stairways
The. Best. TV. Detective show/short drama. Ever. Stunning script. Flawless, moving acting, beautiful cinematography. Humour and heartbreak. Exceptional. Nothing else comes close. Watch it. Then watch it again
AnnabellaWilliam
I honestly disliked every moment of this mini-series and sincerely regretted the time I spent watching it. That said, once I start something I have to finish it, so I watched every episode, hoping for a climax that never came.The plot was very slow to develop, and because of this every episode felt like a drag and never gripped me - the same applies to the subplot. The depressing overtones only made the show even less enjoyable to watch, and the character development never felt interesting; River just got more bizarre and Stevie's story played out somewhat predictably. I wasn't impressed by the acting either; Skarsgård's performance lacked emotion and Walker was just plain irritating throughout. The idea that an obviously burnt-out psychotic police officer would be allowed to roam the streets obliviously talking to himself and attacking people, let alone handle an investigation into the murder of his partner, is quite frankly ludicrous. On top of this, the "manifestation" scenes were so poorly acted out that I almost gave up on the show within the first few episodes. I wish I had.While I liked the twist, I felt like it wasn't written out and portrayed well enough to be thrilling and interesting. It kind of felt like, "oh, was that it?", but I have no doubt that if this was depicted differently or with different actors it would been shocking and gripping.The conclusion of everything was wholly unfulfilling and lacked meaning.
Labriut8
The plot was an interesting premise and the acting was very good but each episode was more depressing than the prior one. I kept watching expecting it to get better based on the really high reviews but it just didn't. John River was the most morose lunatic yet remained employed!?!? The action and story line developed very slowly and I found that extremely tedious. But the long lingering close ups of the depressed lead character really made it difficult to watch. Having sat through all six episodes I can only say I regret the waste of time. Netflix viewers gave it one star -- I will give more credence to their reviews in the future.
