Catch and Release

I'm surprised there isn't more positive response to this series. We've been watching woman detective shows for a few years now, starting with Hellen Mirren in Prime Suspect, and what we can find from all around the world, and the way I look at it, this one is first-class. For me the genre isn't literally about police work, or even societal order like in David Milch, but about skepticism and evidence in a dangerous world of wild speculation and convenient beliefs. This one was hard to find, partly hidden behind the Jennifer Garner movie, and even searching by name I had to hunt for it. I didn't find it slow, I thought the writing is the high-class kind that lets the actors convey a lot that isn't said, and they rose to it. I thought it was very deft, and moved quick. The casting itself seems very thoughtful and nuanced, and the cast, from the most sympathetic characters to the least, are just so good, in an understated, life-size way. There are a lot of really great scenes in this thing. Wow, that's basically my review. In places it captures a very vivid sense of trying to do a job in good faith in disingenuous institutional culture, and I suppose that's a common thing in detective stories, but it feels like the people crafting this story really know it from lived experience. My sweetie used to do a bit from As I Lay Dying as an acting audition piece and it would just stun the room - and there's stuff like that in this tv series. I don't know how people are finding it dull. The writing is sharp, spare, and generous, the actors are so striking, such effortlessly beautiful people, and such accomplished legitimate artists, omg I hate you all. So for what it's worth I for one really appreciated this project, like the style, and kept thinking Who did this? Every time it surprised me again. I hope it gradually finds its audience, or at least maybe a future project by some of the people involved may hit, and bring back a second look at it, then people will see they were missing out.