362. Web-series Reviews – 177

More web-series reviews…

After the Flood – Came out in 2024.  Joanna finds an unidentified man dead in a lift in a underground car park after a devastating flood, police assumes that he became trapped as the waters rose, but she is obsessed with discovering what happened to him.

A review from IMDB...

I must admit I didn't have very high hopes for this latest 6-part cop-drama from ITV but I found the longer it went the better it got. It starts with a massive flood in a fictitious Yorkshire town. Very pregnant policewoman Joanna Marshall, played by Sarah Rundle, is keen to become a detective, but meanwhile has quite the day while out in unform, first of all helping to save a young baby who's fallen into the fast-flowing floodwater, although she's greatly helped in this by a mystery man who unflinchingly dives headlong into the torrent. She then later stumbles upon a dead man in a car-park lift who it soon becomes obvious wasn't a victim of the flood but was murdered beforehand and placed there to make it look like he was.

Jo's dad was in CID and she's now married to Pat, already a qualified detective so detection is in her blood and so it proves as she Miss Marples her way onto the trail of the dead man which soon spirals outwards to take in two faked suicides, political and police corruption, smuggling, environmental abuse and much more besides.

To get to the bottom of all this she's thrown together with the attitudinal younger sister of the dead man, who rushes over from France to uncover the truth about her brother's death, while also having to contend with the in-laws from hell who her husband takes into their marital home after the flood makes them temporarily homeless.

 

I was impressed by the recreation of the flood itself in the neighbourhood and especially the baby-rescue at the beginning, but my interest was sustained afterwards in an extensively plotted narrative with many twists and turns along the way leading to an enigmatically engineered ending.

Rundle trundles (sorry, couldn't resist it) her way effectively through the morass of red herrings strewn her way and does a good job of carrying the story along as the lead. She gets excellent support from good, solid actors like Philip Glenister, Lorraine Ashbourne, Nicholas Gleaves and Jonas Armstrong who I fondly remember as an earlier incarnation of Robin Hood some years ago.

With a healthy dose of earthy humour thrown in for good measure and a surprising twist-reveal in the climactic episode, this was an above-average police procedural and in my book was certainly better than the much-hyped recent series of "Happy Valley".

My Take – Worth a watch!

Murder in Mahim – Came out in 2024.  Police officer Shivajirao Jende and his friend, Retired journalist Peter Fernandes plunge into a murder investigation in Mumbai's underbelly. In a thrilling tale adapted from Jerry Pinto's critically acclaimed book, they uncover secrets of desire, greed, despair and also confront the shadows of their long lost friendship.

A review from IMDB...

Based on a book by Jerry Pinto who incidentally was my teacher in school 🙂, Murder in Mahim starts off well with the brutal murder of a gay prostitute in a toilet inside Mahim station. As the body count increases, Inspector Jende ( Vijay Raaz ) is forced to forge an alliance with his estranged friend and retired reporter Peter Fernandes ( Ashutosh Rane) to piece together the clues and solve the mystery. Helping Jende in this case is rookie inspector Rabbani ( Shivani Raghuvanshi).

I have mixed feelings about this web series. The casting is spot on with Ashutosh Rana , Vijay Raaz & Shivani Raghuvanshi getting into the skin of their individual characters and performing well overall.

There are two storylines which run in parallel .The first one is the murder mystery which is very engaging. The second one is about challenges faced by the LGBT community in India. This gets a bit peachy & results in the narrative slowing down intermittently and digressing from the main plot . A tighter script coupled with crisp editing would have definitely made a stronger impact and conveyed both storylines more effectively.

To cut the makers some slack , the narrative which slows down somewhere in the middle quickly picks up pace in the last three episodes resulting in a decently showcased climax!!

Even with its shortcomings.. Murder in Mahim is a decent one time watch!! Had the potential to be much better though ... Some points to ponder for the makers if they plan a sequel in future!!

Going with 3/5 for this one .. Adios 🙂!!

My Take – Worth a watch for the leads Ashutosh Rana and Vijay Raaz.

 

Undekhi – 3rd Season came out in 2024.  A  dancer is killed in a fit of rage at the wedding of the scion of the Atwal family. A cop comes looking for the same girl, while a film making team wants to expose the Atwals for their heinous crime. The Atwals will go to any lengths to remove the pawns who come in their way and to keep the real operations of their pharmaceutical business partners, Azra-Esher under wraps.

A review from IMDB...

I binged all 3 seasons in 1 go... S1-Banger..The crime, cover up of crime and police especially DSP There was thrill and lot of engagement...no moment to skip..Fast paced

S2- Slightly slow paced but still it was thrilling and suspenseful...The new characters were impactful...The ending set the tone for Season 3

S3- Another banger, Showed the past and connected it with the current time really well...Thrilling and even paced...

All seasons have last 2 episodes full of thrill, excitement and the masala Acting bomb-Surya Sharma,Harsh Chaya , Anchal Singh ,Dibyendu Bhattacharya. Nandish Sandhu and many more nailed their roles

The characters are iconic whether be Rinku Paaji, PapaJi ,Teji , Daman , DSP Ghosh , Samarth , Lucky , Koyal etc.

Camera work, Locations ,BGM is superb Fortunately till S3 all the things are in control and well directed Hopefully S4 would be the last of this epic Web series

This series is based on real events and it doesn't mean to glorify the killings and murders but it shows the reality that how powerful corrupt people control and cover their crimes

WARNING-Don't watch with the family, Abuses every minute and few intimate scenes... THE LAST 2 EPISODES OF EVERY SEASON IS AAG This series enters into my favorite must match series list.

My Take – Worth a watch!

Adios till next time😊!