Diavoli

6 episodes in over a weekend and it's held my attention. Sumptuous locations and well filmed. One criticism is that little effort has been made to show that it's set 10-12 years ago, the tech and so on looks mostly bang up to date to me. British Billions? Kind of.

I really enjoyed this series and found myself wanting to binge watch to find out how the plot ended. The actors were very convincing in their roles as traders in the share markets and the various plot twists kept the narrative interesting. I didn't feel you needed to be an expert in high finance to understand what was going on. It was entertaining and intriguing.

A deep series about the world of (real) finance and behind the scenes (fictional) machinations, with good acting, nice development, but with a horrible flow, near total lack of entertainment and boredom all upon you.

It is one of the very few series where the acting and screenplay are (+), whereas the flow and enjoyment are sub-zero. Sat and sat throughout the 10 episodes, to witness a very unsatisfying ending.

The producers should really consider finishing it here and forget about a more boring second season.

• Screenplay/story: 8.5
• Development: 8.5
• Realism: 7.5
• Entertainment: 6
• Acting: 8.5
• Photography/filming: 8.5
• Visuals/special effects: 7
• Music/score: 7
• Depth: 8
• Logic: 6.5
• Flow: 6
• Thrill/drama: 6.5
• Ending: 7.

The first season probably should have been 6 episodes and not 10 because there is a stretch of episodes in the middle where very little seems to happen. Still, Devils was entertaining enough that I'd say it's worth a watch if the plot summary interests you. Beware, though, that there are some unintentionally funny elements. First, the voice over at the beginning of every episode that talks about the devil is extremely cheesy. It was also hilarious that the main characters are supposed to be brilliant traders, but employ the exact same strategy in every single episode. Seriously, if you take a shot every time they suggest shorting a stock you will be passed out in no time. Finally, the show takes place in 2011 and flashes back to 2001. The problem is the flashbacks are largely built around the Sofia character who, according to the credits is supposed to be 10 in 2001. It makes no sense then why the producers have cast a girl who looks far younger than 10 for the 2001 scenes and an actress in her 30s for the 2011 scenes. I cringed every time they did a flashback because of this.

It's about time we had a good series about one of the bankers getting screwed and then deciding to take down his employers.

Alessandro Borghi is one of the best actors on the planet these days. Anyone who has seen him in other productions, such as Suburra, will attest to that. I'm not a big fan of Patrick Dempsey, but he's come a long way since his early days and plays his part with some authority.

The supporting cast does a good job, too. The sense of naked ambition, where people will do anything and everything to ascend the greasy pole, is palpable.

I can thoroughly recommend this series!

Update: The long-awaited Season 3 doesn't disappoint. I binge-watched all 8 episodes in a day! Brilliant!