Notre-Dame

At first I thought the series had potential: the nonlinear story and the photography caught me at the beginning and made me want to continue watching. But from the second episode on, you have to ignore a lot of nonsense to keep watching. The series is supposed to be a realistic drama, but one of the main characters, Max, is like Bruce Willis in Die Hard. Apart from a few firefights, all characters are dumb and reckless.

I felt like it deserved a better direction, cause the plot isn't bad. For the amount of money spent in the production (the effects are great), they could've invested a bit more and delivered something more credible. It's only worth watching if you like the French language, otherwise I wouldn't have finished it.

This show is ok, its not fantastic, but not bad either.

This is not purely disaster thriller or some action peace, this is more of a day in person's life kinda show.

It follows multiple story lines that begin, evolve and conclude, not necessarily directly related to the fire. Stories are not very sophisticated, like boy looking for his dad or dad looking for his daughter, few flashbacks to give context to the characters.

Musical score is good, if you like symphonic orchestra, opera kind of music, its definitely one of the strong sides of this show. There were some moments without dialogue, just scenes with music.

So yes, its ok overall.

I admire Netflix for its internationally produced content. There are a lot of great production companies in the world besides what is regular fare in the continental US (aka superheroes, gunfights and cowboys).

This is a big budget Netflix series. You can tell by the effort to recreate the firefighting efforts that riveted the world for those 15 hours in April , 2019, the extras, the vfx, the general level of production standards.

But I actually had to stop watching like other reviewers mention (after ep.3)

The fire and the cathedral are the main "character" but take a backseat to maudlin characters in a US styled "Soapbox" like script.

Yes the production is trying to flesh out literally the human character aspects of a few selected courageous firefighters (plus a couple of reporters covering the fire) who put the fire out and saved many irreplaceable aspects of this world UNESCO heritage site and symbol of the French nation, including the pipe organs, the bells and stain glass windows (only the bells are actually portrayed being saved) with flashbacks, family issues and the like.

But there's a cardboard quality to these portrayals even when the characters are in the midst of the most intense situations. A kind of even-handedness to the level of intensity when really, with the whole cathedral in imminent danger, the script cuts away to some escort who has befriended a young African-French kid and whose father who runs a shop is trying to find her in time to say goodbye to her estranged, but dying mother.

There could have been so much more to up the level of intensity and focus more on the actual fire and the cathedral. For example, the audio levels of the fire burning is kept at an even output which does much to diminish its threat and dramatic character - even in close ups - when a ferociousness to the audio track would have done wonders to compliment the visual intensity of the flames. Its all watered down (no pun intended).

In the end there are a few genuine dramatic moments with the character portrayals by individual cast members, but for almost all intensive purposes drowned out by the overall script, the even-handedness of the filmic pace, the stultifying audio.

I get what they were trying to do here; the human stories of nine Parisians--during the night the cathedral burned and how the event was a common factor in all of them.

Except ... not really.

In theory, it could have been very good, and some parts, like the skill of the producers in integrating real footage of the fire with their film, is good.

It has a few excellent dramatic moments but although some of the story lines jell, others don't and most have nothing to do with the fire except as a momentary distraction.

I also get that in making a TV drama you have to take some license with reality. But the howlers about the firefighters pointed out by others here are valid. That lackadaisical treatment might have passed in 1960s or '70s but audiences are much more sophisticated now.

And I get that in real life, even during unfolding disasters, people aren't always focused on the event. The French pride themselves on their style and skill with psychology.

But the character who keeps saying that 'everyone remembers what they were doing when Michael Jackson died' is jarring. I don't. A lot of people don't. And in the context of a story what does this even mean?

Are we supposed to compare the burning of Notre-Dame of Paris to Jackson's death?

Good psychology in that it sticks on my mind but bad in that--besides the interspersed footage of the real fire--this maudlin comparison is going to be my takeaway.

That and the haunting suspicion that this whole thing was employed by the screenwriters as a vehicle for a lot of leftover plot notions rejected from other scripts and all crammed into this one.

Considered as a soap opera this would pass. As a soap opera with a fire in the background it stumbles along. As a drama about the fire itself--which is how it was sold to us--falls flat on its face. You're much better off just watching archived news reports.

*Disclaimer: I only watched the first three episodes. Couldn't stand it any longer*

I accept that there are some things you have to do differently in a TV Show than it is in reality to keep all viewers hooked. However, in a TV Show thats claims to be based on real reports and follows Fire Fighters on a real event, I expect basics to be real and to see some realism. As a firefighter myself, I was in physical pain watching this. Here are some of the things which are totally wrong:

-You always take a fire Hose with you when you walk into a house which is on fire(!!!!!!!!!!)

• You never pass a fire
• You never take your mask of indoor. When there is a problem, the whole squad immediatly heads back out
• When something major is wrong with your SCBA (There aren't any ventiles you need to set on your mask, only connect and disconnect...) you recognize this directly after putting it on
• The commander does not order more troops by phone
• Why do you sometimes here the SCBA and sometimes not?

• In multiple scenes, they totally stand in smoke. Highly toxic smoke. Why aren't they using their SCBA?

In the german synchronisation, important technical terms are wrong. It's "Strahlrohr" not "Spritze" and "Truppführer" not "Truppchef".

Besides this, there are other problems. The show has too many characters which are too unpersonal. I don't care what happens to them, so I am emotionally completly out. In addition, I don't really get the time jumps, imo they are only there to make the show longer.

What the heck is the story of this black little boy supposed to be? He is behaving absolutly stupid and is totally annoying. Nearly as stupid is the story of the journalist. I can't imagine this to have any real base. What she does is wrong under every aspect. Why are you promoting this as based on real reports if basically everything can't be real or everyone was TOTALLY unprofessional if it really happend like this.

The acting performance of some actors is... well, mediocre at best. For example the one Fire Fighter in the control room. He sees his old love after six or seven years and shows no reaction.

All in all, this has nothing to enjoy, ecxept the good production quality. A real waste of my time.