Dublin Murders

If I hadn't recently read both books I think this would have been even more confusing. This series takes liberal adaptations in order to shoehorn both stories concurrently into one series. There is a nice symmetry between the storylines, of abandoned children and the aftermath. And loss.

I'm a big fan of Tana French, especially "The Likeness" so I'll focus on that story line; I enjoyed seeing how others envision the characters, and above all, that manor house of Whitethorn. The novel lets you worm your way into Lexie's head and it's seductive. However, film gives us those atmospheric images of Ireland: lush green, dark and sinister woods, and that manor house. The dialog, the Irish slang and accents are terrifiic; fast, sharp, and wickedly smart.

Read the books, especially "The Likeness."

A good start but it became apparent that this was really two unconnected plots shoehorned together. I note from the credits it was based on two books and this seemed to come through quite clearly in the TV adaptation. In the end the show dabbled with some supernatural elements but never had the courage to develop them or the writing to develop plot points that otherwise stretched all credulity. The suspension of disbelief was overcome by a sense of annoyance & the ending was an unsatisfactory cop out with both plot lines left with significant gaps. It was atmospheric & technically well put together but ultimately the writing wasn't strong enough. There were also far too many flashbacks which became intrusive & seemed like unnecessary padding.

This show has been very up and down by pretty much every metric. The pace seems to speed up and slow down, with long stretches of very little happening but then new developments frantically thrown into the mix. I understand the producers crammed two books into one series which accounts for the weird pacing, and two investigations happening (which gets confusing and they bog each other down). The script also had some well-written funny moments, but then the very next scene will feature horrible dialogue. Hard to blame the actors, who do a good job in the main, but a lot of their emotions seem turned up to 11 all the time, which is exhausting and not hugely realistic. The characters' behaviour is downright bizarre at times. Coppers lose their rag constantly and seem to have no idea how to run an investigation that is remotely effective or follows any kind of professional standards. The plotting is also all over the place and requires some pretty major suspension of disbelief over daft left turns and enormous coincidences. All that said, I find myself needing to watch the final episode to see if they can wrap it all up in a way that isn't either a total cop-out or just a daft resolution that comes out of left field.

Irish folklore: check Whodunnit: check Complex characters: check Twisty romance: check Cop banter: check Awesome accents: double check

This was really good, watch it - don't listen to the negative reviews.

I just finished binge watching this. It starts off slow as the story unravels its characters. It seems like a pretty simple whodunnit, but its not. The characters are flawed and have dark pasts which interweave beautifully with the main plot and just when you think you have it all worked out.... another bread crumb appears and like Hansel and Gretel you cant help yourself... You follow. I wont give anything away, but i hope they do a season 2... Special appearance by one of my favourite Game of Thrones characters and the acting is superb