400. Web-series Reviews – 215

More web-series reviews…

Greyzone – Came in 2018.  Victoria works as an engineer specializing in drones. She is taken hostage in the home of terrorists, while the security police in Sweden, led by SÄPO agent Eva, and the Danish colleagues at PET are trying to prevent an imminent terrorist attack. The destiny of the two women is intertwined in a gray zone where morality and responsibility are put at risk.

A review from IMDB...

Greyzone explores the idea that between right and wrong, good and evil, there is a place of conflict and confusion where the wires cross and the lines blur. We are taken on a thrilling journey with Victoria that keeps us gripped to the edge of our seats and asks us a few moral questions along the way. Throughout the course of 10 episodes we follow the story from the perspectives of Eva and Jesper, two agents working to gather intelligence and Victoria, a single mother held hostage and forced to carry out a series of tasks that ultimately arm the terrorists with a working weapon.

The series packs enough twists and turns in to make full use of every instalment and the early episodes do a good job in moving the narrative forward quickly, without too much time spent setting things up. In the first scene, Eva finds herself in a shootout in the back of a lorry which leaves us with a dead border guard, a wounded runaway and an abandoned military grade missile. However, despite an action packed opening sequence the Hollywood shoot-outs and big budget chase scenes are used sparing throughout the series. Greyzone focuses less on the all-guns-blazing action thriller model and instead relies heavily on a brilliantly executed series of suspenseful twists and turns that keep us intensely engaged in the plight of each character. Although it didn't feel as if the action sequences were missing it would've been nice to see the legal speed limit broken occasionally during some of the slowest pursuits I've ever seen. But maybe that's a bit picky.

Perhaps the greatest weapon in this series is Birgitte Hjort Sørensen's performance as Victoria. She goes through it all, from incredibly believable panic attacks and raging outbursts of anger to moments of fragility, hopelessness and fear. Victoria experiences just about every emotion there is during her ordeal and Greyzone needs you to feel it all. Sörensen's outstanding ability to make you feel every emotion of her character is amazing and if you don't find your heart racing or your jaw dropped regularly throughout the series then you're probably not human.

Ardalan Esmaili co-stars as Victoria's captor, Ilyad and rises to meet the monumental challenge of matching Sørensen's performance in some of the most moving and memorable scenes. It is their chemistry that defines the success of the series and his portrayal of an angry and conflicted character with a believable and touching backstory turns what could've been a simple and predictable story into one that asks questions of its audience and gives us something that feels fresh, exciting and unpredictable.

There are some seemingly pointless sidesteps into additional storylines involving Victoria's ex-husband and mother, Eva's daughter, Jesper's previous relations and even a half-hearted stab at exposing some high-level corruption but all of that felt largely meaningless and the series might've benefited from trimming some of the fat. That said, some of it served to paint a more rounded picture of each character and although it did slow the pace of things a little, I suppose it gave us a chance to steel ourselves for the next big moment.

All in all, prepare for an intelligent and intense thriller that explores espionage, extremism and Stockholm syndrome with a smorgasbord of emotions to boot.

My Take – A very good series!

 

Zero Day – Came in 2025.  In the midst of crisis: how can we discover the truth when it seems that the world is being destroyed by uncontrollable forces? Also, to what extent are conspiracy theories our own inventions or products of our imagination?

A review from IMDB...

The series has a strong cast, solid cinematography, and a clear objective. However, the real problem was the script. It was written by someone who understands neither politics, cybersecurity, nor even basic common sense.

For starters, a former president does not receive daily briefings, nor does he go jogging without security-just one of many unrealistic details. The formation of the commission was an interesting plot point, but having the daughter oversee her own father? Completely ridiculous. That's a conflict of interest that no nation would allow.

The hacking storyline also made little sense. They claimed it could penetrate industrial devices, which typically have read-only programming with no write capabilities-highly unrealistic. And apparently, power plants don't exist in this world. If the power goes out, even in government buildings, there seems to be no analog backup system. Completely detached from reality-especially considering that even farms in poorer countries have diesel generators.

Clark Gregg's role was unclear, but I'll forgive it because he'll always be Coulson in our hearts. That said, he wasn't convincing as a villain. Speaking of villains, there were too many-some Russian, some from the government, and others with no clear motive. I get that it's an anonymous hacker network, but instead of adding intrigue, it just muddled the plot.

And then there are the little details that just make no sense. Is the daughter a drug addict or not? They never make it clear. The radio just happened to be left on the exact frequency they needed? When Robert had the chance to use it, he didn't even speak in code? These things completely break immersion.

On the acting side, Dan Stevens did a fantastic job-I genuinely hated his character, which means he nailed it. On the other hand, Gaby Hoffmann as Monica Kidde was not believable as a tech billionaire. Her role was clear in the plot, but her character arc didn't really develop in a satisfying way.

Angela Bassett struggled to make the president role work, but honestly, the script was so bad that not even her talent could save it.

Honestly, I could keep listing details all night. Final verdict: 6/10. It was entertaining, but I wouldn't watch it again-or anything else written by these screenwriters who managed to ruin something with so much potential.

My Take – Worth a watch for Robert De Niro!

 

Unforgotten – Season 6 came in 2025. When the body of a young man is discovered in a derelict building, Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Cassie Stuart is called in to investigate with her partner, Detective Sergeant (DS) Sunil "Sunny" Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar). Jimmy Sullivan was a homeless runaway, murdered in 1976 when the building was a hostel. His diary implicates four suspects: a clergyman, an eminent entrepreneur, a community worker, and a disabled house-bound husband caring for his wife. Each has a secret to hide. As their lies unravel, the people they love most begin to wonder what else they might be capable of. Nothing in this case is black and white. Can you ever really know the people closest to you? What secrets have they buried?

A review from IMDB...

Unforgtotten was a solid police drama about a police department investigating cold cases.

Nicola Walker was excellent and worked well with Sanjeev Bhaskar. Walker is now gone and Bhaskar is the main cop along with a new boss played by Sinead Keenan.

So now in Series 6, the acting is all good but oh dear oh dear how the writing has become so incredibly cliched and progressive.

A solid cold case to investigate, instead of concentrating on that, the writers see this as a vehicle to preach to the viewer about all their favourite social issues.

Here are some of what they managed to crowbar in :

What a disaster Brexit was and how anyone who voted for it was stupid.

A young autistic man radicalised to be far-right on the internet.

Said young man told his elderly parents not to get vaccinated against Covid and thus his father died of Covid 2 weeks later.

It is not illegal to cross the channel however you want to.

The betrayal of Afghan interpreters by the UK government.

Refugees are wonderful kind people facing terrible racism every day.

A not so subtle dig at populist news outlets - GB news style.

I could probably name a dozen other things but you get the general idea. It is so trite and tiresome that so many once loved TV shows get treated like this - Doctor Who being the most obvious, but even similar shows to Unforgotten like Silent Witness have fallen to this.

What a shame for a once great series.

My Take – Still worth a watch!

Adios till next time😊!!