Bloodlands

A solid police show with a nice steady stream of twists and reveals, the second episode just dropped on ROKU and it keeps up the intrigue begun in the first. Not so complex that you need a scorecard to follow it, yet it never seems to drag or leave you looking for the FF button. I admit to being a sucker for Irish police shows and this one hasn't disappointed. Edit: I have to withdraw my enthusiasm for this series since the writers decided to make so many characters totally unlikable or dead. They had a great start but I think they dropped the ball big time. For me a show needs to have someone I can root for and they've left me with no one.

This is a strange program -- all the ingredients seem to be there for a good show but it doesn't get there. Part of the problem is that the plotting is twisted and hard to follow, part of the problem is that the characters aren't very well developed, and part of the problem is that the writing is overly cliched -- way too many "'let's go get 'em" and "there he is!" and "this is an important case and we must do our best" kind of lines.

But the other issue is the strangest -- for whatever reason, the camera spends far too much time focused on James Nesbitt's face, as though the storyline depended entirely on his expressions. He's a good actor but do we have to watch him so closely, follow his every facial tic, watch his eyes watch other people? It's almost as if someone said, "hey, let's do a show about James Nesbitt's face and, sure, we can add some plot and some characters if you want." Weird.

I don't understand why reviewers compare programs/movies. I want a variety. While I think Line of Duty is brilliant, I am still enjoying Bloodlands for the history and the stories it has to offer that, frankly, would not possible in Line of Duty.

The locations are beautiful and ones that we are not often privy to - Northern Ireland - as are the politics which involve so many layers of Irish age old problems.

So, enjoy this unique show and what it has to offer in Irish actors and story telling. I have to mention the accents that are unique to that region (of course) when we are so used to the jumble of Londons' lot.

There's been a lot of mention of James Nesbitt's closeups. Yep. There's a lot. Lucky for us he has a versatile face! And you can't miss those raven black eyebrows - they won't let you.

Also, If you're bored, there's the drinking game that you can have which involves the words "Daddy" and "Mummy".

This is an interesting series - with Northern Ireland as a character brings it up several notches.

The draw was James Nesbitt and a UK Crime Drama. This one takes you on an unexpected path. It's a great murder mystery set in Ireland's Troubles. Great performances. Interesting twists. I give this series an 8 (great) out of 10. {Police Procedural}

Wow... judging by a large share of unfavorable comments submitted here, "Bloodlands" isn't very popular among the viewers. Then again, most of the reviews were written after barely one (out of four) episode, and restrict to just one or two sentences stating the series is boring and awful. How reliable are those opinions? Personally, I found "Bloodlands" a compelling and well-scripted thriller mini-series, albeit with a number of shortcomings.

The series is heavy on politics, but what else do you expect from a murder-and-kidnapping story set in Northern Ireland, and jumping back and forth between April 1998 (the period leading up to the Good Friday peace agreement) and present day, where the truce between Catholics and Protestants is still very vulnerable. The kidnapping of former IRA-militant (and thoroughly unpleasant) Pat Keenan also reopens the unresolved case of the so-called Goliath murders. Those murders were committed between February and April 1998, presumably by a member of the police force, but had to be covered up in favor of the approaching peace agreement. DCI Tom Brannick lost his wife to the Goliath killer, and is now confronted again with the cold case.

There's not a whole lot of action in "Bloodlands", but the script is intelligent and full of unforeseeable twists. Especially halfway and during the finale, there are some perplexing twists. James Nesbitt in the lead role is somewhat a mixed bag. I like him as an actor, especially since his powerful role in "The Missing", and he fits the character, but his performance is wickedly uneven. All of his facial expressions, whether its rage or frustration or sadness, make it look as if he's struggling with stomach aches. Strong supportive cast, though, including Lorcan Cranitch, Charlene McKenna and Peter Ballance. And, what I definitely enjoyed most about "Bloodlands" was the Irishness; - duh! The history lessons, the trivia, the accents, and even one sequence in genuine Irish language.