Reviews

I wanted to like this, but because of that ridiculous drawn out story in season 1 about a 15yo Aboriginal girl escapee Jess, and an Aboriginal Senator Alex Irving, I couldn't. It was the most annoying premise possible, where I ended up not having any sympathy for them once they finally connected in a public area, after so many missed opportunities once she made it to town. And to make it even more ridiculous, was the fact that the girl was bringing the Senator video evidence of what happened to cause her cellmate to die of an asthma attack when all she needed to do is upload the video to social media and text it to the Senator.

When she came to see her in that apartment, she'd already rang her phone which was ringing inside, so when the friend said she wasn't there, Ms Stare a gunman down, SENATOR didn't insist on getting into her apartment to see Jess. AND why the heck, after hitch hiking for hours to get to the Senator, was Jess now hiding inside away from Alex?! Stupid plot! That moment along with her aide now needing to chase after Jess when Senator Alex couldn't meet her before, where he never spoke up to let her knew why he was there was painfully irritating to watch.

So Senator Alex gets back home again, then Jess calls to tell her to meet out in the open?? Lol! Senator Alex decides to take her 10yo son with her to meet Jess in this public area where cops could easily spot the Senator after her brother was just arrested with her ex for fire bombing a government building? LOL! Yeah, RIDICULOUS!

Oh, and that sex scene where some bar fly was about to go down under on now Senator Alex in a bar was super unnecessarily cringe, and how her handlers glossed over her possibly having PTSD now from that gunman was extra odd.

I do enjoy some Aboriginal Australian drama, crime films, but all too often Aborigines are made to look absolutely dumb!

I'm now into Season 2, not sure if I'm going to make it, especially since they've just shown a, totally out of her league, hot bloke leaving her hotel room as she's sleeping in lingerie.... I mean, come on now! Don't want to be mean, but she's built like Taz, that spinning Tasmanian Devil on Looney Tunes. 👀 Portraying anyone built like Taz as a horny politician/mama is just wrong.

This was the most ridiculous storyline possible with the main character running after or away from dangerous armed men without a weapon, and when he's finally given one after being beaten up again by the same killers he encountered in that motel days before who killed a man,,, oh, and this time urinated on, but once home where he now needs to tend to his injuries after I guess taking a shower to get the urine off, see, he never really looks clean,,he decides to remove the magazine from it after putting it not under his pillow or bedside because those killers are still looking for him, but in his dresser drawer away from his bed?? Because yeah, writers figured that's what we want to see, a man making stupid decisions, not wise self preservation decisions which would make the story more sensible even though he's only a civilian, right, RIGHT?!

Later when he's about to go back into the danger again, he gives it to his 2nd girlfriend, see he has 2 girlfriends now, the other a journalist is running around in the Philippines. And where's the CCTV footage showing those jesus armed guardsmen in their big black suburban vehicles chasing after Jack and later driving after that other woman who stole Jack's car he never reported stolen, something that would have saved her life once apprehended?

He and his 2nd girlfriend (his 1st girlfriend, who has that same martyrdom expressions in every movie she does, is busy dodging rocks and bullets in the Philippines after finding out Jack is boning his new gf #2, but they haven't officially broken up?) continued to act carefree without a worry in the world after her kidnapped sister, in broad daylight, was savagely fed to dogs by those same killers...they even went to visit her pastor looking for more answers despite knowing armed guardsmen have tried to kill him 2x?? It's just filled with plot holes all around, but I keep watching because of how well it was produced, the acting isn't bad, and I'm interested in seeing how that Joel Osteen 2.0 cult turns out.. Apparently that part has gotten real jesus freaks pissed off? Lol

Anyway, I've really become tired of paying to watch both Acorn & BritBox crime series with the good guys, (sitting ducks) cops, detectives, and ummm this time, a debt collector? Going unarmed into the danger, it's like watching firefighters attacking a fire with sticks, where they're as useless as Keystone Kops at apprehending armed killers in a real world situation. If I want to watch unarmed heroes I'd watch Superman, Batman or Spider-Man, even Tarzan and Avatar uses bows & arrows.

I wish they'd label crime shows "armed or unarmed police force" no, seriously! Lol I actually become excited when I see British, Australian and New Zealand cops carrying their service revolvers now.

I was shocked to see the writers kill off his absolutely adorable 1st wife within minutes of the series starting, would have preferred she was his 1st girlfriend playing the journalist..... I guess I like watching the actor playing Jack Irish because he always looks like Brad Pitt, but on crack? Hahaha, sort of!

Part of this movie was the recreation of a real cold case murder that happened in The U. S. in 1986 when a then LAPD cop Stephanie Lazarus broke into a Van Nuys, California apartment of Sherri Rasmussen, and police office husband John Ruettenn, who was at work at the time,,, brutally beating, BITING, then shooting her to death because of jealousy.

Thanks to the ever evolution of DNA testing, in 2009 cold case detectives were able to exam the DNA on a thrown away cup by now detective Lazarus to the DNA bite on file from Rasmussen's body, where 26yrs later after the 1986 murder, in 2012, Lazarus was convicted of first degree murder and received 27 years to Life. You can find crime investigation videos about that case on YouTube, which will shock you to find out how the LAPD treated the case, the female criminalist, and her family before the case was reopened.

Once I realized this was the recreation of that case, I had no choice but to stick it out, though it was really tough because of so many absurdities surrounding what was more like a 90s Twin Peaks dark thriller. Taking a break to read comments here, and reading the real cold case again on Wikipedia immensely helped, but I decided to rewatch season 1 after rereading the actual cold case to check the similarities, something which confirmed what I watched before. Unlike this movie, newlyweds Sherri and John were college sweethearts and athletes who truly loved each other, but like the movie, after Sherri's death, because John and Stephanie once had a casual sex relationship before his marriage to Sherri, he testified in court that she was able to worm herself back into his arms for a brief encounter.

I just don't get why writers don't take enough pride in their work when it comes to fixing the ridiculous amount of plot holes before releasing their films, especially after using a real cold case murder, and using pretty good actors who did a great job despite everything. Shame on them.

I've never really gotten all the hype about British comedy until watching thIs, back to back, hilariously raunchy humor, these past 2 days, where I found myself initially binging it for 12 HOURS! I overdosed on it from Season 1-5 then decided to rewatch the first 2 episodes in season 1 before going on into season 5.

There were so many hilarious scenes like the one scene of Nana having cooking oil spray as her tanning oil, and while Customs is searching Nana's brown leather bag he says "Has anyone interfered with this old, brown leather bag?" Mick SIL "No, she's been a widow for years" LMAO!

Shelia Reid aka Madge/Nana steals the show, her character and facial expressions killed me, "who's Touché Turtle?" lol! I cried laughing at her during that fight scene with that caravan manager lol! .and Jake Canuso aka Mateo in dragged looked just like my BFF who used to compete in the women's division of The Olympia bodybuilding shows in the 80s lol! The constant bickering from her became painful to watch, where even thou it was done for a reason in season 6 it was still way over the top. AND I had an issue with scenes where hairdresser Kenneth played by Tony Maudsley was always physically attacking the hotel manager Joyce played by beautiful Sherrie Henson, that too was over the top, made me very uncomfortable, or when Mel referred to his handsome employee Paco played by Kamal Simpson as a "space @pe" who was being made to work a month without pay as his probation period?! And the outright racists cracks at that other black kid while they were hiking ruined the show's charm.

The main characters, the freaky creepy swinging couple, the gay couple, the different pair of girls dealing with Mateo, the annoying mother and fat son, the crazy laugh drag queen and his odd son, the new, beautiful for her age, hotel manager, and the great singing from the characters and featured guests during karaoke in Neptune,, and the beautiful region of Benidorm, Spain has by far made this the best comedy miniseries I've watched in my life!!

Unfortunately, I couldn't make it into season 7, the new main characters "The Dykes" were the worst, I mean, I couldn't stomach watching that son after what he did to that young Spanish girl's beach rides business, it was totally criminal,, should have been dealt with by his family being charged, then they getting thrown out of Spain, not put them as a replacement family of The "Gravies"?! So I decided again to,, after already rewatching 2 episodes in first season, rewatch 2-6 again, first time ever doing this with a miniseries.

Oh, dang it!! Because I gave up on the show at season 7, it could have been dealt with, this now puts me in a whatchamacallit?? Alexa (I call her Echo) spell ummm "Conundrum" thanks! I just don't want to put myself through it, but I think I have no choice. Crap! Lol!

UPDATE! I finished the entire series, glad I did!

I'd been a horrorholic for decades, not anymore after adding AcornTv and now BritBox.

I've been really enjoying this series for the past several days, even the greatest 60s hits was fun at first, but not only did it fit the theme of this type of show, it was being played many times at the worst moments, right before and during extremely serious situations, making it so annoying to the point that I needed to mute it to get a better feeling of what was really going on. And then characters we've been seeing for several episodes and seasons were tragically being killed only to be forgotten the next episode?! It became stressful watching it by S7 because we didn't know who was going to tragically die after a great 60s song had been blasting. Argh!

The action was outstanding each minute of each episode, the blood looked real, loved the coastal scenery, and the acting top notch, but because of all the issues I've had while binging this I had to rate it much lower than I was feeling I was going by S6.

The scene with Moira and her newborn baby was the most ridiculous stressful moment possible! All 3 medical staff were at fault for allowing her to get to that point before she went AWOL, something she didn't need to do at all because she wasn't really in any trouble. All you can do is roll your eyes once you think about the absurdity of it all. Another thing annoying about that is there was never anything said after 2 main characters tragically died before, no funeral, no remembrance, nada, but there they are going through all the motions about a character we only saw maybe 4x, someone they pretty much allowed to think she had no other choice when all Dr Jill and Dr. Gordon needed to do is tell her the great news while she was holding her newborn, they didn't need to ask for her sister Sister Brigid blessing first, ridiculous! I wish I could fast forward it all because it was so easily preventable, and now they're dragging this on into S8. Argh again!

Nevertheless, this has been by far the most exciting series I've enjoyed these past 6 months after downloading both AcornTv and BritBox to FireTv, it was just ruined by great music at the wrong place & time in a dramatic emergency & rescue medical film about 60s Doctors, Nurses, and a Catholic Nun, and also extremely implausible moments, as in, married with 2 kids, baby face Frankie being able to get his hands on 4 nurses, where 2 died, and 1 came very close to dying by S6.

Alun Morris (Andy Wear) and Dr. Rose (Denis Lill) were my favorite characters. I also really loved Dr. Jill Weatherill (Amy Robbins), but by the end of S7, I couldn't anymore since I blamed she, her hubby Dr. Gordon Orme... (Robert Daws) and sweet Sister Brigid (Linda Armstrong) for what happened to Moira, and what almost happened again to her newborn while in Ireland. I'd have broken my tv if not for the fast forward option. Lol!

You could end up with PTSD by season 8, which is why I was okay with the ending, I couldn't take the suspense and action anymore, every episode had scenes which caused me to worry about what was going to happen to main characters we've come to love, something that did happen again because doctors aren't known for risking their hands and or lives as what we watched over and over again to stress out the viewer before qualified rescued teams showed up.

I was relieved it was over.

This entire plot was completely ridiculous.

So the rookie guard who smuggled a gun into work in the beginning becomes the guard who somehow knows how to better deal with riots, handle hostage scenes, etc...l where despite that gun being used in the end to kill another guard, she's never seen being held responsible for it, but instead angry at her boss, and heartbroken over his death because she had a crush on him, the end, sort of, because it looked like a picture of her receiving that gun might be texted by the inmate she gave the gun to, the end?

I was on the edge of my seat waiting for her to be arrested for bringing that gun in, but instead she was made out to look like a hero?! Argh!

....what really pissed me off about this entire miniseries was how Anna's parents and grandma never warned her about a rapist being so close to their family where she ended up being alone with him too. They had I think 3 years during Regina's institutionalization, to tell her!! Now they're trusting that murdering psychopath not knowing she's used her friendship with that rapist to make it appear she was trying to protect Anna from him, but they know that's her dangerous M. O..

I had to FF a lot of season 4 due to the absurdity, and was doing fine with season 5 until that annoying Carolyn with just recently attacked daughter Anna decided to visit Regina to thank her for alerting them when both Regina, her parents Jack and Carolyn were the reason Anna ended up in his hands.

Thanks to the writers I can not stand a lot of the main characters but I have to finish this mess now after investing all this time with it.

I have to admit, I watched about 5 minutes of the last episode to reassure myself of what I was headed towards, where it looked pretty ridiculous but at least I didn't see that Regina.

EDIT:

After fully watching season 6 I have to change my 6 stars to 9 stars because that was the absolute best last season I have ever enjoyed watching in a miniseries in my life, after Regina was gone the story took off to another level of story telling, it was like getting rid of the nightmare neighbors from hell in a beautiful community where now the focus can be put on those who truly deserved it.

Well done!!