35 Diwrnod

When I ran across this on BritBox I thought I'd give it a try. Last couple miniseries I watched have left me cold. This did not! Once you get into that different stories being told simultaneously it is a great binge! It kept me guessing and after watching season 1 I am looking forward to savouring the next two seasons. The only problem is I of course needed the subtitles as Welsh is not a second language for many, but the subtitles were in white at the bottom and sometimes there was not enough contrast on the screen to read them properly. But I got through it and glad I did!

I watched seasons 1-3 on BritBox. They don't have season 4 right now - in its place was 35 Awr (35 Hours, listed separately on IMDB). I didn't have any trouble reading the subtitles. They are white, with a narrow black outline.

I totally enjoyed seasons one and three. The premise is fun - you know the end right from the start, and subsequent episodes unravel the who and why. Red herrings, unexpected twists, and lots of unreal drama make these seasons a lot of fun to watch. 99% of the characters are terrible people who do awful things, which makes for interesting storytelling but might be a drag if you're not in the mindset for it.

Season two was a mess, IMO. It took several episodes for me to figure out what the heck was going on. There were too many characters and too many overlapping storylines to keep track of and the ending was lousy. The seasons aren't connected in any way so you can easily skip season 2.

I was pulled in by the photo on the show title page and was surprised at first that the series is in Welsh. I'm in Seattle and have no clue what is being said so was really thankful there is closed captioning in English. The stories unfold in a really creative way, starting with the end result and then jumping back 35 days prior to the event and moving foward to the outcome we see at the beginning. Sounds strange but it works really well and it's fun to seeing the big picture step by step this way. The acting is excellent, the stories are well told and the language is really beautiful. If you don't speak Welsh, don't let the subtitles deter you from watching. It's a fun dark mystery that I hope will continue for many more seasons!

If you're patient enough to collect disconnected clues throughout, with no coherent storyline to follow, then you might like this drama. Perhaps the payoff rewards the hard-working viewer. I found it more gimmicky than engrossing, and abandoned the effort 2/3 of the way through the first episode. Plus, the subtitles really are a challenge.

Addictive, well written and I can't understand why anyone would give any show a bad review because of subtitles. It's so smart and I hope everyone watches it.