The Loch

If I could, I would give it a 7.5, just not quite an 8. I only felt compelled to give a review because I saw negative reviews by a lot of stuffed shirts. I think it has a compelling way of telling the story from the female cop's perspective. Does that make it "feminist" or "politically correct"? Of course not. Get over yourself, whoever said that! Just another misogynist pig trying to shuck it off as politically correct.

The way it ties in the different murders is as realistic as many American cop shows I've seen. I like how there is some irreverent humor from the younger characters.

I'm not the typical reviewer but felt I needed to add some of these other reviewers are stuffed shirts.

The scenery and the cinematography of it - no complaints there!

The actors - reasonably good. They're often interesting to watch, even if at times what the writers had them do was terribly stupid.

The story - starts off well enough. A dark Scandinavian crime-type show, rooted perhaps in Italian gialli films. Some gory crimes with sordid backstories. Red herrings galore.

It starts unraveling at the end, though. The solution to the crimes is terribly contrived. Odds that any viewer will be annoyed: probably pretty high.

At least it's a short series? If it were to have a second season with writers that have more respect for the material, the cast, and the audience, I'd probably watch.

I really liked the first couple of episodes, but subsequent episodes were lacking. Quite a bit seemed contrived, and somewhat fantastic/unreal at the same time. The last 2-3 episodes I stayed in because I wanted to see how it ended, but it felt a waste of time overall.

C'mon! How many boxes did they tick covering every stereotype possible.

Taking care not to add spoilers: Out of town cops v in-town cops= friction. Kids that don't obey, and lie.

Requisite minorities included, bad guy shrinks. Husband feeling neglected because wife has a life- (but isn't particularly honorable to her) Stopping here, before spoilers, I just wanted to say that the "Paint-by-numbers" plots these shows have are getting awfully tedious. Four episodes in, and if I spend a minute, I bet I can solve this by figuring out what box isn't yet ticked off! Aren't there any original writers out there? With new ideas? GREAT SCENERY!!!

I will disagree with some of the other reviews on here, and say I quite enjoyed the first part, which had set a tone for a Scottish Broadchurch, sadly the episodes that have followed have felt a little hollow.

The positives, the location, camera work and atmosphere are totally on point, it's a very attractive show, looks wonderfully vibrant, you will marvel at the scenery, they couldn't fail with that location. The lead, Siobhan Finneran is great, a strong actress with charisma and presence.

On the downside, I find Finneran so good, that she's making some of the rest feel like non entities, some of the characters are so forgettable, they're not making enough impression. Hopefully that will change, Alastair Mackenzie is a fine actor, he's just been underused so far. At times I find it a bit slow, tedious almost, they could have condensed it down to four parts, and removed some of the padding. It doesn't have the hook to retain your interest that Broadchurch managed to gain.

Overall it's watchable enough, and has some tense moments, it just feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity. 6/10