Winter

Being a fan of mostly UK and Scandinavian crime series, I sometimes like to widen my horizons and find out what other countries have to offer in a similar area. Prior to start watching Winter, I had some qualms regarding approach and possible easy solution, but it soon turned out to be a versatile story having its twists and turns throughout the 6 episodes.

True, there were some common leitmotifs and predictable character relations, but as I did not surmise the wrongdoer and potential crime motives, I am pleased that I took/found approx. 5 hours for this Series.

Twists and turns neatly wrapped up by the end. Keeps you engaged and surprised.

"Winter" is an odd one - the cinematography shows occasional spots of brilliance, but is, mostly, simple and functional; the acting is on the spot, with each actor playing their characters efficiently, not missing a beat; the direction is crisp, and so is the editing; this is one of those shows where everything except the plot is good.

Twists abound in the end, and the finale is one to be watched, because it is just so good. However, the red herrings thrown in here and there were never convincing enough - the ideal red-herring is one that is well-justified, but not for the reason we think it to be, and masks the hints that foreshadow the real fact; in this case, though, there are no hints whatsoever to be masked, and some reveals are just like "Uh huh. Ok." instead of "How did I not see that coming??"

In addition, the characters are actually nothing so special. Take Castle. Castle himself is quirky, has a sense of humor, loves adventures, and is basically a big kid. But he also has the ability to show pathos towards his fellow investigators and has good observation skills, which make sense given his novelist background.

Consider House, M.D. He's sarcastic, caustic, permanently ticked-off, insulting, brash, ingenious, playful (to the extent of causing harm) but committed to his work as a doctor.

Now consider Eve Winter. Nothing special, just the typical cop with a haunting past, who is trying to do justice by the victims who keep her work coming. Nothing to write home about.

Consider the Fed, Jake. He just wants a confession and keeps getting into loggerheads with Winter. Nothing special there, either. The only one with a hint of personality is Indiana herself, and thank God for that, because otherwise the entire cast could be replaced by everymen and the story wouldn't change much.

Regardless, I'm giving this an 8/10 for an overall solid show. Good entertainment, but don't expect to be hooked until the penultimate episode.

6 Episodes were a little tiring. 4 would have been much better with the cutting of some peripheral characters as the main plot alone was excellent.

The other thread was about drugs that to me was irrelevant and distracting.

The plot holes were irritating and obvious, particularly where the composite of a suspect was deleted from the police digital files. That would not happen.

Also a supposedly sharp cop left themselves wide open to being shot knowing there was a rogue cop of the loose.

Also speaking of rogue cops - why do they always take potential suspects/victims into their own homes for protection? And never being charged? See also rogue cop-informant not being charged either.

The side romances also distracted. Seems like this crew of cops are a hotbed of barely suppressed and unsuppressed sexuality. None of it quite believable.

Winter is an enjoyable character. Would like to see more of her and less of her hairy love interest.

On Acorn.

8/10.

This is a TV series that goes all over the place with its story line. There are so many subplots that are loosely held together that its difficult to know what the main focus of the series was all about. Everyone has a secret, everyone is a suspect is something or another, and at the end, everyone lives happily ever after. The scenes jump around due to poor editing, and sometimes appear in a random order. In the last episode it was as if there was a lot of pressure to wrap things up quickly, so problems were quickly solved, and an all too predictable end finally reached.

The acting comes across as very "tongue-in-cheek", almost as if the actors really didn't believe the words they were saying. This may just have been due to a poor script, or their desire to get to the end of the story and move on to something else.

There are some really good Australian productions. This is just not one of them!