This has got to be the most aggravating television series I've ever seen/watched. I don't know which is more appropriate as I seem to have watched it despite myself. You can't not watch it, you're bound to be curious as to what happens next, but it's a painful viewing. Yes, as in not very well made. Which is heartbreaking as there's clearly something there. The topic is fascinating, the plot potentially thrilling, the characters and the acting somehow more human and believable than it would be were it an American production. Benedict Cumberbatch inhabits this enigmatic geeky OCD character with a Jimmy Stewart-like everyman hero-ness about him while never oversimplifying him. Anamaria Marinca paints a sincere and passionate character in Yasim. Now, these two actors and these two characters and their story makes sense to me. The rest of the characters weren't as clear or good, which no amount of good acting could (or indeed did) save. The plot itself wasn't that hard to follow, but comprehending the motivation of the characters or being convinced by it was a bit of a stretch. Something somewhere in the making of this series went wrong. Strange thing is it's pretty hard to put one's finger on it. Was it the writing? But then what made me want to keep on watching? Was it the directing, the photography, the editing? I think the director should take some blame - all the bits didn't seem to tie in. The camera movement did at one point actually bother me - when the camera tilted diagonally to fit the heads of actors squarely into the shot (very bizarre). And the story could indeed have been helped along in editing. Watching it in 2012 I was never going to be harsh on how realistic it is or isn't. It's more of an exercise of thought, what could happen and perhaps make you question the things you willingly do in this day and age already, what this could mean. The ending was both frustrating and not frustrating. What happens to Michael and what Russell ends up being (by the way, what WAS he?) would be the frustrating bit. And the situation Stephen ends up in is mentally and emotionally deliciously excruciating.
Review of The Last Enemy
