405. Web-series Reviews – 220

More web-series reviews…

Dupahiya – Came out in 2025.  A village prepares for its 25th anniversary of being crime-free when a prized motorbike vanishes. With a jubilee trophy, wedding, and town pride at risk, a frantic search to recover the bike before it's too late ensues.

A review from IMDB...

If there's one thing that's hard for Dupahiya to escape, it's the massive shadow of Panchayat. Let's face it, Panchayat was a game-changer. It set a gold standard for rural-based comedy dramas, and the expectations from any new show trying to do something similar are bound to be sky-high.

Dupahiya, steps into this territory with a story set in the small village and honestly, it gives off Panchayat vibes in the first few minutes. The slow-paced, village-life charm, the ensemble cast, the small-town dynamics, it all feels familiar. But it's also quite different in its own right. It has a slightly more comedic, lighter tone, especially with its plot being more focused on the villagers' ridiculous, yet endearing, antics rather than the deeper, more grounded storytelling of Panchayat. The show does have moments where you think it could veer into that Panchayat-style emotional depth, but it stops short and keeps things breezy.

That said, the show does stumble in some areas. Take the entire subplot of getting the bike from Pintu bhai. Sure, it's meant to add some humor and build the tension, but it just feels unnecessarily prolonged. By the time the bike situation is resolved, you're not laughing as much as you're wondering why it took so long. The whole ordeal with Pintu bhai could've been trimmed down, and the story might've moved at a better pace.

This one bit where the characters dress up as women for a dance performance. It's clearly just there for laughs, but honestly, it feels a bit forced. It's the kind of humor that feels like the writers are trying too hard to push in that "random" comedy that we've all seen in countless shows.

However, It's a light, fun show with a good heart, and it ends on a solid note, which is a huge plus. The conclusion definitely shows that the creators know where they're going with the story, and it gives you hope that future episodes could be better.

As for the acting, the cast does a decent job, but Gajraj Rao, who plays the Jha family head, doesn't really seem to shine here. His performance felt a bit off, or maybe it was the plot that didn't give him enough room to flex his acting chops.

There's definitely potential here for the show. It's not Panchayat, but it's got a unique flavor of its own. For now, it's an enjoyable watch, but whether it can carve out a lasting legacy is something we will have wait and see.

My Take – A definite watch!

 

A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story – Came out in 2025. Follows the story of Ruth Ellis: her lifestyle as a young nightclub manageress, her violent relationship with the man she then killed in cold blood, her arrest, trial, and subsequent legal battle to get her release before she was hanged.

A review from IMDB...

I'm old enough to remember capital punishment and well remember the Christie case of 10 Rillington Place because it was so horrific. I can't remember the Ruth Ellis case though but may have just forgotten it. Christie deserved to be executed but Ellis probably not. What bothered me watching this mini series, starring Lucy Boynton as Ellis, highlighted for me how little discrimination there was between the two killers I've mentioned. If found guilty, they were hanged, regardless of the obvious differences in their motives. Ellis' was a crime of passion and caused her to lose control, whereas Christie was just evil. The Ellis case helped to end our barbaric sentencing procedure and blanket death sentences.

To the series, Lucy does a fair job of portraying Ruth although I thought she was a bit posh. Ellis was Welsh and the accent seemed wrong. Toby Jones I love to watch in anything as his mastery of the camera is always a joy. Nigel Havers pops up playing his own grandfather, Cecil, who had to sentence Ruth. Nigel has said that his grandfather was upset with this case and tried unsuccessfully to have it overturned.

Ruth murdered her lover David, by shooting him at close range four times as he came out of a pub. The series shows their relationship and subsequent turn of events. I do wish that current casting didn't distort history as we know Ruth's prison warden was not as shown in the series.

It kept me watching in spite of knowing the outcome, mainly because I like the leading actors and the directing was good.

My Take – An ok watch!

 

Marianne – Came out in 2019.  Emma, a famous and successful French horror writer, is forced to return to her hometown after the woman who haunted her dreams fifteen years ago begins to re-appear. The work she writes is apparently a work of fiction, but how much is fact?

A review from IMDB...

Marianne is supposed to be what? A horror, pitch-dark comedy, character study? Which one or all of the three?

Started as a horror with the first two-three episodes being promising, interesting, directly frightening, having focused sense, but, unfortunately, it wandered off very fast, taking pace in the course of the next five episodes before crashing full-speed into a wall of picturesque and inner fears.

Watched the original French version, so I got first-hand account of it without translation. It was an interesting experience but not enough to cover the weak script and plot holes, if any rational plot existed at all.

Its main problem is it relies on sets of pictures, events, music instead of a strong script. It jumps back and forth between horror, fear, some comic relief throughout and senselessness with the use of a damned hole so dear to the writers!

It has beautiful cinematography, mostly due to the real harbour town named Doelan; Elden in the show.

Despite some viewers' criticizing reviews on the lead character Emma, tagging her as obnoxious and pretentious, I actually liked her acting and in my opinion was one of the strength and point of interest of the show. Her play was good and her talking & voice on par with the atmosphere of the show. On a side note, would have liked to see more of her friend Camille in all the episodes. She had that gentle and vulnerable character that could have helped her with more screen presence and a stronger role by Emma's side in the series.

An overall good, yet a little weak show with nice touches of French way of thinking, definitely not enough to instillate mindless fears into the viewer's gut.

P.S. Prepare yourself for the final episode as some very interesting moments happen in it, putting a conclusion to the evil Marianne until she returns back!

My Take – An ok watch!

 

Adios till next time😊!!