The Stranger

I've read through some of the reviews and notice quite a few didn't like it. My only complaint was that they tied up the end in less than ten minutes when they could have went on for at least one or two more episodes. Nonetheless, we loved it and enjoyed the suspense and how everything was tied together.

Ok; to me, this story was unbeliavable. In a way that there is no way one can believe the events described in the series. Even if we suspend belief for the entertainment value, there are too much inconsistencies, twists and coincidences that start to bother right from the beginning. In order not to give spoilers I won't go into detail but there are some major moments which are too soap opera that I forgot I was watching a thriller/ crime mystery adapted from a novel by one of the most successful writers of this genre. Then I remembered that the only novel I've read from H. Coben was not to my taste either.

Adaptation was also basic. Whenever something significant happens we are kindly reminded of the moment that is related to that revelation by flashbacks, why? I guess because we are too stupid to make the connection by ourselves.

The acting; I really enjoyed watching Anthony Head (Although I must admit his acting is always the same acting since Buffy, which is fine by me). Kaye was good, Dooley was good, so were all the actors/actresses in the second roles, the children especially. Husband was ok. I had a problem with Kirwan's adoring mother portrayal . It was just not convincing . And the lead dedective Jo (?) character did bother me . I think the ending was an insult to her , a quick fix in her personal and professional life. The actress was trying hard but there was no purpose or depth in her character.

To sum up, very superficial, meaningless, like an AI generated story ... that I could not stop watching because it had a junk food quality to it. Everyone likes to watch beautiful houses and cars and people with beautiful clothes on, with the exception of the bad guys of course. They were not fashionable :) I also kind of wondered what will happen in the end , not to the characters because they became so annoying that I did not care anymore , but I wanted to see how they will tie everything up. It was done quickly .

So a success despite all the flaws. A crowd pleaser. But if you are serious about crime fiction, watch Hinterland instead. I wish there was more of that one.

I found this enjoyable, interesting, and entertaining, which I think was the show's intent, I am surprised by some of the outbursts from others - this is a TV show and not life or death?! Worth a binge in my opinion.

When I first started watching this, I quite enjoyed this series because of the mystery and the suspense. The storyline pace is a bit slow which leads to the bad last episode. Suddenly, so many things start happening: deaths etc. I will try not to have spoilers in this but it is like mixing different soups then adding to much salt. It is a good series but it needs a better ending.

I have tried . I really have. I tried with Safe; I tried with The Woods; and I really tried with all 10 episodes of this dreck. The only saving grace of this, as it was with Safe, was the cast. The story goes nowhere and takes for ev err to get there. So I must let you go and not see you or anything by you ever again. Furthermore , I must warn others not to make the same mistakes I've made with you, in hopes they won't fall, as I did, for the allure of an interesting trailer, showing a decent looking plot with at least one famous name in the cast. That decent looking plot will all but disappear by the end of episode three to be replaced by never-ending tangential plot lines that drop into the abyss, never to be resolved, no matter how banal or un-connected to the original story they may be. Don't make the mistake I did of waiting until the final episode to see if they can tie it all up because they can't and don't and frankly who cares by that point. But Harlem Corben, I'll not let you crush my dreams of a finding a great British detective series on Netflix. It just won't be yours. But mark me down as happy that Netflix is so delusionally proud of these that they emblazon the thumbnails with his name. So much easier to avoid them that way.