smoky_circles

I actually really liked this show. For a mature audience, it's very intriguing and rather well made. However, the show tries to balance two antagonistic elements -- entertainment and moralism, to portray a character who would, in reality, be a very troubled individual, in a story that is more romantic mystery/tragedy than psychological drama.

Despite the great acting and hooking dialogue, the story and characters can be really contradictory and unexplainable. The main character Hannah, for example -- her actions actually are more consistent with someone with a severe personality disorder, such as Borderline personality disorder. However, her depicted moods and tone don't suggest her actions at all. The kind of "drama" she generates in the show suggests a personality who is a lot moodier, more impulsive and very depressive. Instead the show largely tries to be a "fairytale gone wrong" by depicting her, for the majority of time, as an upbeat and gentle sweetheart who was wronged by the world.

Although the great thing about this show is that it does weave in a lot of complexity. There are characters who (inappropriately) take the blame for Hannah's suicide, and others who reject it. Hannah's subjectivity of experience is highlighted several times, but then ultimately the show sympathizes with Hannah's side of the story.

Sociologically/psychologically the show is pretty inappropriate because it depicts suicide and sets suicide as the final trump card. There is a scene where Clay hallucinates Hannah lying dead in a pool of blood, wearing a beautiful white gown. That scene is almost the epitome of romantic suicide. So sociologically this show is really not beneficial, but artistically it's twisted, dramatic and poignant.

The music, camera work, and editing are awesome. It does a really good job of painting a haunting and tragic yet also innocent and romantic canvas. Although the subject matter is dark the show itself is quite colorful and visually pleasing.

13 RW really does try to bite off more than it can appropriately chew. It tries to be interesting and entertaining yet also attempts to be frank and moralistic. Although it fails in some of those aspects, all in all it's a good show, and, despite the gimmicks, has a lot to offer.

If this movie was a person I think it would be diagnosed with having severe ADD and dissociative personality disorder.

The movie is so unfocused that every third scene is the climax of a totally different movie. It feels like a soap opera -- now this person gets raped, now they cheat, now that one dies, now they kiss, now this one's true nature is revealed, and on and on. And all through this severe lack of focus none of the characters have normal emotional reactions to anything, which is what's supposed to make this movie so amazingly absurdly clever but actually just makes it shallow and annoying. And then back to point one -- since no one really feels much of anything, it's very easy to change from subject to subject until we end up with this silly mess.

There are some good parts. The main character does make you root for her, since she is a typical cool and "strong" female character -- which, in movies, means someone who is devoid of actual feeling and sensitivity. She's got sass and does what ever she wants with little regard for others, except of course when she's coolly letting herself be used and harmed for men's purposes, because of course that adds interest to her character and makes it provocative, gasp. There's the soap-opera intrigue that will keep you watching for some cheap thrills, twists and turns and red herrings and what not. And it is a overall a "pretty" movie with attractive people and places.

But at the end of this movie, as with any soap, one feels cheated and wasteful of time. Skip it.

One of a kind relationship-horror with strong Shakespearean elements of personas and duplicity, betrayal, obsession, jealously, revenge, conniving and plotting, and distrust.

As the viewer we are constantly made extremely paranoid and horrified by the protagonist's life. Constant threats from every side and not a single person to trust. Suranne Jones is absolutely terrific as the two faced doctor who is highly composed and calculating, while a seething wreck inside.

It also portrays the curse of the professional woman -- of how she's "unlikeable," a damnation that often means her doom.

There is no sympathetic character, no hero and villain. And just as how some people hate Hamlet, while others are fascinated by him, so will many viewers hate Gemma, while others will be glued to the screen to watch her every move and expression.

It's also in sorts almost a semi-Lynchian small-town mystery, where everyone has a secret, everyone is very close, yet no one can be trusted.

An amazing and gripping show that makes a intense and horrific portrayal of something as domestic as marriage and it's complications (an understatement). Carrying strong tones of paranoia, calculated revenge, depiction of "natural" misogyny, and with undertones of misanthropy, this show will give you knots and chills and keep you hooked.