Crossing Lines

I absolutely love this show. I love that it takes place in Europe with team members from different countries who speak languages other than English. I always love Donald Sutherland and hope that his presence in the series can be increased. I was a bit disappointed at hearing everything in English. As an American living in Europe I hear different languages all the time. However, for example, when a German person speaks with a German person, they do not speak in English. I know that Americans are not accustomed to reading sub-titles, but I would give this series a 10 if this had happened. It's an NBC production. Perhaps if it were a cable production, the extra time and expense for subtitling and speaking in like languages would have been permitted. Still, I love the show. Hoping for more of the same.

Crossing Lines is a smartly written, cleverly acted and well produced drama about an international crime fighting unit that investigates multi-national (hence the name: Crossing the "boundary" lines of EC countries) high end and highly sophisticated crimes. The characters are intriguing yet follow similar patterns found in shows like CSI and Criminal Minds: aloof male leader (king archetype), warrior, princess and magician (computer genius) archetype as well.

The show's writers and producers have created some interesting twists in the first several episodes in terms of the main character's back stories and developing relationships with in the ICC unit. In addition, the crimes themselves are fresh and do not follow typical "clean all wrapped up nicely endings" often associated with other high end crime dramas on television.

The dialog is smart and treats the audience as viewers with a brain and soul in that there is plenty of passion and cognitive material to digest in each episode.

The writer's plot twists are risky and make watching the show intense since you are never quit sure where the producers will take the characters and story lines.

I really enjoyed the first two seasons of the show. The flavor of the EU was a wonderful departure from the usual American fare. The cast was fun and were close and each had an interesting back-story which highlighted the countries where they were raised. They had personality and heart and fascinating stories, all of which kept me engaged. That is what my rating is based upon. Don't bother watching season 3. New cast, new show runners. Terrible writing. Very cold and procedural. Wooden acting. I think they tried to slick it up for American audiences, whom they clearly think are idiots so they explain everything. The characters are very stiff and all-business. The acting is bad and the relationships unfriendly. Instead of warmth and 'family' atmosphere between them, a lot of criticism and meddling. I absolutely loathed it. What a waste to murder a fun show that gave us a feel for the world outside the US.

This is one show worth watching in my opinion and I am surprised at the negative reviews that are rubbishing it. It is obviously not technical enough for those reviewers. I find William Fichtner character very likable and I also like the way he goes about his work. He is a really good detective who thinks outside the box. Nothing seems to get in his way and even if it is a bit unbelievable that he gets to solve every crime in record time, it is still entertaining. The supporting cast is also excellent,i For this show to be successful, I do believe it will need to take on more interesting dark themes or it runs the risk of becoming a run-of-the-mill forensics series like Law and Order or Kojack...no knock on these shows.....

I LOVED Crossing Lines, right up until season 3. Half the cast left, new writers were brought on and the show went from being intelligent, fascinating and intense to just another blase version of Law and Order. Elizabeth Mitchell brings the whole show down several levels. She looks ridiculous next to the better actors from seasons 1-2 who now play smaller rolls. The writers make the actors explain everything to the audience, and repeat everything multiple times which kills any flow or dynamic the characters might have. The original actors try so hard to keep the magic of the previous seasons, but the writers don't leave any room for that.

Overall, I'd highly recommend watching seasons 1-2, but do yourself a favor and stop there. Season 3 will only disappoint.