White Lies

The show starts out with a lot of promise. I thought Natalie Dormer was great in Game of Thrones. Not so much here. In fact all of the characters were very plastic. The premise of the show was good I did not get a sense of who done it until the last episode. My big problem with the show was the two kids. They were so unlikable but maybe that was intentional. On top of that the detective was completely not believable and unlike most cop shows that one sees he was a complete woose, again maybe that is the way he was supposed act. Again, this could have been a good show if the actors were just a touch more realistic.

What a great show, thriller had so many layers. It was unpredictable for the first 6 episodes. The pace, the acting, the storyline, all of it was amazing.

The show started out with the information on a murder, Natalie Dormer got involved in the case however she struggled with her multifaceted character, that involved being supporting for the kids and having a career and dealing with the investigation. She did a commendable job at developing her character through out the show.

The kids appeared to be very ungrateful from the start, perhaps that was intentional, well they did a great job at portraying to be very unlikable.

The police squad 40 and the constable, had their side of stories well written, good development there as well.

I like how the show did not leave any lose ends, every story and every character came together to be a perfect thriller.

Hoping for the second season.

Basically I thought the series was good. At halftime it was actually pretty clear who did it or had a hand in it. But it was worth the time to see it through.

But what really caught the eye was the acting/non-acting performance of the actor playing the son.

I kept thinking: Did the director tell him to look so dumb or is that just his natural facial expression? Who is he related to that got him this part? Please never give this young man a part again. Or send him to acting-classes, for five or six years.

The sister was only half as bad, but not really good either.

I liked Dormer, Janks and Daniels, in that order.

Eight episodes is too long for a drama where we dont warm to any character. We get to learn something of modern South Africa, there a high production values,, the acting is good and the location pretty but the direction and story meanders with every possible plot twist employed and many sub plot cul de sacs

Natalie is a great actress but this is her being stroppy on steroids. Her character, super journalist Eddie, is too lucky, stumbling across, everything and everybody she needs and having unbelievable access to all areas. Would a security guard leave his post to accompany her to a dangerous area? There are script issues from the start. Why does a millionaire's son needs a scholarship? The relationship between the odd daughter and handsome son is bizarre and changes with the plot line. The police have to be stupid, corrupt. Damaged and overly forgiving so Eddie can steer the investigation.

It's moderately interesting . You wont miss much by skipping q .an early episode and watching the catch up.

White Lies: South African Noir. A journalist is drawn into a tangled web of crime when her estranged brother is murdered and his wife left in a coma. Her teenage niece and nephew are suspects and she must now try and care for them. She is a stranger to them though. A hard boiled detective is convinced that the nephew did it. But a myriad of suspects emerge as a shoal of red herrings swim into the script. Some pointed social commentary on race, class and corruption in present day South Africa. There are some violent scenes but the real violence exposed is land grabs. A few interesting plot twists. Created by Sean Steinberg and written by Darrel Bristow-Bovey. Eight episodes on Channel 4. 7.5/10.