STAR RATING: ***** Brilliant **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor * Awful
Maya Stern (Michelle Keegan) is a Royal Air Force aerial pilot, who's served a tour and now spends her time training on the side. But she's also mourning the loss of her partner, and sister, within a few months of each other. But Maya's life is truly plunged into chaos, when she sees her apparently dead husband showing up on her nanny-cam, and she is driven by an insatiable desire to get to the bottom of it, plunging her into an electrifying collision course with Detective Sami Keece (Ameel Akhtar) and Judith (Joanna Lumley), her wealthy mother in law.
Harlan Coben appears to have been behind a number of thrillers that have been adapted for the screen, but I don't think I've ever read any of their (don't know if they're male or female!) novels, but I have ended up watching this lengthy series on Netflix, with two former Coronation Street actresses (albeit many years apart) fronting the proceedings. It's a far fetched, outlandish tale, that has more than a touch of incredulity to its mystery angle. But sadly, it's an altogether convoluted result that leaves you, if not fooled, certainly quite dumbfounded.
In the lead role, Keegan is convincing enough as a no nonsense, battle hardened individual, on a determined mission to get to the bottom of a mystery at the heart of a personal tragedy, even if her limitations as an actress are sometimes glaringly evident. She's bolstered by a strong supporting cast, including Akhtar as a detective trying to get to the bottom of the case while battling his own personal demons, and Dino Fletscher, in an irritating and unfunny role as Fleece's partner, acting more stupid than he really is. But none of them can surpass the star power of Lumley in a supporting role, effortlessly commanding the show as the icy cold mother in law. But all of them are at the mercy of a meandering, incoherent story that plays out over a typically lengthy Netflix duration, building up to an absurd ending that ends things on a laughable note.
Two directors seem to have messed this up, overcooking something that could have been better handled in a more condensed style, instead of this lumbering, meandering mess. **
Maya Stern (Michelle Keegan) is a Royal Air Force aerial pilot, who's served a tour and now spends her time training on the side. But she's also mourning the loss of her partner, and sister, within a few months of each other. But Maya's life is truly plunged into chaos, when she sees her apparently dead husband showing up on her nanny-cam, and she is driven by an insatiable desire to get to the bottom of it, plunging her into an electrifying collision course with Detective Sami Keece (Ameel Akhtar) and Judith (Joanna Lumley), her wealthy mother in law.
Harlan Coben appears to have been behind a number of thrillers that have been adapted for the screen, but I don't think I've ever read any of their (don't know if they're male or female!) novels, but I have ended up watching this lengthy series on Netflix, with two former Coronation Street actresses (albeit many years apart) fronting the proceedings. It's a far fetched, outlandish tale, that has more than a touch of incredulity to its mystery angle. But sadly, it's an altogether convoluted result that leaves you, if not fooled, certainly quite dumbfounded.
In the lead role, Keegan is convincing enough as a no nonsense, battle hardened individual, on a determined mission to get to the bottom of a mystery at the heart of a personal tragedy, even if her limitations as an actress are sometimes glaringly evident. She's bolstered by a strong supporting cast, including Akhtar as a detective trying to get to the bottom of the case while battling his own personal demons, and Dino Fletscher, in an irritating and unfunny role as Fleece's partner, acting more stupid than he really is. But none of them can surpass the star power of Lumley in a supporting role, effortlessly commanding the show as the icy cold mother in law. But all of them are at the mercy of a meandering, incoherent story that plays out over a typically lengthy Netflix duration, building up to an absurd ending that ends things on a laughable note.
Two directors seem to have messed this up, overcooking something that could have been better handled in a more condensed style, instead of this lumbering, meandering mess. **