Bosque adentro

I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to series. If the first few episodes are not spellbinding I'll just give up.

I'm at episode 4 at the moment and I'm still watching, so it can't be bad. Actually I'm quite enjoying it. It's based on a Harlan Coben novel and he also is als the executive producer I believe.

The story gets complicated as it intertwines the disappearance of kids from a summer camp 25 years ago with more recent events. I don't want to give anything away. The acting is solid and the production values are good. I really enjoyed the camera work used during the summer camp scenes.

Word of advice. Don't listen to the English dubbed soundtrack, It is horrible and lifeless. Rather read the subtitles.

The Woods - B (Good)

Coming from Poland, I believe show did a good show making it viewable for anyone around the world. The cast as young and older versions match, so their performances makes you care for ark of their characters. With six episodes, I found the show very bingeable. Young Pawel (Hubert Milkowski) and Laura (Wiktoria Filus) performances standout as grieving young lovers with guilt.

I did feel, as there were four stories going at the same time; Past camp murder and disappearance of kids, Past story about his mother, Present rape prosecution case and then Present Police investigation into him in reference to new death made it bit complicated as story's focus keep shifting to all these four elements and the current rape prosecution case ends on very lacklustre result.

If the story focused primary was on past camp mystery and current murder case it would have intensified the series as they should have been the prime focus due to their connection. Overall, the show is a good attempt and doesn't disappoint.

This was a gripping series...until the last episode or two. The plot holes are so large that, frankly, the resolution doesn't make any sense. For example, one character ends up somewhere where they logically could not be.

The pacing also had issues. Way too many long scenes of people staring off into space or kids posing for the camera only to have some important plot detail rushed through as quick as possible.

I hope the book is better because I really can't recommend the show.

First of all: I really don't like polish tv series, they're dull, with horrible acting and every actor speaks like having lockjaw, so when I turned "The Woods" I was very cautious and expected turning tv in circa 10 minutes. Well, turned out I watched four episodes at one go and today I finished last two. I loved locations and cinematography, acting is very good, also music is quite good. If you like scandi noir and tartan noir with its slow pace, twists and "nothing as it seems" plots - you'll be delighted as I am.

I read a book. I also watched two previous Harlan Coben's tv series. Based on previous experience I was expecting something similar to Safe or Stranger. And it is not the same! Not at all!

What I found annoying about Safe and Stranger was the fact that all that middle aged average families live in the houses that most people living in UK won't be able to afford. And here we have Poland. And polish scenery. And public sector worker living in the flat like many other polish people!

I also loved summercamp. I remember going to the ones like the one from The Woods myself.

And series is in very slow pace, what helped to create atmosphere and gave time to reflect on the events, however I can imagine that for many people the show will be boring.