I'm going to review this, for now, as if it's the first season of a show that's going to continue in some form, although I might move the review to the shows main page if that proves not the be the case. The Belgian show that this is adapted from has gone down the anthology route for it's second run. For what it's worth, I think that this first season of "The Rising" was fine, but I doubt I'll remember it in 12 months' time.
Neve (Clara Rugaard) awakens in a lake and, having swum to shore, walks home. She comes to realise that she has been murdered, and is a ghost, unable to interact or be seen by her friends and family. She begins to follow her own murder investigation but is plagued by a fear of the woods nearby where she lived. This continues until, following the wider discovery of her body, her estranged, alcoholic father Tom (Matthew McNulty) inexplicably seems to be able to see her.
Despite a relatively outlandish idea ultimately, I felt "The Rising" was perhaps a little to pedestrian for its own good. It doesn't particularly exploit that idea as it might, Neve doesn't spend enough time listening to conversations with people that don't know she's there. Part of the problem is that, in the end, too many people end up with the ability to see her. There is a reason why the people that can see her can, a reason that becomes guessable pretty quickly, but one person who can doesn't seem at all surprised by it, which remains baffling when the resolution to the story comes. There are also a few moments when the internal logic of the show doesn't hold up, which wouldn't be such a problem except the show makes a big deal out of aspects of it. Also, and this is the biggest thing I wonder might be lost in translation from adapting the Belgian show, but the story hinges around a motocross club which in reality should be a middle-class time waste, but occasionally here is more like "Sons of Anarchy".
I appreciate that from that list of my issues, it might feel like the show is poor. It's not, it's fine. There are genuinely good performances from of a cast of recognisable, if not perhaps 'household' names, particularly those that have to deal with worst of scenarios opening up for them. The murder mystery story works, gently pointing you down a route of misdirection and playing with your suspicions before a conclusion that was, at least, satisfying. It's just that in all areas it's .... and here's that word again ... fine, rather than brilliant.
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