420. Web-series Reviews – 228

More web-series reviews…

Astrid et Raphaelle – Running from 2019. Astrid Nielsen, an autistic woman, works in the archives of the judicial police. She has an incredible memory, so she is very useful in analyzing the files for ongoing investigations. A district commander, having noticed Astrid's ability, decides to use it to the fullest, entrusting her with very complex investigations which have remained unsolved to date. In addition, also to reciprocate, she will try to help Astrid on the behavioral side, in order to provide mutual help.

A review from IMDb...

The most amazing thing about this show is the portrayal of autism, in the character Astrid.

It's an astoundingly convincing performance, and an astoundingly convincing script.

Everyone must fall in love with Astrid, with her simplicity, her vulnerability, and her persistence in the face of tremendous challenges. She captures the innocence and joy of a child as an adult.

Around this character is an ongoing love between Astrid and Raphaelle, who work together as detectives on homicides. Astrid is Sherlock Holmes to Raphaelle's smarter, more competent version of Watson. The affection between these two women deserves a canonical place in cinema, where a focus on supportive, loving friendships between women as the central spring of a plot is not common.

There is also a moving love story as Astrid negotiates her first love affair. The love story though serves to throw Astrid's relationship with Raphaelle into relief, rather than supplanting it.

Each episode is a complete murder mystery. The mysteries are taken seriously, but they have a comic book element, with plot elements that are magical and unusual out of a fantasy adventure for children, yet always end up with a rational realist explanation. The adventures have something of the wonderful French "bande dessinee" adult comic book novels. This adds a lot of fun.

As mystery stories, fitting the complex plots and lines of investigation into 53 minutes is a shoehorn job. A lot of the story is told in summary by characters. Often repeat characters turn out to have special knowledge or abilities exactly as needed for the plot, in coincidences that beg credulity. But this convention us allows to stay in touch with some endearing repeat characters and also moves the plot along quickly to a swift conclusion. It fits the comic book flavor. The investigations themselves are fun as adventures, and have plenty of red herrings and plot twists, but are not the most convincing crime plots.

It's also often laugh out loud funny. The show finds humor in Astrid's adaptation to life always laughing with her. Astrid herself tackles difficulties like understanding figures of speech and making jokes.

All the actors manage to give performances that are at the same time exaggerated and bigger than life, and completely credible. Lola Dewaere and Sara Mortensen do outstanding jobs. Sara Mortensen has a very challenging role and gives a gold medal olympic performance, avoiding any mechanicality in the role.

The episodes often deal with social issues in a progressive way, which gives them three dimensionality and relevance apart from the discussion of autism.

Altogether, this is one of the most moving and fun tv series from any country.

Season 5 moves from standard policier genre into comic book territory. Tremendously fun and some hilarious episodes. More intense focus on the human dilemmas faced by Astrid and Raphaelle and their mutual support. Even deeper performances by Martensen that rank with the best actors. The script is inspired.

Because the mysteries are solved within one 50m episode the detective story is often abbreviated with key developments happening offscreen and being reported to bring a quick resolution. The stories are still intriguing. The focus is more on the personal interactions and reactions to dramatic events. Astrid often seems to be an incarnation of Holmes and follows in a tradition of detectives with psychological challenges like Tony Shahloub's Monk and Robson Green's Tony in Wire in the Blood, both excellent shows. This show explores more deeply though the presentation of Astrid's affect.

The show also explores important themes of our time including political injustices with a courageous open heart spreading the good word and adding emotional reverbations.

I also like the 2025 UK version Patience but it is not in the same class as this show. It's a couple of notches down in writing performance and production values. I assume this is not due to the capabilities of the filmmakers but the business exigencies and resources available as well as what the target audience wants. Anyone who likes that show might want to check out the French original.

My Take – An absolute delight! Watched all the 5 seasons!

 

Patience – Came in 2025. UK version of Astrid series mentioned above. Two worlds are about to collide: Patience Evans, a young autistic woman, works in a clerical role, in the basement of the City of York police station, filing investigation records. She is an enigma; a profoundly intelligent, self-taught criminologist, able to spot clues that others simply do not see. Yet her talents go unnoticed. A chance meeting with Detective Inspector Bea Metcalf opens a door into a whole new world for her. Bea can see potential in Patience and her innate deductive skills, as well as the similarities she shares with her own son Alfie. Together, Bea and Patience form an unlikely but brilliant team for solving the most complex of murders committed within the historic city of York.

A review from IMDb...

In a world where the superb Franco-Belgian series "Astrid et Raphaelle" (2019; IMDb ID tt11950864) wouldn't exist, Patience would be a decent effort, meriting perhaps 6/10 or 7/10. However, we live in a world where (thankfully) the original series "Astrid et Raphaelle" does exist. I would strongly recommend anyone who plans to watch Patience to watch "Astrid et Raphaelle" instead.

In "Astrid et Raphaelle", Astrid is the main character and her autism and journey to interacting more easily with "normies" is the red thread through the (40+ so far) episodes. This is a slow process for which we get a first-row seat. Also, the actress playing Astrid is absolutely outstanding and you really feel empathy towards her, you root for her and are occasionally left with a lump in your throat.

By contrast, in Patience everything feels hurried. In only six episodes Patience/Astrid starts to smile, hugs a kid and kisses a man, more or less "just like that". No slow, shared journey with insights into Astrid's inner being. Patience/Astrid is barely the main character, which is odd since the series is named after her. It feels that the rush causes Patience/Astrid to be used as a deus ex machina more than a character - the bringer of missing links just in time to catch the culprit. On top of that, the story lines are recycled from the original series as well. All in all, Patience feels like a rushed and lazy series.

PS: One of the episodes of Patience features a character called Peter Venkman. Surely, this must be a conscious reference to Bill Murray's character in Ghostbusters... 😊

My Take – An ok watch! Watch this before watching Astrid else you will not like this😊!

 

Fred & Rose West: A Brirish Horror Story – Came in 2025.  Recently discovered police recordings and first-person accounts tell the story of Fred and Rose West, two of the UK's most prolific murderers.

A review from IMDb...

I have been waiting for this case to be brought into the modern documentary world. However, sadly I was disappointed. For those who are hearing about this case for the first time and the details around it, you are surely confused. The story about Fred and Rose West and their so called family is a horror show. A pedophile falls in love with a fifteen year old girl who have a long history of abuse, they form an attachment and the nightmare begins.

What is so disappointing in this documentary is the lack of details around the case. We don't get to hear about Fred's upbringing and what led him to commit these acts. We don't get the details of Fred and Rose's relationship and how it specifically unfolded. We don't get Rose's backstory and how she potentially decided to be with a much older Fred. What horrors did she endure in her childhood to explain her sadistic tendencies? We do get a short sentence that says she was abused, but that is basically it. The background is essential to understand their behaviour and to see the power dynamics. Once the pair have settled and started their relationship I would have wanted to know more about the horrors inside the house. We get short snippets, for example, that Fred touched the young daughters of the house and that Rose had male visitors coming over. However, all of it seems rushed and we don't get the full scope, which is such a shame and a missed opportunity.

Another example of the rushed storyline is when the former nanny explained her abuse and kidnapping. She explains the kidnapping of how Rose and Fred approach her in their car as she is hitchhiking, it then cuts to her simply explaining passing out. She then wakes up in the house gagged and bound and "that's when the abuse started". The end. I hoped the story would circle back to the nanny's horrible story in the final episode but it only speaks to the witness bravery (rightfully so), but the show really skipped important details. This in my mind, was the turning point when we got to hear about Rose and her involvement in the abuse and they skipped all of it. As the crime fanatic that I am, I'm all for the details. Of course there is no need to describe specifics of an abuse in respect to the victim, but details such as who took charge? In what way did they abuse? For how long? Did she get beaten? Etc etc. And also, how did she escape? What did she say? There was so much missing to the story.

I do still recommend watching this series as it is an important case, but it leaves a lot to be desired...

My Take – Worth a watch!

Adios till next time😊!!