White Lies

I used to consider Lifetime or Hallmark stuff are bad, but if compared them with this White Lies, they'd immediately transform into masterpiece. I don't even know why I need to write a review on this horrible drama series. The screenplay is so bad, all the actors, except Dormer, who's also the producer, are just so amateurish, especially the young guy who plays the son of the murdered parents and the elder brother to his sister. His bad acting in addition to the bad screenplay and those horrible actors who played the cops, are the major reasons that nearly ruined this drama from the very beginning. I have to admit that I didn't waste my time to watch the whole eight episodes; I really didn't need to since it's so predictable. After in the middle of the second episode, I skipped to the last one, and voila, nothing really out of my prediction. I have to say that even in the last episode, it's still so bad and I was lucky I didn't so mindlessly waste my time going through the whole series.

Writing this review is perhaps the hardest one that I've ever did, because it's just so bad that I don't even know how to put it into words to describe it. To fulfill the required words is just so painful like a torture.

An equally impressive crime drama series with thrilling storyline and plots, for what is worth, with great acting, especially by Jaime whose sulfurous ego and tempestuous character stood out. She is perfect for Agatha Christie's novels.

The narrative and pace take their time without hastening things, all the while gracing us with that dysfunctional family history in sunny and beautiful South Africa.

The ending and the dancing were well-done and because of that nasty acidic chemistry between Daniel and Jaime, I really hope there's a second season.

• Screenplay/storyline/plots: 7
• Production value/impact: 6.5
• Development: 7.5
• Realism: 7
• Entertainment: 7
• Acting: 7.5
• Filming/photography/cinematography: 7.5
• VFX: 7
• Music/score/sound: 7
• Depth: 6.5
• Logic: 5.5
• Flow: 7.5
• Mystery/thriller/crime/drama: 7
• Ending: 6.5.

White Lies: South African Noir. A journalist is drawn into a tangled web of crime when her estranged brother is murdered and his wife left in a coma. Her teenage niece and nephew are suspects and she must now try and care for them. She is a stranger to them though. A hard boiled detective is convinced that the nephew did it. But a myriad of suspects emerge as a shoal of red herrings swim into the script. Some pointed social commentary on race, class and corruption in present day South Africa. There are some violent scenes but the real violence exposed is land grabs. A few interesting plot twists. Created by Sean Steinberg and written by Darrel Bristow-Bovey. Eight episodes on Channel 4. 7.5/10.

No much to see in this tv show. Everything you want to see is in the last two episodes. Most contents in first six episodes have nothing to do with the crime, as most are false trails. The show is not just about solving the crime, you can also see how two different characters, Edie Hanson and Forty Bell change throughout the investigation. The show also spends some time on family, mostly, toxic relationships. Some lines are great too. The ending may be very shocked to some viewers. But the background music is a bit annoying. There are some good storylines about family but not too much. Not too much about the characters either. The first episodes give you too many false trails which won't help you with the crime. By the way, good to see Natalie Dormer again.

The show starts out with a lot of promise. I thought Natalie Dormer was great in Game of Thrones. Not so much here. In fact all of the characters were very plastic. The premise of the show was good I did not get a sense of who done it until the last episode. My big problem with the show was the two kids. They were so unlikable but maybe that was intentional. On top of that the detective was completely not believable and unlike most cop shows that one sees he was a complete woose, again maybe that is the way he was supposed act. Again, this could have been a good show if the actors were just a touch more realistic.