Episode #1.3

I really did not like it. It is made well enough. Good visuals, costumes and soundtrack etc. The acting is even pretty good. I just did not like the characters or story. The wife is especially awful, but, I don't even like the husband (Cumberbatch) either. She does all kinds of horrible things but somehow finds a way to blame him for everything. He is boring and never stands up to her at all. The story is all over the place. It is often forced and does not flow well. They also crowbar in some feminist virtue signalling. Honestly, you would have a lot more fun watching the 4th Season of Blackadder instead.

Third segment of "Parade's End" suffers mightily from the absence of Cumberbatch for the first half of the show, as he's been away at war, wounded and shell-shocked. The drama devolves into an antiquated form of soap opera, with gossip and rumors about him driving the narrative in hoary fashion, not believable at all 100 years later.

By the time he's gained some of his senses, and sloughed off a zombie-like performance, convoluted story elements have left us with no one to root for, and only Rebecca Hall's glamorous anti-heroine still interesting to watch. The British version of Kirsten Dunst, Miranda Richardson's daughter played by Adelaide Clemens, is a major character that is simply not up to the acting calibre of her many co-stars. Many stuffy types, including Benedict's ill-fated dad (Alan Howard) and Jamie Parker as Hall's vindictive ex-boyfriend, are insufferable, though Rupert Everett as his stern older brother kind of grows on you.

It ends with Benedict going back to war, and the dreary mood is the exact opposite of one intriguing the viewer to tune in to see what happens next.