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Reviews
King: Chris Harris (2012)
Surprising and satisfying
This older procedural is engaging. Love the characters and stories. I have always enjoyed the work of Karen Robinson - and she nails it here with a nuanced performance that ranges from comedic to dramatic to serviceable supporting role. Gabriel Hogan was familiar to me from Heartland, where he wasn't called upon to deliver much range. In this vehicle he runs the full gamut. Don't want to deliver spoilers, but let's say they gave him amazing storylines to work with. This is a series that didn't require half a season to find its footing; it hits the ground running. And I'll say that season 2's casting changes were a great upgrade that I didn't know was missing. Of special note was a tall dark stranger that I didn't recall seeing elsewhere that I just HAD to look up. Turns out he's Keifer Sutherland's half-brother, son of Donald Sutherland with his current wife. What a charismatic, intriguing performance! It ends leaving you wanting more, but not in a frustrated way.
One thing I especially loved was the season 2 music. The jazzy riffs by a vocalist that I'm still trying to find named somewhere are total earworms. I'm not giving up - I have to know, and want to follow her.
Recommended for a binge.
Death and Other Details (2024)
Two pet peeves turned me right off
The first one is sort of dumb, but I find it to be a red flag for quality, and it's this: The child who plays Emogene has brown eyes. The adult actress has bright fair eyes. I mean - how hard is this? If you don't care about that kind of thing, you lose a big portion of my trust right off the bat.
Second thing: just a few minutes into the show you go from storytelling to a frontal nudity orgasm scene between two women and I just find it so offensive and unnecessary. When they resort to such hooks it's like they don't trust their storytelling to keep you engaged.
I really wanted to like this, as Mandy Patinkin, Jack Cutmore-Scott and Lauren Patten have been favorites of mine - but in this case: two strikes, you're out. Hard pass.