What started out as a well made series, begs the question: why take what could be a two hour film and drag it out over 7 and a half hours? Dakota Fanning was stellar, as was Daniel Brühl; the setting was captivating, but by the time I began watching series two, the deal breaker was the most morally bankrupt and corrupt character of Chief Thomas Byrnes. If this was a 2 or 3 hour affair I might have stomached it. However, to begin a second series of epic length, and still have that character, Thomas Byrnes, alive and not behind bars, was too frustrating to allow myself to watch further, or give this production a high grade. I just couldn't sentence my life to hour after hour of frustration! If that one character got his comeuppance I might have continued to view the second series all the way through. Series 1 was worthy of a 8 or 9 start rating, a 10 if it was 3 hours or less, where series 2 would merit a 2 star rating.
Review of The Alienist
