Bellevue

A troubled detective with a troubled past in a troubled town full of troubled people runs into trouble trying to solve two troublesome murders of troubled teens. A must see for fans of Anna Paquin, who has little trouble adapting her considerable talents to the minimal demands of this pedestrian and predictable noir flavored melodrama that never quite lives up to the promise of "thrilling and eerie." Nevertheless, the series somehow escapes the utterly tedious as the story meanders from one patch of trouble to the next toward a hammy "all's well that ends well" finale that has characters and cast literally rushing around to tie up loose ends. As Detective Ryder and her troubled family head into the sunset, one cannot help but share their relief that all this trouble might soon be behind them, and wonder what sort of trouble might be concocted in a sequel. Bellevue's Annie Ryder is interesting enough to follow into a fresh situation, especially if Paquin returns.

I don't know why so many seemed to be confused. It's a whodunit with a story underneath revealing more about the protagonist, who is a profiler/detective. As she is putting together the dark clues of the missing one, she also is uncovering things of her own past. The tone is reminiscent of True Detective.With trippy religious behaviors and psychotic tones and trails, it is a very good thrill and ride.

If you are one of those looking for the "True Blood" fix and a 'simple' story that doesn't require you to become invested in the characters or you won't even allow yourself to be told this story, this show will not be for you.

I am into it!

Bellevue is a dying northern Ontario town struggling with drugs after its mine closed. There's a native reservation close by. Annie Ryder (Anna Paquin) is a hard-charging police detective in town. She's the single mother to Daisy. Daisy's father Eddie Rowe is her on-again off-again boyfriend. Her police father was killed investigating the murder of Sandy Driver over 20 years ago. Another kid has gone missing. It's Jesse Sweetland, the 16 year old transgender hockey star. Maggie is his widowed mother. Peter Welland is the police chief. Annie used to find notes in the woods which she assumed to be from her dead father. She gets a new message which leads to clues about Jesse.

It's another dead kid mystery. The thing about dead kid mysteries is that it should start with a dead kid right away. I did wonder about all the police effort in finding a missing kid when the town is over-run with drugs. Like one of the officer said, he's probably run off somewhere. I'm willing to give it a pass since he is the hockey star. The other problematic issue are the notes with the dead father. Sometimes, it feels too gimmicky although I do like the original sin message. There is a bit too much exposition in the pilot. The over-riding positive is Anna Paquin. She's a top notch actress injecting real power and charisma into this project.

Was bored looking for something to watch and discovered this. Clever dark unassuming series that makes you think what's going on. Slow in build up but very unique in the way it just twists ....

Great watch

I awaited the first episode with high hopes after seeing Paquin knock it out of the park in True Blood, but was very disappointed to say the least. "Annie Ryder" plays just like "Sookie Stackhouse" on a bad day, minus the southern accent. Same facial expressions and body language, same use of words, vocal tones and speech pauses. It doesn't look like Paquin has a real handle on the character, or that she put a lot of effort into really finding that character in herself.

The writing and the other actors (except for Shawn Doyle) did not impress either. The characters feel wooden, the dialogue doesn't flow and it seems like the writers tried to cram way too much plot background and backstory into the first episode. None the characters appears to actually care about any of the other characters, except, again, for Doyle's character Peter Welland.

And for what it's worth, while I had read that the creators found the giant slag heaps at the filming location picturesque and beautiful, all I could think about when they came into view was that some mining company should be sued for creating such a hideous mess of the landscape.

All in all, not one of CBC's finer efforts so far. I'll watch a few more episodes to see how it goes, but my expectations have now hit bottom.