an understatement.   Where did she get the money for all those clothes?

DO NOT MISS!

 

2017, Acceptable for teenagers, Alzheimer's disease, Amazon Prime, Basically Sad, British, Could Be Hard To Watch, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Flashbacks, Missing Person, Mother-daughter relations, Murder, Mystery Film, PBS Masterpiece Streaming, Police Investigation, Possibly depressing, Wonderful acting

Elizabeth Is Missing (2019)

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From PBS.org:

Returning to television for the first time in nearly three decades, two-time Academy Award®–winner Glenda Jackson stars as a woman desperately trying to solve two mysteries as she declines ever deeper into dementia, in Elizabeth Is Missing, an adaptation of Emma Healey’s acclaimed novel.

From PBS Passport currently you can stream this 1 hour 27 minute film.  Amazon Prime requires that you pay to stream.

Again from PBS.org:

Jackson astounded critics during the UK broadcast of Elizabeth Is Missing in late 2019. “Glenda Jackson shines in this heartrending whodunnit” (The Guardian); “Jackson gave one of the performances of her lifetime” (The Daily Telegraph); “Jackson is remarkable” (The Independent); “a devastatingly real performance” (The Times); “brilliant” (Radio Times).

Glenda Jackson in 2019, when the show first aired, was 83 years old.  She is remembered for her role as Alex Greville in  Sunday Bloody Sunday which was made in 1971 when she was a mere 35 years of age.

Watching   her as Maud Horsham struggle against the onset of Alzheimer’s can be profoundly upsetting.  Some of our friends could not sleep after watching the drama.  “Will this happen to me?”  is a scary question.  Just as real as her studied and accurate performance are the reactions of those who care for her:  her daughter and her grand-daughter.

If you want to see superb acting, DO NOT MISS!

 

2018, Acceptable for teenagers, Action sequences, Alcoholism, Binge worthy, Blackmail, Bloody scenes, Conspiracy, Controlling personality, Dark, DO NOT MISS, Ethical struggles, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Greed, Grim, High school students, MHz Choice, Mother-daughter relations, Murder, Murder Investigation, Norwegian, Norwegian Crime Story, Norwegian Detective, Police Culture, Police Investigation, Police Politics, Possibly upsetting ending, Psychopath, School Teacher, Small Town, Sociopath, Suicide, Suspense, Troubled Personality, Violent

Kieler Street (2018)

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From MHz Choice:

Kieler Street is a fresh and uniquely characterful drama-thriller that deconstructs what it really means to be a “normal” person. Criminal or not, most of us are capable of doing extreme things in our pursuit of a peaceful existence – but just how far are we willing to go? In this acclaimed Norwegian drama, former criminal Jonas has started a new life in Slusvik, Scandinavia’s most peaceful little town. He has it all: a happy family, a great job and the quiet life he always wanted. But when Geir, Jonas’ AA sponsor, cracks his cover, the facade starts falling apart and Jonas realizes he’s not the only one in Slusvik with a secret. And they’re all prepared to do whatever it takes to protect the illusion they have created…

From MHz Choice you can stream the 10 episodes of this Norwegian crime drama. Each episode lasts about 45 minutes.

Be prepared for a very disquieting story.  Should we root for Jonas who, although he supposedly is repentant and wants to reform and have a peaceful life,  is essentially a violent personality?  In addition he is easily led toward his worst impulses by a spectacularly evil psychopath William, who is also leading a second life in Slusvik. It seems that a mysterious company can be paid to give its criminal clients a second life in Slusvik. So you never know which inhabitants of the town are “second lifers.”

Driving the story towards its surprising climax is the question “Will any of these villains get caught?”  Moreover, “Will the wily and smart outside detective Marius learn the truth despite the jealous competition of the amateur and naive  local police officers?”

Would you send me your reaction to the final conclusion?

Enjoy the suspense. DO NOT MISS!

2016, Character Driven, DO NOT MISS, Lawyers, MHz Choice, Norwegian, Norwegian Drama

Aber Bergen (2016)

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From IMDB:

Aber Bergen is an entertaining courtroom drama about the recently separated , but for the time being professional partners, Erik Aber and Elea Bergen. They are two of the country’s sharpest defense attorneys, who together with an unorthodox team lawyers have built up a reputable law firm, where they attempt to balance professional and private as they are thrown between moral, political and legal dilemmas.

From MHz Choice you can stream 3 seasons of this Norwegian character-driven legal drama. Seasons 1 and 2 offer 11 episodes. Season 3 offers 10 episodes. Each of the 32 episodes are a bit less than 45 minutes. In Norwegian with English subtitles.

Trying to list categories for this series is too difficult a task because the long collection of law cases touch on so many aspects of human interaction.  What makes this series memorable is the variety of personalities and how they interact (read that: fight, fall in love, have sex, sue one another, threaten, etc.) No subject thread is boring.

Consider some of the characters. It is clear that Aber and Elea are a close couple that just cannot agree enough to live together. Aber’s best friend and fellow lawyer is blind with a sensitive sense of hearing and smell. Elea’s father is an unscrupulous lawyer in his own firm. There are more than enough “bad guys” to go around including corrupt public figures and law officers. Some characters develop serious illnesses.

Because I had to wait for a new episode of season 3 to arrive each Tuesday, I could not binge-watch. But the wait is over and you can now race through all 3 seasons. Have fun!

DO NOT MISS!

2018, Abduction, Binge worthy, Danish, Danish security authorities, Danish TV series, DO NOT MISS, Drone warfare, Ethical struggles, Government cover-up, MHz Choice, Mother-son relations, Murder, Occasionaly violent, Redemption, Revenge, Romance, Suspense, Swedish, Terrorists, Well developed plot

Grey Zone (2018)

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From IMDB:

Victoria works as an engineer specializing in drones. She is taken hostage in the home of terrorists, while the security police in Sweden, led by SÄPO agent Eva, and the Danish colleagues at PET are trying to prevent an imminent terrorist attack. The destiny of the two women is intertwined in a gray zone where morality and responsibility are put at risk.

From MHz Choice:

Dangerous events are set into motion when a brilliant drone engineer is taken hostage in this high octane Scandinavian thriller. 

From MHz Choice you can stream the 10 episodes of this one season Danish thriller. Each episode lasts 44 minutes. English subtitles are provided.

Victoria and her son Oscar are lured into being taken targeted hostages by Lyad, a decent man turned into a terrorist because an American drone killed Lyad’s wife and son.  Victoria is being forced into programming and launching a bomb carrying drone attack on a populated target. Victoria is clever and finds a way to notify the security police who convince her to carry on so that the details and location of the bomb, drone, and target can be discovered.

As a secondary theme,  the almost unscrupulous methods used by the “good guys” ( the state security apparatus) are examined.  Jesper Lassen is devastated when a  close friend and informer is murdered while helping the authorities.  As Henry Kissinger would probably say “What difference does collateral damage make, as long as I achieve my political goals?”

Whereas I had to anxiously wait week after week for the next installment, now (Nov 11, 2020) you can binge watch all 10 episodes.

 DO NOT MISS!