La chica de nieve

To be honest I almost didn't make it through the first episode. Decided to stick with it and ended up really liking it. I'm glad I didn't stop. The main character was my initial problem. She's a journalist for a newspaper and I don't think she smiled except maybe once or twice. She's got a horrific backstory so I forgave her. She gets involved in the story of a 5 year old girl who goes missing during a parade. The story is shown from her perspective along with the female detective that's working on the case. Also shown are the parents story as well as eventually the kidnapper. But the journalist is the real star here. She's tenacious in her fight to solve the mystery and sacrifices some of her own dignity along the way.

The story takes place in Spain with subtitles. There's nothing upbeat or with the slightest bit of humor, as it should be. But that means it's pretty gloomy throughout and seems very suited to the story. In the end, I thought it was very well done and they left it open for a new case.

At first I'd thought the story was implausible. After all, interns such as Miren don't get to work on stories of international importance. However, with input from veteran character actor Jose Corinado as experienced reporter Eduardo, things seemed much more stable. Miren threw herself into the story of the disappearance of the little girl and, while producing some good copy and a couple of scoops, she failed the rule of journalists not to get personally involved when she tried to solve the case.

There's one very minor clue in the first episode as to who the abductor might be, but it would take dogged investigating to find out the perp, something a viewer couldn't do. So the revelation in episode four of the back story of the kidnappers was something that couldn't have been guessed.

There were plenty of red herrings too, some involving Miren's shocking experiences prior to the series' start and which also explained how she knew Inspector Millán.

All was revealed, including the provenance of the title of the series which had puzzled me - no snow features at all. But, as British Rail once said in a different context, I was looking for the "wrong type of snow".

I watched the lot over a twenty four hour period and I recommend it.

I actually have no clue why people are giving this bad reviews. First of all, I don't understand how you can compare this to a telenovela. This is nothing like a telenovela. This is an extremely good Spanish version of an American or Nordic thriller series.

I was gripped from start to end, the only thing I would have wished for would be some clarification on certain things. There are a few loopholes.

Someone wrote that they mumble a lot. The Spanish always "mumble", or I'd rather say speak very fast and drop letters, especially those with an Andalucian accent. There is nothing different in this series compared to hearing Spanish people speak to each other in Spain.

Anyway, good series, will keep you excited from start to end.

This is layered. An engrossing story within an immersive story. Milena Smit is quite convincing as the young journalist with a tortured past that she has difficulty overcoming. Veteran actor Jose Coronado is quite likeable as Miren's teacher and confederate. And Aixa Villagran is quite commendable as the tireless, persistent investigator.

The approach of the film to storytelling is engaging even as it jumps from one year to another. The viewer might be wondering whatever happened to Amaya because her screen presence is limited for the most part to the videos Iris sends to Miren 3 years apart. But the patient viewer gets the complete picture in the penultimate episode.

This Spanish production is worth watching. It's bingeable.

Snow Girl is about a child kidnapping case that spans a number of years. Caught up are the parents, the police, the kidnappers, and a journalist obsessed with the case.

What we have is a great, moody character-driven series. The actors do a great job showing how everyone around the case gets affected. That part of the slow burn is great.

Unfortunately, the plot and the mystery almost never progresses. And it's even more absurd that the time period spans 9 years. Everyone is so intense about the case, but what is happening these 9 years? The sad answer is nothing. We don't really witness any transformation within the characters over these 9 years. It's as if they're stuck in the depression all this time. The biggest transformation should be the kidnapped girl, but we don't even see how the transformation takes place, just that it did... 6 years later.

So it's well-acted... but missing a lot of plot devices that could've made Snow Girl a whole lot more exciting as a crime series.