Who Is Erin Carter?

The good thing about this mini-series is that there is a lot of action, good fighting scenes, a little suspense and mystery and overall good acting. The bad thing was the sometimes poorly written plot. By that I mean there were some "yeah right, what are the odds they know each other, or it's a very small world" moments. But even with those weak moments the show remained very entertaining. The fighting scenes were pretty brutal and well choreographed. Maybe not everybody's cup of tea but certainly mine. There are only seven episodes so it's one of those binge watching shows that you can easily finish in a couple days.

As I stated in the description, this show is very difficult to review. I gave it six stars because it's worth more than 5. This is one of those shows that some will like and others won't. Hollywood has already gotten me accustomed to tiny little women beating up everybody after getting slammed around and then knocking them out. Unrealistic, yes, but par for the course for the last 20 years or so. For me though, the story started out a little too slow for my taste. It wasn't until halfway through the fourth episode that it finally got interesting, which is why I rated it so low. It's a loooooong slow buildup to the finale, which is rather anti climactic. Not as bad as the Game of Thrones finale, but pretty danged close. I'll watch a second season if they film one, just to see where they take it.

I had a suspicion this might be dreadful and after the first episode I hadn't been persuaded otherwise. I stuck with it and started to really enjoy it.

Episode four is where it really starts to get going and from there you're already invested.

Now, I'm not normally a huge fan of the running and shooting and jumping off stuff and fighting action films/series, but I do appreciate the effort that goes into them. I've seen Die Hard a couple of times, it was fun.

For me, this series was kind of like that. You need to sit back and enjoy the nonsense.

Clearly, any normal person getting kicked about several times a day would need a bit of recovery time. Did Bruce Willis ever need recovery time? I don't think so! So why would super badass mom, Erin Carter?!

My advice? Chill out, laugh at the ridiculousness, groan at the terrible dialogue, suspend your disbelief pretty much all the way through, and just enjoy it!

Oh, and can I say thank you to whoever decided to have the protagonist run around in sensible shoes and not four inch stilettos all the time? I mean, you want realism? There it is.

Anyway, I hope there's a second series. That's how much I enjoyed it!

This started with a decent premise -- a mom/school teacher leading a pleasant, suburban life but hiding a dark and violent past. As the plot unfolded in the midst of cocktail parties and after-school activities, it reminded me a bit of a Harlan Coben mini-series. But after a few episodes, the level of gun play and martial arts fighting rose to video game levels. Some characters are impossible to kill, no matter how many bullets hit them; too many others are simply expendable. The first few episodes drew me in enough to make me finish watching this series, but overall it was ridiculous and watching it probably made me dumber. The beautiful scenery and charismatic cast didn't save it.

That's not something I can say often. This show is constant tension, action and plot. The series feels a lot longer than it is without ever feeling boring. One episode feels like half a season. On top of that, the series is also decently funny and has some lowkey clever moments. Evin Ahmad absolutely shines as a Brit and an action character and her kid not looking like her at all makes sense this time (unlike Snabba Cash).

The largest problem I see is the handling of the backstory. Too much becomes hinted at too obviously too quickly, making the mystery around Erin's past less intriguing and preventing the series from having the emotional edge it's going for.

But I don't care, this is one of Netflix's most entertaining, substantial and well-paced productions I've seen.