Crossing Lines

I absolutely love this show. I love that it takes place in Europe with team members from different countries who speak languages other than English. I always love Donald Sutherland and hope that his presence in the series can be increased. I was a bit disappointed at hearing everything in English. As an American living in Europe I hear different languages all the time. However, for example, when a German person speaks with a German person, they do not speak in English. I know that Americans are not accustomed to reading sub-titles, but I would give this series a 10 if this had happened. It's an NBC production. Perhaps if it were a cable production, the extra time and expense for subtitling and speaking in like languages would have been permitted. Still, I love the show. Hoping for more of the same.

I really enjoyed the first two seasons of the show. The flavor of the EU was a wonderful departure from the usual American fare. The cast was fun and were close and each had an interesting back-story which highlighted the countries where they were raised. They had personality and heart and fascinating stories, all of which kept me engaged. That is what my rating is based upon. Don't bother watching season 3. New cast, new show runners. Terrible writing. Very cold and procedural. Wooden acting. I think they tried to slick it up for American audiences, whom they clearly think are idiots so they explain everything. The characters are very stiff and all-business. The acting is bad and the relationships unfriendly. Instead of warmth and 'family' atmosphere between them, a lot of criticism and meddling. I absolutely loathed it. What a waste to murder a fun show that gave us a feel for the world outside the US.

The first two season of this show are amazing. Brilliant writing, fantastic acting and interesting story lines. The formula is similar to your Law and Order or NCIS type shows, but the European setting adds an extra element. Every episode is set in a different country, instead of your usual New York or LA story lines. The cast are truly diverse, with German, French, Dutch main characters. Several episodes have you on the edge of your seat, with some very exciting and dramatic events.

Then season three happened. Suddenly half the cast was gone...including the main character Hickman! There had been a few story arcs in the second season that are just forgotten. What happened with Ava's search for her father, did Hickman end up with Amanda (she was such a great character who deserved more screen time) and the story lines of the other major characters such as Tommy's ongoing family problems. Really disappointing to have such a good show turned into an entirely new series. 10/10 for the first two seasons, forget the third.

Like the other reviewer, I stumbled across this series by accident when I was looking through the ratings and didn't know what this show was about. Recognizing several actors I enjoy watching, I decided to look it up and found it buried on NBC's website. The synopsis looked interesting and follows similar crime dramas we also enjoy and felt to me like a Criminal Minds Europe type of show.

We watched the first two episodes and thoroughly enjoyed them. It had a Spooks feel (MI-5 to US folks), Criminal Minds and a bit of Law and Order mixed in with a lot of suspense, action and a few twists. It has a great cast and I'm not bothered by its size. It's a very cerebral show that gets you thinking and I do hope it lasts the 10 episodes its scheduled for to see how it plays out. Given the poor quality of shows available for viewing this summer, this is a breath of fresh air.

Shame on NBC though for keeping this jewel hidden... a little bit of marketing and it could be owning its time slot easily.

Crossing Lines is a smartly written, cleverly acted and well produced drama about an international crime fighting unit that investigates multi-national (hence the name: Crossing the "boundary" lines of EC countries) high end and highly sophisticated crimes. The characters are intriguing yet follow similar patterns found in shows like CSI and Criminal Minds: aloof male leader (king archetype), warrior, princess and magician (computer genius) archetype as well.

The show's writers and producers have created some interesting twists in the first several episodes in terms of the main character's back stories and developing relationships with in the ICC unit. In addition, the crimes themselves are fresh and do not follow typical "clean all wrapped up nicely endings" often associated with other high end crime dramas on television.

The dialog is smart and treats the audience as viewers with a brain and soul in that there is plenty of passion and cognitive material to digest in each episode.

The writer's plot twists are risky and make watching the show intense since you are never quit sure where the producers will take the characters and story lines.