The Vanishing Triangle

Twisty plot contrivances get a little unhinged in final episode, but creepy tone and excellent performances particularly from the two lead actors kept us glued to the screen.

Based on true still unsolved murders, this show depicts a what-if scenario to try to explain the disappearances of missing women in Ireland in the 1990s. The feeling of dread and tension doesn't exactly fit in with Irelands identity as a charming friendly country.

The unique element of the show is that it doesn't just search out the bad guy serial killer. It also shows how the institutions of the time were totally corrupt.

It's rather daring. To execute this crime story in a manner we remember from the 80's. The 1980's that is. But, it works. Up to a point. They manage to stir up the tension and keep it boiling until... the famous final scene. Where it gets a bit slow and archaic.

Yes, it is a relief to escape from mobile phones and computers. That world of instant messaging that kills most of the excitement. And we get a lot of passionate acting in many supporting roles. And India Mullen fights for her life surrounded by soggy memories.

This is strictly watching the Detectives. The old-fashioned police & thieves saga.

The plot and acting is compelling enough, but the whole thing is badly let down by the sound quality. Background noises and music are always twice the volume of the actual voices making it pretty wearing to listen to.

If you can bear the sound the then whole thing is fairly watchable, if a little improbable. Journalist turns police woman in a brooding, slightly gritty drama. Nothing particularly new or novel but okay

It has an 18 rating but I'm not entirely sure why. There aren't really any scenes that are worse than you'd get in a typical fictional TV police series.

In summary an okay watch if you can bear the sound mix.

The story, pacing and video side of the production including the acting were very good. However, the overall experience is let down by some rather shoddy sound engineering. Within the first 10 minutes, it should have been obvious to the Director that there was a shortfall. Considering the fact that I grew up in in Dublin and that I had to have sub titles switched on should be indication enough that there was something not so effectively done.

As stated in another review, the sound separation was abysmal for a modern production, even Smart TVs with Dialogue Enhancers and various surround enhancing alternatives did not do enough to help.

The Dublin dialect can be difficult to understand as certain words roll into others so it IS important. The speech coach should have realised this on first review as well and questioned whether it was actors' failings or inadequate sound capture and/or separation.

Interestingly enough, the actor that stands out as being the most articulate is the one who worked on Downton Abbey. Possibly the bigger a production is may demand more resources thrown at actor articulation?

Otherwise, as I said, I found the story very intetesting.

I hate leaving bad reviews, but I don't think words can express just how much I hated this show. The actors' performances were the only good thing about it. But if you just loooove watching every character you care about at all make the dumbest decisions ever over and over and over and over and over again, this is the show for you. And you're welcome to it. At a certain point, you start to want to punch the characters you should be able to like for just being so stupid. I guess having a strong spirit is supposed to make up for being a complete idiot? Is that the message here? I'm rarely motivated enough to leave bad reviews, but truly this is beyond the worst. Kudos to the actors for making it worth two stars. Without their performances it would've been one.