333. Web-series Reviews – 156

More web-series reviews…

Vigil 2^nd Season – 2nd season came out in 2024.  The mysterious disappearance of a Scottish fishing trawler and a death on-board a Trident nuclear submarine bring the police into conflict with the Navy and British security services. DCI Amy Silva leads an investigation on land and at sea into a conspiracy that threatens the very heart of Britain's nuclear deterrent.

One of the reviews from IMDB...

While S1 was a decent crime/drama series, S2 starts off like a joke and continue in the same dreadful manner.

Unfortunately, a very poor sequel. Story is poor, script is even poorer, acting is terrible and everything is just very low budget, low quality.

And what about the country Wudyan? I thought we had stopped using made up countries? Last time I heard something similar was in Tintin and the Picaros in 1976.

It is a shame that the execution is not good enough since the basic idea of a political thriller is quite good albeit not unique. But the concept of the Scottish police solving international crises on an ongoing basis is quite far-fetched.

My Take – An ok series. 1st was very good!

 

Mr & Mrs Murder – Came out on 2013.  The series follows the adventures of married couple Nicola and Charlie Buchanan, who run an industrial cleaning business while solving the most baffling murder mysteries.

One of the reviews from IMDB...

"Mr. And Mrs. Murder" is a pleasant enough series, if you can get past the silly premise. Another entry in the by-now-rather-tired "Civilians Who Are Better At Police Work Than The Police" genre - you know, where the main characters have full-time private sector jobs that in actuality would keep them much too busy to do anything else, if they *did* their jobs instead of spending most of their time playing amateur detective - this one offers as said civilians Charlie and Nicola Buchanan, a husband and wife team of industrial cleaners who specialize in crime scenes. Hired to tidy up murder locales and restore them to normal well after the police forensic team has already gone over everything, they are inexplicably able to turn up all sorts of physical evidence and background facts that the real detectives somehow overlooked or conveniently didn't follow up on. And, of course, they wind up solving the cases. Yeah. Right....

We're talking well-trodden ground here, in the tradition of "Murder, She Wrote", "Rosemary And Thyme", "Father Brown", etc. The writing is actually decent though and does a good job of avoiding clichés, and the mysteries are pretty original and manage to hold some surprises. But the premise just becomes more and more absurd as the episodes progress and we watch our protagonists - whose job, I will point out again, is to CLEAN - staging re-enactments, following and/or questioning suspects, conducting unauthorized searches of private property (usually after gaining access under false pretenses), and in general demonstrating an almost pathologically obsessive preoccupation with matters completely outside their professional jurisdiction. One begins to wonder: If they really enjoy detective work so much, why not just *become* private investigators already?

One might also wonder whether anyone in the local constabulary ever takes any initiative at all in trying to uncover the truth behind the crimes, because it certainly never seems like that's the case. In the other series mentioned above the police are portrayed as capable, or at least functional, but in this show the only detective we ever see reports to the Buchanans to share confidential info and get updates and instructions, almost as if he is working under their supervision rather than the other way around.

Shaun Micallef and Kat Stewart do have a very good chemistry as the leads, even if their characters are always a little too "on" and their banter a little formulaic. Potentially more fun are Jonny Pasvolsky as the couple's nice-guy police contact/friend and Lucy Honigman as the reluctant niece who gets dragged into their shenanigans. It would be nice if the two of them got more screen time and more to do.

I suppose for some the show will pass muster as a disposable diversion, but I'm now just halfway through the first and only season and I find myself losing interest. I'm still not sure if I will watch all the remaining episodes. Grade: B-.

My take – Watched 3-4 episodes and lost interest😊!  Started off well for 2 episodes and then felt repetitive.

 

Killer Soup – Came out in 2024. The Soup web series is about the story of Swathi Shetty &Prabhakar. Swathi is an unskilled cook who wants to open a restaurant of her own someday. Prabhakar is her doubtful husband who won't help with her dreams and has doubts of his own. Soon fate gives her an occasion and she starts to cook up a master plan.

A review from IMDB...

Killer Soup, an eight course delectable experience, served up by Netflix is a concoction of dark humor and mystery. The show will leave you satisfied and uneasy in equal measure.

Swathi a novice cook with dubious cooking skills and equally questionable morals finds herself in literal pickle when her misadventures with her husband's (Prabhar) doppelganger Umesh goes awry. Prabhakar's discovery of Swathi's affair also leads to his demise, upon which Swathi decides to swap him for Umesh with slight adjustment to Umesh's configurations. How the two then try to fulfill their ambitions while at the same time attempt to cover their tracks fraught with moral and ethical dilemmas serves as the basic premise of the series.

The show is replete with stellar performances from the cast. Konkona Sen Sharma immaculately portrays the desperation and wickedness of Swathi. Manoj Bajpayee is in his usual best masterfully depicting the brashness of Prabhakar and excels as a loyalty laden partner in crime Umesh. Sayaji Shinde shines as an arrogant, foul mouthed patriarch with little clue as to what his sister in law and daughter are brewing.

The series ably keeps the viewers guessing regarding what will transpire. However, like a cook in haste, it does muck up a few details. Some of the progression, especially that of Inspector Hassan seem quite convenient. The constant appearance of Thupalli as a guiding voice of Hassan will ultimately get to your nerves.

Overall, Killer Soup is a worthwhile mix of thrill, dark humor and mystery. It does become a slow simmer on a couple of occasions but you will be satiated in the end. It may not be everybody's cup of tea but will delight any dark humor connoisseurs.

My Take – An ok watch!

Cheers till next time😊!