Safe

I'm a bit confused, and perhaps I need to stop watching anything.

First of all, I'm a sucker for British mystery, suspense, anything. I've seen thousands , from Hammer B movies to Masterpiece Theater ad infinitum. I am going out on a limb and saying I really enjoyed this. It concerns a teenage girl who goes missing after a party, and one by one, neighbors in a gated community are connected to it. I thought it was very well done.

From the reviews I read on this site, the general feeling seemed to be (1) it was a soap opera; (2) the acting was bad and one-dimensional; and (3) Michael C. Hall's attempt at a British accent was laughable.

First off, it was a miniseries, and because it continued from episode to episode, it had some soap opera elements. I didn't mind that. I found it suspenseful and intriguing. A few people said they weren't sure if it was a drama or a comedy. That is because there were a few segments that were dark comedy. Again, before today, I didn't know drama could not have any comedy in it and vice versa.

I have no understanding -NONE - of how anyone can say with a straight face, given their impressive list of credits, that Michael C. Hall, Amanda Abbington, Marc Warren, and Audrey Fleurot - all of whom I've seen do other things - can't act, are one dimensional, or bad. Ridiculous.

Okay, Michael C. Hall's accent. I've been to England, I have British friends, I watch enormous amounts of British shows -- and I fail to see what was wrong with his accent except that he didn't sound like Dexter.

At first I thought the people complaining were actually Brits - my sister lived in England, came home with a British accent, and her friends in England were still teasing her about her American accent - so they hear something we don't. But no. Sorry, I would love for someone to tell me what was wrong with his voice.

Anyway, I thought this was good, compelling, and kept me interested.

Safe is about a family living in a sort of a community. After the loss of his wife, he is trying to move on with his daughters and new girlfriend. But everything falls apart when is daughter turns out missing after a party, and everyone seems to have one small bit of a puzzle, which is otherwise also connected to a mysterious shared past.

Michael C Hall plays the father who was never there, and is now desperately searching for his daughter in a series that brilliantly merges flashbacks with strong storytelling. Besides Hall, the supporting cast is amazing as well.

The minus, is the stupidity that appears more and more. Decisions like confronting bad people alone, instead of informing the police, thrusting unknown people and not your own family, not recognizing blatant lies etc. etc. All this is used to create tension and momentum, but wouldn't it be refreshing if series depended less on stupid decisions and find more creative ways to expand a story? Still, this series is interesting and exciting and absolutely worth a watch.

I loved the series although MC Hall's British accent was awkward! The series gets nicely complex until Ep 6 when the underlying thread becomes evident and thus predictable ending even the final twist was seen a mile away. That said, it doesn't take away from viewing as it still engrossing albeit you know how it will end. It is also clearly a British production which is far superior to any US broadcast network junk one sees on major networks. All in all I recommend watching it

I must admit I'm only here because of Dexter (I'm just joking !) . Michael C. Hall, I should say. It's been a long time, and so I looked. I haven't finished it yet, but so far, I'm glued to every episode because of new revelations every now and then.

I'm enjoying it. It's not Dexter (far from it). But I'm enjoying the different characters presented and the secrets that each of them is keeping...and how it will eventually play in the end.

And so the question is how "safe" are we, really? Maybe Jenny can answer that.

So, go ahead, watch !

I'm amazed that so many people have slated this series.

I'm a pretty discerning viewer, with high standards in regard to production values, quality of writing directing and performance, and overall technical and artistic excellence. I'm a stickler for detail, violently object to having my intelligence as a viewer insulted, and am very critical of everything that I watch. But after avoiding this series (due to bad reviews) for some time, I eventually decided to watch it, expecting the worst.

Perhaps, then, my lowered expectations were partly responsible for me enjoying it so much. It certainly wasn't perfect, but I was gripped from beginning to end, and was very well satisfied with the overall quality of the production and all the elements I listed earlier.

I did feel that the last episode was a little rushed, and rather desperately flailed around trying to tie-up all the various narrative threads, but it was a satisfying (if somewhat predictable) conclusion.

My main concern before watching, having read numerous comments and reviews about it, was Michael C. Hall's accent. I have been a huge fan of his through Six Feet Under and Dexter, but had very low expectations of him being able to pull-off a convincing British accent. (Americans doing bad British accents is also a big pet peeve of mine!)

So I was frankly astonished at how well he did it. I am British, and speak with basically the same accent as his character. He sounded just like me, consistently and throughout, apart from two very brief and minor slips - neither of which would have betrayed him as an American (more likely a Brit with a regional accent who's had elocution lessons to sound less provincial).

Anyone knocking his accent in this is either just looking for ways to attack and fixing on an obvious target (though an unwarranted one) or else is unable to properly recognise or analyse accents because of their own poor ear for such things.

In my opinion, this was very much an above average series, and Hall was fabulous in it.