Dead and Buried

Another one of those UK dramas that starts with a bang and completely messes the non-ending (remember that show with the flood and its dumb murder mystery?). The concept is engrossing: a grieving woman doesn't accept that her brother's killer is building a new happy life after a long time in jail.

The idea that each character is multiple shades of grey is entertaining but problems starts when your plot has just so many coincidences and stupid twists and turns. It's fun until it's not especially when your lead character is psychotic and becomes the most unlikable character of the show.

People always show up at doors at the same time, go to the same location on the same crime night or hear conversations at the perfect time. Our lead lady has a unique talent to befriend anyone despite being a weirdo from day one. It's just bad writing and there are good ideas -like the religious redemption group- that are wasted. Too many plot lines are saved for the second season which is infuriating and somehow lazy. I absolutely hated the final episode that didn't make any sense and tried to fit all the reveals in the most illogical way. I also think a proper flashback about the characters past would have helped creating an emotional link with the present story. Another waste of a good premise.

I was enjoying this and genuinely thought I'd be giving it a seven or an eight by the end, but it just went a bit too awry.

I can honestly say that I'm not too sure who did what, to whom, and when, or why.

I don't expect full closure, but I would like at least one bit to be clear.

And this is after the utter nonsense that no one would recognise they are being messed with, even if they were drunk or off their meds all the time.

I did like the story, the actors did a fab job, It's worth watching. It's just a shame it got a bit too clever with itself.

All the secondary characters were way more interesting. Which thinking about it is maybe the point.

Hmmm. I'm confused!

All I wanted to say was this show was just absolutely frustrating to watch. It's so hard to watch when the lead character (Cathy) is so incredibly unlikeable in every single way. Usually there's redeeming qualities or we get to see another side to the character so you can also empathise and soften but no. I haven't seen a show for so long where I just absolutely hated a character so much it made it kinda hard to watch. The murderer ends up being so much more likeable that you end up rooting for the murderer and hoping things will turn on her. But the main thing is that it kept me entertained and I didn't get bored. Which is what TV is supposed to do. At the same time though, it was a bit of a dreary unpleasant viewing as it's basically just four episodes of a man's life being torn apart by the most unlikeable self absorbed woman who didn't care about who she hurt as long as she tickles her urge. It ended rather abruptly. We didn't get answers for many of the things which was really annoying. The show definitely felt unfinished due to how rushed episode four was and how it ended very abruptly with barely any explanations to many of the plotlines.

Where do we start? It's always possible that someone could just bump into the guy who killed her brother - as you do, in a supermarket car park - and then that you get more and more obsessed with messing his life up. He's "done his time" but that's not enough for Cathy... She has to ruin the killer's life.

The story-line requires that working people just take time of of work; Cathy just disappears for an hour or two and her husband accepts it; a phone gets stolen, with no induction how. The dialogue doesn't flow, the characters are two-dimensional and uninteresting. The story gets more and more ridiculous and the demands on the poor cast become overwhelming: at times, you can read it in the actors' eyes: "How did I get involved in this?" Fortunately, there are only four episodes to endure, although I suspect they planned for six and decided to cut and run after four.

Started of brilliantly had me completely hooked. But as episodes went on it became increasingly improbable especially the final episode. A pity because it showed great promise. Too many plot twists with no explanation. Lead female character had no likeable traits whatsoever so it was hard to feel any sympathy for her. The male lead was better and definitely easy on the eye but you never really find out why he did what he did. All of the main characters were all linked in one way or another but there back stories, connections and various problems were never explained properly. A 2nd series maybe.