Shadowplay

This was a decent miniseries, and I won't bother to discuss it in terms of acting, writing, etc.

It paid great attention to the post-war time in which it's set, 1946, except for the one glaring detail that drives me crazy in SO many productions that have been made in the 21st century. Stubble beards were NOT a thing then, especially for American police officers. Why, oh why, don't directors insist that their actors be clean shaven to fit in with the time period of their movies? Why does one actor's vanity trump the desire for authenticity?

The technical facets to this are excellent. The whole look and design is really full of dust and rubble and a vanquished nation. The actors too show their skill and across the various nationalities all hit their marks.

Where the series falters, and often, is the story and plot. The plot is the mechanism and the story is the overall narrative. It has everything thrown into it from fraternal love, psychological cracks, art theft, Cold War espionage,a bizarre female resistance etc . It is so cluttered as to be a mish-mash of of high drama and incredible, story telling.

It may succeed with some audiences but it seems a little desperate, as if they are not quite sure of what they have and have conceived all manner of subplots to keep this thing spinning so you don't notice that it's, well, a bit nonsensical.

In a way its like the dime novels that had a thrill every few pages to keep the reader hooked but when they finished the book they couldn't remember anything.

Ended up quite contrived and I think some of the actors got tired of their roles especially the star. Also had so many story lines I kind of lost track of what was happening. I'm assuming there will be more "Nazi Hunters go to Rome". I'll probably watch but it could have been so much better had the story been more focused.

Was surprised to see so many negative reviews and low score so had to leave my thoughts here.

I though this series was very good. In every aspect.

Things that really stood out to me compared to other series:

• amazing opening credits that set the perfect post war film noir vibe

• insane set design, very rich, dense and real. It really felt like huge city that was recently destroyed. I can only think of the eye for detail and money that went into this. Also the use of real explosions and real buildings really amazed me multiple times

• Showing the horror and horrible things people did during and after the war without holding back. There is some serious f'up things that happen in this series but I think it's only fair to show these cruelties in a post war series. If this was a netflix series I'm sure it would've been way softer and not so real.

• Excellent acting. Loved all the actors, German and American. Also loved that they spoke German a lot. All the storylines of each character is really gripping. With the right ise of flashbacks at perfect timings.

• Very well written. The story almost felt like a theatre play in a good way. Small additions to the story like the testimony scenes of the characters with the white light where they talk about something very personal were a beautiful addition and made the story that much denser and more believable

And so much more! I really recommend this series. You can see a lot of work and thought went into every aspect of this. I see a lot of critique of being not historically accurate but I have to disagree. They show the map of Berlin a lot and try to clearly show the different occupied areas and the problems that come with it. Also the upcomming cold war between Russia and America plays a big role in the dynamics of the characters towards the end.

Give this non-Netflix series some support! Would love to see a second season.

People saying that it shows 1 group as good or others as bad, have either not seen all the episodes, or they're biased to hell and back. The show depicts villains and heroes in every corner. British, Russian, American, German, French... Perhaps it is a sign of the times that we live in that people choose to see just one side, but I assure you that it hits in all directions. It also shows humanity and decency from all directions.

This show is grand. It has mystery, the violence is realistic and used to great effect, the characters are well written and the connection to real events has a unique spin in that it depicts the post-war time of Europe rather than WWII. The set design alone is worthy of all the praise possible. So is the use of actual British, French, American, Russian and German actors. It would've been easy to just stick a bunch of Swedish and English actors into it all and call it a day. But they didn't, because this show is so clearly a labour of love. The one thing that confuses me, and surely others, is why it's called different names depending on region. To me as a Swede it is called, The Defeated, to others it's called Shadowplay. It causes unnecessary confusion for viewers, but those that do watch it all the way through tend to give it positive ratings.

Give it a chance. It is the first show I watched in 2021, and it set a VERY high bar for any upcoming shows to reach.