Riviera

Seasons 1&2 were so good and loved the whole French Riviera with its glam and glitz. Billionaires, yachts, money, fast cars, corruption all perfect. Season 3 lost this and most of the cast that we grew to love or hate from the first 2 seasons. Rupert graves was just a bit flat and didn't really add a lot. It tired to be deep with the story with his wife but it just fell short.

Many coincidences and unbelievable out of character changes .However I enjoyed season 1 of this drama Julia Stiles makes it worthwhile Pity about the ending though

I am enjoying this series 8 episodes in it is really good. The conspiracy and intrigue is very well served on the screen. The sets are more than magnificent and the actors are doing a great job. Watch it and you won't regret it, quality smart series. It reminds me of "The Night Manager" and I think the rating here should be a lot higher than it is now.

First half:

A slowly unravelling mystery around a rich art dealers death seen through his widows eyes. Very enticing plot development and pace, great settings, outfits, direction, editing etc.

Second half:

A bit of a mess that never recovers. Im not sure if all the episodes where written by the same people and didn't bother to check. But the second half of the series was seriously lacking in all above mentioned areas, except setting and outfits which didn't change. Not much made sense, and the quality of the whole show plummeted to a cable channel daytime soap opera level.

Watch it if you have nothing to kill some time with, or leave it on in the background while you make use of your time otherwise. Don't expect any brilliant twists or a great ending.

Let's be clear: Rivera is not a masterpiece neither is what you would call "an art show". Thanks to a pretty envolving plot and a wonderful mise en place it's a show you can perfectly enjoy unpretentiously. Its strong point is certainly the photography and the breathtaking locations of the French Riviera, that unfolds between cover villas and luxury cars and yachts.

I define it a "summer" show because it's definetly one of those show you can enjoy in summer, when after lunch the weather it's too hot to do anything.