Frankie Drake Mysteries

I read the synopsis on IMDb, and I thought this could be a worthy Canadian answer to the very successful and enjoyable Australian series Miss Fischer's -same premise of a female private detective in the 1920s. Unfortunately, Frankie ain't no Phryne. The main character lacks the drive and personality one would expect from a female detective in an 1920s male dominated environment. Indeed, aside from very soft references to prohibition and slavery (in that order) the series appears to ignore the social references and culture of the times, and the aforementioned 1920s female detective appears to glide through unencumbered, except for the very soft and predictable love interest from the local news hack. Hardly believable, and only suitable for a kid's series. It's a shame, the period locations, sets and costumes were enjoyable, and the supporting cast was OK. But if the script and the main character are not up to scratch, then you can only produce a mediocre piece. CBC wasted their money on this one. Don't waste your time.

Miss Fishers' murder mysteries is a favourite of mine so I wanted to check this out too. A little disappointed. Costumes and set design are fine but the lead actress plays it with very little emotion and delivers her lines like she's not emotionally connected to the role. It is early days and that sometimes it takes a while for a an actor to know her character and I hope this happens.

It does have potential and the supporting cast are quite fun. Not being familiar totally with the era I'm not sure of the historical accuracy but I can put that aside if it gets a little more gritty while still having a bit of fun.

I do enjoy the banter between the characters so will keep watching.

I tuned in with real hopes for this series, having been a great fan of Miss Fisher and Murdoch Mysteries, but two episodes in I'm wondering whether to continue recording and watching it. It's the heroine... Just irritating and not convincing as an actress, sorry. Maybe if there was someone with more charisma and oomph playing the main lead we might be in for a treat, but at the moment I'm hard pressed to carry on. Reading other reviews it doesn't seem that it does improve, but I'll persevere for a bit and live in hope. I understand that the interracial friendships, which presumably would've been incredibly difficult in the era are good for the show, and I can suspend disbelief for these as I do on Murdoch, which at least does show some discrimination and problems for women, but the main character really does lack any get up and go, and some of the other actors also seem a bit wooden.

Stylish Private Detective series, carried very amiably by a charming cast, in a light, Castle type 'not too serious' way, set in the 1920's with fun music, and excellent attractive settings, and with excellent costumes too - overall very much enjoyed, I hope it extends to further (and longer) series, which given the longevity of it's 'set earlier' stablemate, Murdoch, it really should. And good to see the main protagonists all Female....

Frankie Drake in an important respect, is the antithesis of its obvious point of comparison, The Murdoch Mysteries. One to a reasonable degree, reflects the attitudes of the era. The other, Frankie Drake, transports modern people with modern attitudes, back in time, to the 1920's.

If I did not know better, I would have assumed it was a fancy dress party for hip, culturally and ethically "aware", upper crust, Toronto gentry. Suffice to say the whole thing is horribly unconvincing.

Taking this modernist stance makes it hard if not impossible to craft characters with any depth. The resulting caricatures are, unsurprisingly, shallow and uninteresting.

By contrast, the sets are excellent, the stories have, in some instances, a sound premise but the overall tone is so off, this series simply left me cold. 5/10.