Riviera

Started with great promise, but faltered early on. This show seemed to lose its way about half way through. Some of the casting was ridiculous and Lena Olin mumbled her way through some of the scenes where her dialogue was important. And the ending was a joke, it was like we've run out of time, let's end this now. Very disappointing overall.

First half:

A slowly unravelling mystery around a rich art dealers death seen through his widows eyes. Very enticing plot development and pace, great settings, outfits, direction, editing etc.

Second half:

A bit of a mess that never recovers. Im not sure if all the episodes where written by the same people and didn't bother to check. But the second half of the series was seriously lacking in all above mentioned areas, except setting and outfits which didn't change. Not much made sense, and the quality of the whole show plummeted to a cable channel daytime soap opera level.

Watch it if you have nothing to kill some time with, or leave it on in the background while you make use of your time otherwise. Don't expect any brilliant twists or a great ending.

Let's be clear: Rivera is not a masterpiece neither is what you would call "an art show". Thanks to a pretty envolving plot and a wonderful mise en place it's a show you can perfectly enjoy unpretentiously. Its strong point is certainly the photography and the breathtaking locations of the French Riviera, that unfolds between cover villas and luxury cars and yachts.

I define it a "summer" show because it's definetly one of those show you can enjoy in summer, when after lunch the weather it's too hot to do anything.

Many coincidences and unbelievable out of character changes .However I enjoyed season 1 of this drama Julia Stiles makes it worthwhile Pity about the ending though

No matter how flawed and chaotic it is ... it is one of those few shows that actually shows you wealth..also give me a feeling of nostalgia cause it reminds me of the soap operas of the 90s ..... it is all so lavish and the locations are to die for ........ I got attached to the Clios family to each and every one of them and the actors really brought them to life ... and even though it all went down the hill in season 2 .. it is still one of my fav wealthy families on TV...in my book it is much better than famous shows >>>>revenge... gossip girl and the OC all of which were unwatchable for me