The Castaways

Whilst looking for something to binge I stumbled across The Castaways. The plot looked interesting, so I thought I would give it a go.

The first episode is interesting, even the second. However, then things just get a little too 'out there' for me. Maybe convoluted is the better term of expression.

You start to feel invested in the characters, then something happens and you are like oh okay, but it is not in a good way, it feels like the director/author has just thrown everything at the screen hoping it will stick. You start to dislike everyone involved and I battled to watch the end. Shame.

And you will not be dissapointed.

If however you would think it will show similar struggle to survive, you will be hugely dissapointed. There is almost nothing about this, how to settle on a deserted island with no human presence at all. From one part to another there are huts, they know how to fish, they have food and water, although complaining it is not sufficient.

Of course setting is fantastic, nature itself is worth watching.

The plot is very unrealistic and sometimes ridiculous, but the scale of it is not more, than in an average criminal story.

Acting is average and uneven. I am afraid Sheridan Smith is not convincing at all. The best of the cast is Lasarus Ratuere.

So, if it rains and you have already walked your dog, make yourself a nice cup of tea and relax watching this beautiful island.

This first 3 and a half episodes were really quite good but the as they start to wrap things up it goes downhill faster than the plane in episode 1.

I used to like Sheridan Smith but she looks ridiculous since she has had he teeth done (all the publicity behind the show seems to be about her tattoos having to be covered up each day though).

As is the law with modern tv dramas these days, all white men are weak, adulterous or evil and it is quite obvious who will be making it successfully to the end of the series.

I have seen the actress who plays Erin in a couple of things now and she might well become a bigger star as women get more ballsy roles these days.

Lovely scenery. Just a shame how it all ends.

It's all Greek to me except the bits which were actually filmed in Fiji.

Episode 1 is nothing to write home about and if I'm honest, and it wasn't Easter, I would not have watched any further. As it is, I found myself starting to watch episode 2 in the hope that this would get better. I mean, who doesn't like a good old fashioned marooned on a desert island story, especially when it has characters who survive a plane crash! Background stories were vaguely interesting but didn't really add much to the plot. There are a few annoying scenes when one thinks for heavens sake, you're on an island and need to be in survival mode and not rock the boat the more you find out about your fellow survivors.

Anyway, it didn't get any better but I found myself watching it all.

If you have nothing better to do and appreciate Sheridan Smith (even though I did find her annoying in a couple of scenes, but overall, terrific actress), maybe you'll like it more than the 6 stars I gave it - which was being generous!

Lori (Sheridan Smith) and Erin Holme (Celine Buckens) are close-knitted sisters on vacation to Fuji. Erin does not make it on the plane after a fight. The plane goes missing. It's months later and everybody is assumed dead. The only one holding out hope is Erin. She is certain that they survived and are stranded somewhere. Nobody believes her. Then she finds evidence to support her view.

Ever since Lost, plane crash stories have become almost a genre to its own. This one puts a bit of a mystery spin to the concept within a limited series. It's an interesting idea and a lower level British show. Some of plot elements are rather outlandish and unfinished. I don't mind Celine Buckens and her obsessive pursuit. The island situation reminds me of many other Lost copies. What the island really needs is an opening murder to heighten the tension. I may have given this a better rating but the last episode really drags on and on. They could cut two thirds of that finale.