Arcadia

This TV serles made headlines for its big budget, and proves you need more than money to make an interesting show. The story revolves around people's credit score. Not a very original idea, but could still be interesting if executed well. We see the lives of a family where the father gets sentenced for messing with his daughters credit score. He has to go and leave his family behind. Now we follow the lives of his wife and daughters. Not much happens next. The show is slow, very slow. The acting is poor and the dialogues are very dull. None of the characters are interesting or move you emotionally. The show depicts a dystopian future, but mostly because that future looks so boring and uninteresting.

I came to this with no real great hopes but was drawn in almost immediately. I'd watched a Norwegian series about a "Dome" a few months ago and was worried that this would be similar - the Norwegian series was really a kids' adventure.

This was altogether darker and much more interesting. The several themes meshed together perfectly - cheating to keep points, circumventing tracking, helping those not entitled, going "outside".

Some motivations and events strained credulity, particularly the forays outside. I don't believe that in such a highly regimented society that people going offline too often wouldn't have been caught or at the least suspected. However, in the main, scenarios had their own inner logic commensurate with the story.

I hadn't known that a second season had already been made. I have to get it as there was a huge cliffhanger at the end of Season One. I'm dying to see how it all works out.

In Belgium the series is received with very mixed reviews, mostly because Belgian people like to complain about things, especially when it concerns something outside the comfort zone, or actually very close. And also when taxpayer's money is involved... But I haven't seen too many argumented opinions. So, I'll try to write an honest review of the series, especially aimed at those who doubt, but are open to try something new.

Although the world in which it takes place lacks some depth, the plot becomes more mysterious and gripping towards the end with a massive cliffhanger as the ultimate reward. Along the way, the series frequently tests your emotions and also inspires you to think. Despite having seen similar dystopian stories before, some social and technological parameters in this near-future world seem frighteningly close, especially at the rate where we humans allow technology to enter our lives for the benefit of convenience and luxury, no matter the potential privacy rights that are given up.

Considering it's made by Dutch and Belgian production companies, the sets, costumes and environments are impressive, and the deliberate choice for an 80s technology design only adds to the visually appealing cinematography. Maybe the choice for old fashioned looking technology is also there to make viewers feel at ease, as the use of technology based on things we use today, might scare people more easily because of its familiarity. At least now, we still have a sort of 'far away from reality'-feeling.

As the series is broadcasted in both the Netherlands and Belgium, some characters may come across as stiff because they avoid specific dialects and some might even look a bit unnatural. However, this does not detract from the icing on the cake: the outstanding performances of the main cast, especially by Lynn Van Royen, who convincingly portrays a special needs character that masterfully tugs at the viewer's heartstrings in expected and unexpected ways. Also praise for the young Dutch actress Ellie de Lange for her emotionally strong and believable performance.

One possible hurdle might be that it takes about three episodes to get into it, so give the series a chance to conquer you and be open to a daring genre that is rarely seen in the Netherlands and especially Belgium, let alone at this level of production. I am already looking forward to the second part.

This is a well produced series... it is slow paced. It probably would have worked much better in an 8 million euro 3 hour film in stead of the 8 million euro 8 part series which it is now.... The sets are beautiful and believable. Lynn van Rooyen as Luz is excellent, I bet we will hear from her more in international productions.... the overall cast is quite good. As this first season ends on a cliffhanger, it means that for the viewer the ending is a bit disappointing.... loose strings are not getting tied for us, apparently we need to wait for more information about the who, the what and the why of Arcadia and the main forces pulling the strings in that society.... the storyline overall is quite okay although at points it becomes really too slow. As said, a 3 hour film probably would have given the whole production a bit more umpf.... Arcadia is still worth your while though, although a bit unsatisfying at times. It is very different from the British production Years and Years, which also is about a dystopian society, but within our current time. Years and Years though, is much more rooted in real people, real relationships and it has a real dynamic way of telling a real story with real ideas, real people.... here the ideas are a little bit more philosophical and the characters are more one- (and a half) dimensional.... Though, again: well produced, gorgeous sets and good actors... For season 2 they need to ask Russel T. Davies (the man who wrote Years and Years) for some feedback.

This show was announced to be the most expensive Belgian show ever made (with a little help from our friends). Yet the acting is so appalling, so bad. The story is quiet alright, the actors are not unknown starting actors, so what the hell went wrong? Watching this show (in your native language - Dutch) is like watching a very poorly dubbed Spanish movie. There is no life in these characters, no emotions, no nothing.

But if you can muster the bad acting and horrible lines, please watch. Realise that that world is hopefully not our future, although we are silently moving into that direction.

And did we really need the Dutch ;-)