178. Web-Series Reviews – 33

More web-series reviews….

The Servant – What more can be said other than that, this is a series by Manoj Night Shyamalan😊!!  2 seasons of 10 episodes each with half hour duration, has been released till 2020.  2 more seasons of 10 episodes each in the pipeline.

Synopsis from Wikipedia…

A wealthy Philadelphia couple Dorothy and Sean Turner experience a fracture in their marriage after the death of their thirteen-week-old son, Jericho. The couple undergoes transitory object therapy using a life-like reborn doll after Dorothy experiences a full psychotic break. The doll, which Dorothy believes is her real child, was the only thing that brought her out of a catatonic state following Jericho's death. Six weeks after the death they hire a young nanny, Leanne, to move in and take care of Jericho, the reborn doll, opening their home to a "mysterious force". While Sean deals with the grief on his own, he becomes deeply suspicious of Leanne.

A good series filled with suspense and supernatural elements😊

The Pembrokeshire murders – The Pembrokeshire Murders is a British three-part television drama miniseries, based on the Pembrokeshire murders by Welsh serial killer John Cooper. In 2006, newly promoted Detective Superintendent Steve Wilkins decided to reopen two unsolved 1980s murder cases linked with a string of burglaries.

Review from The Guardian…

In the opening scenes of The Pembrokeshire Murders (ITV), Det Supt Steve Wilkins (Luke Evans) folds a dishcloth with the kind of precision that suggests he is a Good Detective, while hinting that he would be a nightmare to live with. It is a good symbol of the kind of neat, compact drama that will follow, which relies on forensic detail and expertly honed instincts. The three-parter is based on the real-life investigation into the killing of Peter and Gwenda Dixon, the couple robbed and shot dead while walking on a coastal path in Pembrokeshire in 1989. It took two decades for the culprit to be brought to justice, and this is an elegant retelling of how it happened.

Viewers seem to devour dramas about true-life killings. Less competent entries into the genre can wade through murky waters, particularly in terms of whether it is decent, or not, to delve into the stories of those whose relatives are still alive. But to my mind, The Pembrokeshire Murders is a perfect example of how to do it well. It is sensitive when it needs to be, and never loses sight of who suffered. Ultimately, it is about how the victims were given justice, no matter how long it took, and of the painstaking, precise detective work involved.

Excellent series!!

Efterforskningen (The investigation) – Danish series in 6 parts totaling to about 4.5 hours! Even though this is a series on a brutal murder, there are no blood scenes, perpetrator is not shown and even the victim’s body is not shown!!

From Hollywood Reporter…

The 2017 murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall seized the world’s attention, likely for two reasons. The first is the mix of gruesome and unexpected details of her killing at the hands of Peter Madsen, a Danish inventor who invited Wall into his homemade submarine under the pretense of an interview before dismembering her body and disposing of it in the bay between Denmark and Sweden. The second is that Wall was a promising young woman — a worldly and accomplished 30-year-old who was planning an imminent move to China — whose light was extinguished by a violent misogynist when she was only trying to do her job. She saw herself as a teller of truths. He only saw her as a target.

Review from The Guardian…

The Investigation (BBC Two) has been an elegant series about an ugly crime. Over six sombre, sober episodes, it told the story of the Copenhagen police investigation into what became known as “the submarine case” – the killing of journalist Kim Wall, who disappeared after going to interview a man who built a homemade vessel. It declines to name the killer, a decision that never sits awkwardly, and the gesture is an indication of the respect the series maintains. It is not about glorifying or commemorating the criminal. It is about how he was brought to justice for his crimes.

Within minutes of the first episode, the suspect is arrested and charged with murder, so – much like ITV’s recent hit The Pembrokeshire Murders – it is not a whodunnit but rather a puzzle to be solved, at what I imagine is a realistically frustrating pace. Even by the fifth episode, Wall’s parents cannot understand why they know as little as they do; the forensic report cannot definitively state the cause of death. Much of The Investigation’s drama hinges on precision and detail, as well as the intricacies of the Danish legal system.

The dour head of homicide, Jens Moller (Soren Malling), and chief prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen (Pilou Asbæk) must between them prove beyond reasonable doubt that Wall was murdered. This means ruling out an accident and suicide, and establishing a motive, which is less straightforward than it first appears. Over the four preceding episodes, the evidence has been amassing, but Buch-Jepsen is able to pick holes in all of it. The case must be utterly solid, and the killer’s fantastical and shifting accounts of what happened disproved.

For all of its clinical detail, it is poetically shot. Long scenes unfold without dialogue, ushered along by mournful music, and the killer is only ever a spectral, pathetic presence, changing and twisting his story as more evidence emerges. This, we are told, is his right and does not implicate him. No matter how convincing the circumstantial evidence may be, it is concrete proof that the prosecutor will need. A cause of death would make a conviction all but certain, but given the gruesome events of the murder, it is far from guaranteed.

Excellent series!!  Cheers till next time!!

Today’s Observation

People are running around in circles these days trying to make ends meet! 😊