Bedlam

I actually liked season 1. Yea there were some flaws but the characters were much more likable than those in season 2. Season 2 did provide some answers. But overall it was awful.

First of all, I think it's good to know going in that season 1 and season 2 are different beasts. The first season follows Jed, a man who sees ghosts and returns to his family's asylum-turned-apartment building after being summoned by an unknown entity. While there he tries to understand his deeper connection to the place. Season 2 follows Ellie, a paramedic who has started seeing ghosts and goes to the asylum/apartments to seek out Jed (her access to medical files means she knows that he also saw ghosts).

The premise itself is good, and I was interested in both the "episode of the week" parts (ie always figuring out which former mental patient was haunting someone and why), and the long-form story (about Jed and Ellie and their connection to the asylum). But both aspects of the series let me down quite a bit. There are some creepy images here and there, but the resolutions are often not very satisfying. We are repeatedly shown mental patients who haunt the asylum because they were horribly abused, and usually their stories end with really superficial solutions, like returning a possession to a grave.

As other reviews have mentioned, there are several mysteries that are simply never solved or just dropped from the narrative and it's quite frustrating. Characters we care about--MAIN CHARACTERS--leave or die off-screen, as if the actors just simply didn't come back to work and another character explains what happened to them or where they are.

I don't mind shows that aren't awesome, but this one doesn't even have an episode that I could name as a stand-out or even totally good episode. On the whole they tend to range from boring to middling. On the plus side, there are only 12 episodes in the entire show, and I liked Theo James and Lacey Turner enough as the leads that I stayed relatively engaged. Hugo Speer (as the probably evil uncle Warren) is good, but given almost nothing to do except pop up now and then to be menacing.

I can't really recommend this one, nor can I say it should be avoided. It's just . . . eh. If you like ghosty/paranormal stuff, this is good enough for a Friday night binge watch.

I REALLY liked this show simply based on the cool subject matter. The setting is GREAT and can lead to many creepy stories to be told. In reality it would be SOOO COOL to have a flat in a place like that, as long as the spirits have not targeted you any particular week.

I read reviews about bad acting and maybe it is because I am not a Brit I cannot pick up on it as much, acting is in the little details and I am not sure what they are supposed to sound like so I must miss it. I think the acting is just fine. The actors are also attractive and that is not always commonplace on Brit TV. Maybe the acting bar can be lowered because they are pretty people.

I see A LOT of potential for future seasons and even though I read the article about the low ratings I see will have season 2 and I am excited.

This show was ok but could have been much better. I was a little upset half the characters you get invested into get written off the show after season 1 but it was something to watch and easy to binge the whole thing in a few nights. It was just entertaining enough to follow through but I probably won't ever watch it again.

I think the show is really worth watching. It's short, condensed, well balanced between the self-conclusive episodes and the main plot. Nothing new, slightly flat characters, but a whole lot of entertainment.

That said, it's interesting how much derivative the show is. The locations, the iconography of the ghosts, the dynamics between ghost and characters... everything seems to convey a sense of deja-vu. And it's surprising how much this show tries NOT to be British while still remaining it; the reference is more or less the recent American horror (and, indirectly, the Japanese new wave) but many things in the production (good lookin', sexy actors; cinematography; editing, ecc...) just seem to try and be in that trend, maybe to be "easy". On the other side, a kind of British aftertaste still remains and the writing (characters issue aside) is really good.

It has it's flaws, but still works better and better each episode, till the great, though a bit "tecnical", final cliffhanger.