I'd read quite good things about this so thought I'd give the first feature length episode a go.
In summary, it's a kind of Sherlock Holmes-style police mystery set in early 1900's Vienna; the two main characters being a grizzled old detective in the Vienna police force and a young, neurology/psychology doctor who asks to observe a case. Inevitably he gets involved in assisting the detective by applying his studies to create an early form of "criminal profiling".
In terms of basic scenario this is nothing new and has been utilised countless times before, so I was keen to see if it could put a different angle on it. Unfortunately, whilst there were some good elements to it (and I did enjoy it generally), it wasn't as groundbreaking or high end as I'd been led to believe.
In term of the positives, the production values looked great with some lavish costumes, sets and locations. There was a mild comic tone to elements of it, especially around the seance set up towards the end which helped to provide some light relief. However, this was let down by a fairly weak ending which looked like the writers struggling to work out how to end it. Basically, it came down to a couple of theories that seemed to have no actual evidence whatsoever to the person accused and wouldn't have stood a chance in a proper court of law. Why the main suspect (with all his connections and influence) admitted it on the ferris wheel just didn't seem plausible and felt like something out of an afternoon episode of Murder She Wrote.
Other irritations included the young doctor, played by Matthew Beard, who seemed to have no emotional range (maybe this was the point), an ever present score that felt lifted from the Robert Downey Jnr version of Sherlock Holmes and the use of English with a slight accent to portray individuals from Vienna.
I'll carry on and watch the next two episodes of the first season to see if it improves, but I'm guessing the tone has probably already been set.
In summary, it's a kind of Sherlock Holmes-style police mystery set in early 1900's Vienna; the two main characters being a grizzled old detective in the Vienna police force and a young, neurology/psychology doctor who asks to observe a case. Inevitably he gets involved in assisting the detective by applying his studies to create an early form of "criminal profiling".
In terms of basic scenario this is nothing new and has been utilised countless times before, so I was keen to see if it could put a different angle on it. Unfortunately, whilst there were some good elements to it (and I did enjoy it generally), it wasn't as groundbreaking or high end as I'd been led to believe.
In term of the positives, the production values looked great with some lavish costumes, sets and locations. There was a mild comic tone to elements of it, especially around the seance set up towards the end which helped to provide some light relief. However, this was let down by a fairly weak ending which looked like the writers struggling to work out how to end it. Basically, it came down to a couple of theories that seemed to have no actual evidence whatsoever to the person accused and wouldn't have stood a chance in a proper court of law. Why the main suspect (with all his connections and influence) admitted it on the ferris wheel just didn't seem plausible and felt like something out of an afternoon episode of Murder She Wrote.
Other irritations included the young doctor, played by Matthew Beard, who seemed to have no emotional range (maybe this was the point), an ever present score that felt lifted from the Robert Downey Jnr version of Sherlock Holmes and the use of English with a slight accent to portray individuals from Vienna.
I'll carry on and watch the next two episodes of the first season to see if it improves, but I'm guessing the tone has probably already been set.