Winter

Contrary to other opinions here at IMDb, we found Winter to be a superb production, well-acted and well-written. British mysteries sometimes are heavily-weighed for character-development, leaving nifty plot developments as a secondary consideration. We haven't quite finished the series, but we are pleased that some mysteries are slowly coming to light, and others will be revealed in the final episode.

There's a nice bit of coincidence in the plot, a tool that can be used or overused. In this case, it ties some loose plot-ends together nicely and shows that the hunch of one key detective was off-base, a rare outcome in a mystery story. Rebecca Gibney is excellent as the lead detective 'Winter', very reminiscent in looks and style of Amanda Burton, from the British 'Commander' series (maybe a little prettier, and not so tragically-flawed).

WE caught this on Acorn TV - but we would part with the price of a DVD set to see it again.

This is a TV series that goes all over the place with its story line. There are so many subplots that are loosely held together that its difficult to know what the main focus of the series was all about. Everyone has a secret, everyone is a suspect is something or another, and at the end, everyone lives happily ever after. The scenes jump around due to poor editing, and sometimes appear in a random order. In the last episode it was as if there was a lot of pressure to wrap things up quickly, so problems were quickly solved, and an all too predictable end finally reached.

The acting comes across as very "tongue-in-cheek", almost as if the actors really didn't believe the words they were saying. This may just have been due to a poor script, or their desire to get to the end of the story and move on to something else.

There are some really good Australian productions. This is just not one of them!

Twists and turns neatly wrapped up by the end. Keeps you engaged and surprised.

"Winter" is an odd one - the cinematography shows occasional spots of brilliance, but is, mostly, simple and functional; the acting is on the spot, with each actor playing their characters efficiently, not missing a beat; the direction is crisp, and so is the editing; this is one of those shows where everything except the plot is good.

Twists abound in the end, and the finale is one to be watched, because it is just so good. However, the red herrings thrown in here and there were never convincing enough - the ideal red-herring is one that is well-justified, but not for the reason we think it to be, and masks the hints that foreshadow the real fact; in this case, though, there are no hints whatsoever to be masked, and some reveals are just like "Uh huh. Ok." instead of "How did I not see that coming??"

In addition, the characters are actually nothing so special. Take Castle. Castle himself is quirky, has a sense of humor, loves adventures, and is basically a big kid. But he also has the ability to show pathos towards his fellow investigators and has good observation skills, which make sense given his novelist background.

Consider House, M.D. He's sarcastic, caustic, permanently ticked-off, insulting, brash, ingenious, playful (to the extent of causing harm) but committed to his work as a doctor.

Now consider Eve Winter. Nothing special, just the typical cop with a haunting past, who is trying to do justice by the victims who keep her work coming. Nothing to write home about.

Consider the Fed, Jake. He just wants a confession and keeps getting into loggerheads with Winter. Nothing special there, either. The only one with a hint of personality is Indiana herself, and thank God for that, because otherwise the entire cast could be replaced by everymen and the story wouldn't change much.

Regardless, I'm giving this an 8/10 for an overall solid show. Good entertainment, but don't expect to be hooked until the penultimate episode.

Being a fan of mostly UK and Scandinavian crime series, I sometimes like to widen my horizons and find out what other countries have to offer in a similar area. Prior to start watching Winter, I had some qualms regarding approach and possible easy solution, but it soon turned out to be a versatile story having its twists and turns throughout the 6 episodes.

True, there were some common leitmotifs and predictable character relations, but as I did not surmise the wrongdoer and potential crime motives, I am pleased that I took/found approx. 5 hours for this Series.