Crá

I loved the setting and the idea of the murder being set in an insular, inward-looking community. However, the series was marred by somewhat wooden acting and implausibilities.

As always, we have to ignore the person the episodes were strongly signalling was the guilty one. It was completely obvious from episode three who we were meant to imagine had "dunnit". So we had to look elsewhere. I must admit I didn't guess who the real assassin was partly because it was such an improbable plot twist. There were other irreconcilable anomalies too. Martin was a thoroughly unpleasant character but why he should have been singled out for a beating by Connall is a mystery to me. We were meant to work out the reason why but I don't know what it was about (not a spoiler - this is the very first scene in the series).

Barry's involvement in passing on information didn't ring true either. He was such a wimp and jobsworth that I found it hard to believe in this facet of the story.

I watched it all. The final fifteen minutes were disappointing. The fate of Conall's dad is unknown but with court cases pending, would such extreme measures have been taken? And the decision to keep quiet about the conclusion of the case and leave an innocent reputation sullied didn't ring true either.

After reading back over the review, I've downgraded to a four from five stars.

Crá (Torment) is an intriguing gripping atmospheric crime drama.

Set in the dramatic rugged wild Atlantic comes a story of murder, deceit and redemption helmed by talented bunch of writers and an equally talented cast and crew.

Where this show triumphs over other standard fodder is the world building aided by the fantastic music and cinematography.

Trying to keep this spoiler free. The story moves at a steady and assured pace giving the required nuggets of information so that we the audience and the main characters are discovering the story together.

I'd highly recommend this show and it's available worldwide on TG4 website.

Having seen just about every Nordic, Welsh, Scottish noir type murder mystery series out there, I was really excited to see this Irish offering.

I had a hard time at first trying to place the series politically- was it taking place in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland? I needed to look it up on google maps - if it takes place in Donegal, then it's the Republic but right next to Northern Ireland.

Basic requirements of the genre are met - scenery was suitably bleak, people insular and non communicative, lazy provincial police work, speaking in native language.

I watched it all in one sitting but the acting of the old man playing the father, the 3 police officers (from the town, not the hamlet) and that Janine butcher lookalike who played the reporter was so bad I thought I'd have to switch it off.

The main actor was very good and his expressive glare spoke volumes about his current state of mind.

I want to give it a higher rating, because I liked that it's in Irish and in Donegal. It had an interesting setting, and I really would like to see more of this (I'm from Scotland). I thought the main male actor was quite good, so was his other half in it. The character of the journalist/podcaster was just really bad, quite cringe worthy and not well written. Nothing against the actress, she worked with what she had.

Some of the acting wasn't that great, but I think the writing is what let it down the most. I really wanted to give it a higher rating, but it's just not that well written. Lots of things don't make much sense, the dialogue between the characters is a bit bland, there's too many cringe worthy moments that feel out of place with the nonsense plotline of the true crime podcaster getting away with/doing stuff that just wouldn't happen. It could honestly be a lot better.

I see the potential in it though, and I hope this starts more series funded that are in Irish with this kind of theme. I think they just need some extra help with the writing. So I'm giving it a 7, cause I still enjoyed it when I shut my brain off for a bit, and it is quite unique.

I would still recommend people watch this series, just shut your brain off a bit if some things seem a bit far fetched and you'll probably enjoy it. If we support it, hopefully more stuff like this will come out in the future!

But there was so much wrong with the dialogue, the miscasting, the endless red herrings and misbehaving cops who would have been fired in any other police force.

Cop shows like these need to be believable.

Now I am Irish by birth and I positively adore movies when they're in Gaeilge.

But there were so many tropes in this I lost track. The rogue cop. Endless staring at oceans and waves, finding others on beaches and houses when you need them, cops missing major clues (cell phone, laptop) the saucy irritating young reporter with seedy access to everything the cops missed.

The scenery was stunning though.

But the ending was cringe worthy, a total disasterama.

What an absolute waste of time for this incredulous viewer.

4/0 Acorn.