Águas do Norte

This is a top-notch historical saga about a group of savage men hunting for whales in the Arctic, where they become stranded due to a deliberate act of treachery. While the entire effort seems virtually flawless, I write to commend one standout performance among a stellar cast: Colin Farrell!!

Holy whalebone! His is a menacing character indeed! Thoroughly vile and unrepentant. The only thing worse is his dysfunctional relationship with every other character in the plot - the way a foul stain spoils an entire tapestry, his portrayal of Drax stirs a dark mood into every element of this story.

He is so believable that you won't even recognize him for the first half-episode, because he plays his role in a way that is utterly believable but at the same time completely different from every other role that I've seen him portray. Wow!

Watch this show for an excellent bit of historical drama. Enjoy it for Mr. Farrell!!!

Well acted, great story. Very gritty.

Stephen Graham, brilliant as always.

One reviewer said they couldn't see anything on screen. Sounds like they need a new TV. They also said they couldn't understand the actors accents. It's set in Hull in 1859. How do you expect them to speak? With a plum in their mouths.

The North Water - based on a book by academic and author Ian McGuire - is a dark and fairly uncompromising quest into the dark heart of humanity aboard a doomed whaling ship in the arctic wastes. A flawless cast (with a mesmerically beastly Colin Farrell), beautiful location shooting in Svalbard (and some of the furthest North for television) and the esoteric soundscapes of Tim Hecker make this a seriously riveting watch. The pace can sometimes slow to a crawl and the heady themes may get a little muddled along the way, but the whole is atmospheric and intoxicating. Seriously good TV - one of the highlights of the year for me.

A dark and twisted tale with some fine acting and good production taking place in the cruel world of whale/seal hunters in the mid of the 19th century. Lots of blood, sweat, grease, crime and violence. A show for a mature audience without any unnecessary gimmicks - recommended if you like such shows like Taboo or The Terror, or movies like In the Heart of the Sea, the classic Moby Dick, The Revenant (DiCaprio), The Vanishing (Gerard Butler) and so on.

A subject that I don't think has had such a high production value put towards it, that being whaling. Even tho its only one of many themes appear in this story, I look forward to how they depict it.

They didn't hold back on the Sealing parts, so I expect a brutal and accurate depiction of what whalers did back then, how dangerous it was and depicting the types of people that gravitated towards it. Tho my ancestors where a whaling family in the 1800's early 1900's, So it could be a family type of business also back then. And they hired aboriginals for most of the help and paid them proper (Australian).

But back to the amazing pilot.

If the cast alone doesn't get your interested. Just give it a go for the first 15 mins. If you don't like the tone of the series which is very obvious from the get go. Then don't bother watching further and voting it down.

I'll be surprised if my rating changes from a 9, it anything it could be a 10/10 by the end. Stephen Graham and. Jack O'Connell are big draws for me. Graham is a seasoned actor and one of the best from the UK currently who is heavily under appreciated. And O'Connell I've really enjoyed in most of his films and he pushes what genres and types of projects he takes on. A proper actor which is not common and like Graham I think is underappreciated but he's been on the scene less time. Hopefully they both get their due sometime soon with big films but not anything disney related. Marvel, star wars etc.. Please no.

I did not mean to add this random extra bit about the actors and it being so long.. so im just going to finish up here. Just watch the show.