35 Diwrnod

If you're like most mortals on the planet, you most likely do not have a working command of Cymraeg, the language of both Wales and the film "35 Diwrnod". That would leave you dependent on subtitles. Alas, none of the subtitles in this potentially very interesting series are appropriately adapted to the background colors of the screen you might be watching on: the letters are ALL WHITE. The result of this is simple: white letters against the white walls of the kitchens, the bedrooms, the various cabinets throughout the houses, become impossible to read. It's a bit like the visual version of trying to follow a mobile phone conversation with someone who's traveling through the Swiss Alps - traversing tunnel after tunnel after tunnel. At least a full third of the conversations, if not more, will have been lost completely.

If you're patient enough to collect disconnected clues throughout, with no coherent storyline to follow, then you might like this drama. Perhaps the payoff rewards the hard-working viewer. I found it more gimmicky than engrossing, and abandoned the effort 2/3 of the way through the first episode. Plus, the subtitles really are a challenge.

I just finished bingeing all four seasons. The first season is the best. It was a great change from the usual detective story -- by showing the murder victim die to begin with, then working up to it over the previous 35 days. Be ready for almost every character to have a definite dark and deceitful core. Even the "best" of them are revealed as the unpredictable chain of events unwinds. I have never seen a show with so many side plots, yet they don't interfere with the main story. Except in the last season which is a bit helterskelter to say the least. In an effort to add humor, they lost the plot a few times. And the way that it ended was unsatisfactory -- other characters were far more deserving of his fate. Also, Season 4 starts slow and moves at an erratic pace. Seasons 1 and 3 are the most watchable. Although I see reviews complaining about the white subtitles disapppearing against the background? I didn't have that problem at all. I could read everything clearly. You do have to stay glued to the screen, however. It's worth it.

Addictive, well written and I can't understand why anyone would give any show a bad review because of subtitles. It's so smart and I hope everyone watches it.

Someone totally incompetent wrote WHITE subtitles on light or white backgrounds. Just awful. In a mystery every bit of dialogue is crucial, but one misses a lot of it here - incomprehensible. So disappointed. Why doesn't someone fix this?