Honest Series Review : Salem (2014-17)

Salem is a three-season 36-episode TV series based on the witch trials of Salem, Massachusettes between 1692-93. The most interesting piece of information about the series is that every single name uttered in the series is real, including the protagonists. But while the characters are real, the story weaved around them is completely fictional (unless one believes that devil exists and walks the Earth). The story revolves around the mass hysteria on witch-craft, religious extremism by Puritans and also, the American Frontier Wars by European settlers.

Witchcraft History

Witchcraft is the use of rituals, incantations and chants to wield magical powers. Medieval Christianity denied that such a thing can exist (canon Episcopi), and practitioners of witchcraft are only deluded superstitious pagans. But theologians like Thomas Aquinas’s elaborate descriptions on magic, its practice and “deals with the devil” in his book Summa theologicae, changed this stance. In fact, a detailed witch-hunter’s manual Malleus Maleficarum was issued by the Dominican order (referenced several times in the series).

The witch trials first started in 15th century Paris, in what came to be known as Valais witch trials, led by the Dominicans. It peaked between 1560-1630 in Germany, where roughly 30,000 people, 80% of them women were burnt at stakes. The Protestants joined the Catholics with equal fanaticism in these stake-burnings, even though it started with Dominicans (Catholics). It also spread geographically to Nordic countries (Torsaker witch trials of Sweden), fringes of Europe (Salzburg witch trials of Austria) and European colonies (Salem witch trials). In fact, Salem co-incided with the mass protests against and decline in witch-trials in mainland Europe.

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Plot

The crux of the plot is that witches existed and were in fact using the trials to their own advantage. They had installed themselves at key positions of Magistrate and Countess, and the innocents who died in the trials were, in fact, human sacrifices for the re-birth of devil. Since Salem was an important port city, which is at the forefront of American Frontier Wars against Indian tribes & refugee influx due to King William’s war with France, it was an easy target for the witch covens.

The first season focuses on Mary Walcott (later Mary Sibley) trying to complete the Grand Rite, an event where malum (lit apple or evil) will spread. Her main detractors are Cotton Mather & his father, Increase Mather, two reputed witch-hunters. Mary also faces troubles with her old flame Cap. John Alden, senior witches of her coven and her lustful suitors who can’t deal with a powerful woman amidst them.

The second season starts after Isaac releases the malum and pox has started spreading like wildfire in Salem. The focus is on the arrival of the “Dark Lord” which requires two parallel events – appearance of the “Starry Messenger” comet, & pool of blood from adequate number of dead bodies. New characters like the Marburg family, Dr Samuel Wainwright and Increase Mather make the plot interesting. Anne Hale, the orphaned daughter of Magistrate Hale, starts on her way from innocence to femme fatale. The Dark Lord arrives, as Mary & Sr John’s son, John Jr.

(Fun Fact : The Starry Messenger is actually an astronomical treatise written by Galileo that was sold for an astronomical price, and later turned out to be a forgery)

The third season starts after the arrival of the Dark Lord and attempts to establish the reign of hell on Earth. The focus is on the event of Black Sunday, a day of reckoning where all Salem will burn, and humanity will see its demise. Only Mary can stop that, but unfortunately she dies. Fortunately, she is brought back by the witches, who feel betrayed by the Dark Lord, who instead of bringing the New World Order free of Puritans, has instead indulged in his nefarious plans to ashame his Father, the God. Well, it all turns out quite well at the end

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  Old Flames

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  Grand Rite, as releasing of Malum

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  Human Sacrifices for arrival of Dark Lord

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  John Sr with father and uncle, before the dawn of evil

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  Dark Lord planning his Black Sunday

Should I watch this? You may skip this, unless you really are into supernatural series. After the first season, it is a downhill. By the third season, it feels like it will never end.

Honest Series Review : Sharp Objects (2018)

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Sharp Objects is a psychological thriller, based on the eponymous novel by Gillian Flynn. The name “Sharp objects” refers to the self-harm that the protagonist does with blades and pins, carving words on her entire body. It has been critically acclaimed with an IMDb rating of 8.1. It has also won its cast Golden Globe Award for Best Actress & Supporting Actress, and in Emmy Awards. That was my inclination to watch this, besides I am always on the lookout for good TV series.

There is a strong tone of feminism and women empowerment throughout the narrative. Firstly, the protagonists and the opponents are all women. Men, wherever they appear, are secondary to the narrative. Secondly, it portrays the sexual, physical and mental abuse that women go through in those parts of USA and how it has been normalized. Thirdly, it portrays through Camille’s scepticism, how “good women” are idolized like Millie Calhoun through the Calhoun Day. And any non-conforming women are brought in line through brutality. Fourthly, it shows how such conformation raises the maternal instincts of a woman to the level of psychological disorder, the Münchausen. This aspect of the series is well cinematized.

Plot Summary

Camille Preaker goes to her hometown Wind-Gap in Missouri, on a newspaper assignment to report on two young girls missing and murdered. The real reason is that her empathetic boss, Frank Curry, who sees her potential but wants her to deal with her ghosts of the past, the death of her sister in childhood and her troubled relation with her mother. Back in the sleepy town of Wind-Gap, she faces a lot of local hostility to find credible sources and information. Her influential and rich socialite mother, Adora Crellin, has a daughter Amma from her second time husband – Alan Crellin.

For the first six episodes, the suspicion lies on John Keene or Bob Nash, male relatives of the victims. And the entire non-eventful town goes into a hysteria of picking their favorite serial child killer. Camille, being a social gauche, hears everything, gives away nothing and broods in her painful past of her sickly sister. At the end are two shocks, both in the very last episode. First, Adora suffers from a mental disorder Münchausen syndrome by proxy, where she tends to her maternal instincts by intentionally making her daughters sick. Second, the murder of two girls was committed by Amma, but that she is a murderous lass. So, the victim is also the perpetrator.

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  Victim 1

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  Victim 2

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  Victim 3

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  Suspect 1

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  Suspect 2

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  Victim or Suspect ?

Who’s Who

Plot Holes

1. How on earth does Amy “cut” herself on her back and that too with such precision? At no point does she suggest that she got someone else to do it. In any case, the cut-writing is the same all across.
2. Why does Alan lie when Det. Willis comes to check in on Amy in the last episode? It has not been suggested anywhere that he was a complicit in Adora’s dark ventures.
3. James Capisi tells that Natalie Keene was taken by a woman in white. And in the post-credits, she is seen to be strangling Keene dressed in all white, along with her friends (also in white). What is the occasion? Why could the kids not identify Amma, while Keene could and moved towards her?
4. The strength required to take teeth out is the reason why Detectives eliminate women as suspects. Even if they used sharp pliers, the pliers can only be held by one person at a time, which means the combined strength of 5 children is useless. How did they do it?
5. Adora could have killed Amma and Amy at any point of time. What was the trigger for that day?
6. Their aunt Jackie O’Neill also makes a U-turn. She is the cheerful, bubbly, friendly in the beginning. But it turns out she suspected foul play in Camille’s sister, on the part of the mother. Why was she mum about it so far? And was she suffering from the same malaise as Adora, that box of pills and the red drink that she offered Camille.
7. There is a wide gap in the character-sketch of Amma in the first half of the series and the latter half, especially the very last episode. In the first part, she is the free-spirit, the free soul and the rebel, who wants to run away from her over-bearing mother. She leaves no stone unturned on running away from the house. In the last episode, she says “I need to stay her good girl”.

The biggest hole is the motive. The motive that Amma would kill because she is no longer friends with them and she could not manipulate them, seems flimsy to say the least. On top of that, to kill with such vulgar cruelty, seems highly indigestible.

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  Strength

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  Back etchings

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  Out-of-character

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  Dressup

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  Do girls at back seem surprised by the fact of a dead body being found?

Should I watch this ? Definitely. It is more than worth the time it takes to watch this.

Honest Series Review : The Jinx (2015)

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Who does not love a “who-dunnit”. Even more so, when the person under question has killed three people – his wife, his best friend, his neighbour. Even more if it is based on a real life story. More so if the series is about unravelling the mystery and figures out one of the most important and critical pieces of evidence in the saga. More, more, more, more so, if the trial is about to be start in 2 days from now, i.e. 17th May 2021. Holy cow !!

This 6-part mini-series is directed by Andrew Jarecki, who has also narrated throughout the series. Jarecki previously made another feature-film on Durst’s life, which was quite sympathetic to the latter’s cause. And this is what made Durst offering to do a series of interviews with Jarecki. But the tables turned when Jarecki made a highly unlikely (and surprisingly missed) discovery. And before the finale was aired in 2015, Durst was arrested again on charges of murder. And it seems unlikely he will get out.

Plot Summary

Death 1 : Kathleen Durst

Robert Durst, the heir to the multi-million Durst real-estate empire, marries Cathie Durst. One day in 1982, Cathie goes missing and is never found again. The circumstances leading upto her death are :

1. Cathie has met a divorce lawyer during weekdays and wants to leave Bob, which he refuses.
2. For the weekend, they got to their South Salem lake-side house. She goes to her friend’s house & returns late at night on Sunday, drunk and have a fight with Bob. She , being a medical graduate student, wants to return to their Manhattan house. In his words, he drops her to the train station, gets back to their house, gets a drink at a neighbour’s house, walks their dog in the park, gives her a call to their apartment and check in on her.
3. The doorman in their Manhattan apartment says she heard Miss Durst getting back late Monday night. But he later recants saying he never actually saw her getting back.
4. On Monday morning, the head of the medical school received a call from Cathie calling in sick. Of course, it wasn’t recorded or verified, and could have been an impersonator, most likely Susan.
5. The neighbour denies having met Bob on the said night. He explains with a shrug that he just thought it would make Police focus on searching for her, but look at it a different way.
6. In his narration to their Private Investigator, Ed Wright, Bob changes his stance three times on where he called from.
7. Cathie’s friends find a list of things in Bob’s handwriting, that contained things used to dispose a body

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  Recipe to dump a body ?

Death 2 : Susan Berman

Eighteen years later in October 2000, a defendant in an unrelated case told the NYPD that Cathie was killed. On his tip, Dursts’ house in Salem was searched that revealed a hidden hideaway, whose contents were not made public. Jeanine Pierro, NY District Attorney goes after Durst with full force. Police interrogate Susan Berman, Bob’s friend and aide, but soon, she is found dead near Christmas of 2000. The circumstances upto her death are :

1. Susan allegedly handled and fed fake stories to the Press of Cathie’s return to Manhattan, to deviate media attention. She also, allegedly called the Medical school on Monday morning.
2. She had a gangster father, and was covering up mobs of USA as an independent researcher
3. She was in financial debt and right before her death, she received $50K from Bob. Blackmail?
4. She was alone at the time of her death and there are no signs of forced entry, showing acquaintance.
5. Beverly Hills Police receive a mail, that has written Susan’s address and the word “Cadaver”, probably sent by the killer. And the handwriting had uncanny similarity to Bob’s.
6. Bob takes off and is not heard of again until Sep 2003.

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  Best friend-turned-foe?

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  Or mob connection?

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  Check handwriting

Death 3 : Morris Black

Bob takes off to Galveston, Texas and impersonates himself as a mute middle-aged woman, Dorothy Ciner. He shares the flat with another 71 year old tenant, Morris Black. In September 2003, Black’s body is found in the Galvestan Bay, cut up in multiple pieces and packed in garbage bags. The circumstances leading upto his death are :

1. In Durst words, he and Black become really good buddies, to the point that Durst reveals his true identity of being a man. However, no eyewitnesses suggest that this was the case, and they were never seen together.
2. Durst claimed self-defense. That Black was evicted as a tenant due to shortage of money and he wanted to blackmail Durst, threatening him with a gun. In his self-defense, they struggled and the gun accidentally went-off
3. He got a bone-saw & bags in a local store, dismembered up the body and dumped it. But it started floating, at which point, he cut up the face bag and took off with his face.
4. He gets arrested by the Police in a bizarre turn of events. Bail is set, but he absconds on the bail. Later, he is arrested from a departmental store trying to steal a $6 hot-dog (wtf)
5. There are a number of unexplained bruises on Black’s body, apparently as a result of being beaten up.

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  Black, but not so black

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  Bone Saw to cut

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  Caught stealing sandwich

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  Re-enacting his “self-defense”, but not the dismemberment

Plot Review

1. Who was the defendant in the unrelated case and how did he come to testify on Cathie’s murder? This was an essential piece since it led to Susan’s death and ultimately Morris’s death. But he is kind of blurred out, saying nothing of evidentiary value was found.
2. Use of the word “Cadaver” on the letter still does not make sense to me. It is essentially a dead body used by medical science students to study anatomy. Was that used to divert attention away from Bob?
3. For a smart guy, Robert Durst is quite stupid. He changes his story so often, puts out statements that can very easily be falsified like drinking with neighbour. And who, in the world, steals a $6 sandwich when you have $50K in your car.
4. This is not a plot hole, but it is preposterous that the jury finds Durst non-guilty. Who in the world dismembers an assailant, then disposes in the bay, and then takes away the head, all of it in self-defense?
5. The piece of recipe to dump the body seems to have played no part in the investigation. And most importantly, the hand-writing on it does not seem to match the one written in “Cadaver” letter.

Should I watch this? YES.

And here is a lockdown challenge for you – finish this before his trial gets over. A brownie point if you do it before it starts. Two brownie points if you correctly predict whether he will be caught this time.

Honest Series Review : The Night Of (2016)

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I love “Who-dunnit” TV series. When I watch them, I try to play detective myself and take a guess who is the killer. A correct deduction makes the watch more rewarding. The makers of the series also understand this and make this interesting by a double twist. Firstly, they drop in all the hints that you would need to solve the mystery yourself, and if you miss them, it is entirely your fault. Secondly, they try to divert your suspicion to someone else. So when you find out who did it and the clues were very subtly strewn through the series, it gives you the “Ahaaa” moment.

And it was with these expectations that I picked up this series. (Hint : I didn’t get my “Ahaaa” )

Plot Summary

A Pakistani-origin US citizen Nasir “Naz” Khan (Riz Ahmed) is a college student in New York. One fine evening, Naz gets invited to a party in the other side of the town. But his friend, who was supposed to bring a car, ditches him at the last moment. So, our guy Naz takes his father’s taxi and tries to get to the venue himself, getting lost en route. He is hitched by Andrea Cornish (Sofia Black-D’Elia), a pretty but disturbed girl from Upper West Side. Now, aloof in the ways of the world, Naz sacrifices his own party to be with the girl.

They play stabscotch (Please don’t play this game ever), do the deed and he wakes up to find her dead with 22 knife wounds. Fully panicked, he tries to escape with the stabscotch knife. But gets tagged by the traffic police for a wrong turn, and this is where his life takes a wrong turn. Detective Dennis Box tries to extract a confession out of him. While John Stone (John Turturro) tries to help him as his attorney, even though all his previous clients were tramps, thieves and prostitutes. Then, Alison, a better attorney and Chandra Kapoor (Amara Karan), her novice sidekick take up the case probono. But Naz still gets sent to the Rikers Island prison.

This is where the story takes a wide turn, from “Who-dunnit” to “Call of the Wild”. It’s all about survival for Naz, who gets from being a Mama’s boy to a convict-proper in the Rikers. It is about the transformation, drug-dealing, aggression, forming criminal connections, and waking up to the realities of the prison world. Here, he is helped by Freddie Knight (Michael Williams), an ex-boxer turned prison-kingpin, who sees the innocence in Naz.

Meanwhile the Dennis Box (Bill Camp), Stone, Kapoor all believe in Naz’s innocence and try to figure out who might have done it (Box only subtly believes this). A lot of circumstantial evidence surfaces, but all of it can equally be pointing out to other suspects. For example, Andrea is killed by knife-stabs, an MO of Duane Reede, the criminal-background black guy who chides Naz. Don Taylor, Andrea’s step-father has both the motive and a desire to kill her for her multi-million. Mr Day, a morgue-worker who has the male-chauvinist violent streak, who met them at the gas station. These speculations are conveyed to the jury, who has a 6-6 split verdict, thus, ultimately freeing Naz. But he has already heard and responded to the “Call of the Wild”.

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  The Beach

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  Subtle Beast

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  The Art of War

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  The Season of the Witch

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  Call of the Wild

Story in short

Plot Quirks

It is otherwise a very tightly knit story, but there are certain lingering questions :

1. Was it really Ray, the financial advisor? They are supposed to be sleeping together and he advises her on financial matters. It is hard to digest that he will kill with so much malice, with 22 stabs no less, only to hide his fudging the accounts.
2. Who was financing Kapoor? After Alison ends the pro-bono and the Khans unable to pay for the costly trial, Kapoor still agreed to pay Stone. Did she do it out of her own pocket?
3. Why did Calvin seem to be friendly with Naz in the first place? Naz had already gained the infamy as being a rapist-killer. Victor, a murderer of a rapist-killer, initially acts as Naz’s friend, philosopher & guide but later turns on Naz. Why not just harm him in first instance?

There are some aspects of the plot that you know are not really related to the main story, but nevertheless give a very personal touch to the story. For example, Stone’s Eczema and its treatment by the Chinese doctor. In fact, all of Stone’s personal troubles seem kind of endearing – like his troubled relation with his son, his hooker client, the cat he adopts. Petey’s tragedy in prison, his death and the revenge of his death are excellently shot. Another excellent perspective given is the vulnerability of migrant worker community of US, and how the criminal justice system fails even the undertrials.

However, the side stories of other characters have been kept to a minimum and only referenced in hints and stories. We know of Chandra’s parents and boyfriend only in passing reference, even though she had been a bigger help to Naz compared to Stone. Even, Naz’s mentor Freddie seems to have an interesting back-story, of a college-educated national-boxing campion longueuring in the prison. But the overall portrayal of side characters seems adequate and engaging.

Do I recommend you to watch it? Absolutely, it is a mini-series and very intriguing. At no point, will you feel bored.

If you are in US, you can watch this on Amazon Prime. If you are not, you know where to watch this 😉

Click here to join amazon prime

Honest Series Review : Mr. Robot

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

First things first, my favourite part is how they name their episodes as file names, like the first was named as eps1.0_hellofriend.mov. For first three seasons, they have used file extensions like .avi, .p7z and there are so many which I never even heard of before. For the fourth and final season, they have used HTTP Status Codes like 404:Not Found, and I absolutely loved it. As an amateur coder, I got a sense of thrill seeing how the pro hackers “own everybody”. That’s why they call it “cyberpunk”

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  E (Evil) Corp

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  Whiterose aka Minister Zhang

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  The Deus Group, founded by Young Zhang

All the main villains in the series. The person in the second image is the same as the third one, albeit in a different getup

Plot Summary

The plot revolves around Elliot Anderson, a super-hacker nerd, with clinical depression and Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). His alter-ego is named Mr Robot, who is casted in his father’s image, since Elliot has daddy-issues. Through all four seasons, he seeks to recast the unjust social order where top 1% of 1% enjoy all the privileges of the world at the cost of others. His nemesis is firstly E Corp, , a conglomerate giant with deep roots and shady activities. But later, he turns his attention to Dark Army, cyber-terrorists from China led by Whiterose. The other main characters are Darlene Anderson, his sister; Angela, his childhood bestie; Dom DiPierro, FBI agent and Tyrell Wellick, ex- E Corp Acting CTO.

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  fsociety vs Dark Army

fsociety literally stands for “fuck society”. Reportedly, wannabe hackers around the globe are using it’s symbol now to look cool.

In Season 1, Mr Robot aka Elliot creates fsociety and hacks E Corp to fry digital records of all its financial transactions on 5/9. In Season 2, Elliot is jailed for hacking his therapist’s boyfriend and creates an alter-reality as a coping mechanism. There are talks of Stage 2, in which the physical database at E Corp HQ will be blown as the last straw in the hat. In Season 3, Stage 2 happens despite Elliot’s attempts to stop it. It is revealed that E Corp is actually a front for Dark Army /Deus Group & they supported 5/9 to popularize E-Coin. Whiterose or Minister Zhang has a secret project where he plans to bring back dead. In Season 4, Elliot attempts to hack Deus Group members’ bank accounts in Cyprus National Bank. He not only succeeds, but also leaks all the info on misdeeds of the Deus group in a public data leak.

That’s correct ! Our favorite hacker is only another personality of the main guy, who is locked in a happy world.

Plotwise, Season 2 is the weakest and has some completely senseless arcs, like the dark-web-portal hack arc. But Seasons 3 and 4 are able to use some of its material to show relevance. Knowles beating Joanna, Tyrell’s slightly deranged wife also seems an exaggeration. After a certain point, twists and turns stop making you jump, which is what happened when I found out in the Season finale that hacker-Elliot himself is a DID personality. For this, it has been compared to Fight Club, where the same happens for Tyler Durden. It’s a good part that Sam Ishmail magnified the scope of Elliot’s conflicts -first against small fishes and then bigger and biggest.

Do you recommend it? Yes, You gotta watch this before you die !!

Honest Series Review : The Undoing

⭐⭐

Rating: 1.5 out of 5.

“The Undoing” is a mini series, that revolves around a psychopath, Dr Jonathan Fraser (Hugh Grant) cheating on his wife, Grace (Nicole Kidman), with the mother of his pediatric patient, Elena Alves. One night, after a passionate night and heated argument, he bludgeons her to death and becomes untraceable. Grace is first shocked and slightly protective, but later turns him over when he re-appears. Then, she helps him and they slowly make up until it seems all is going well, until the weapon of murder turns up in her house. She then plans to sabotage his case and all ends well.

We watched this with high anticipation, due to its excellent trailer and much-loved starcast. But, in all honesty, we were let-down by this mini-series. The authors left a number of open threads, introduced, but unexplored and also raised a number of improbable turns.

1. How was Fraser able to inform Grace that he was going to Oncology Conference in Cleveland, in advance, when his late-night meeting with Elena was impromptu?
2. Why was Grace’s father at the window of Elves’ looking at Elena’s husband feeding Fraser’s illegitimate daughter?
3. If Fraser and Elena’s dalliance was consensual, why was he fired from the hospital for inappropriate contact? Who filed the report in the first place?
4. Why was Elves stalking Grace everywhere in the first 2-3 episodes? He tried to talk to her, but had nothing of importance to say.
5. Elves demands a paternity test after the death of his wife. Later it turns out that he knew about the debauchery all along. Afterwards, he is shown as trying to be a caring father to the newborn. What was that about?
6. Even after going through all the harrying of loosing the job and begging for money, it seems unlikely that he would be so intimately involved with the person doing it.
7. Grace was shown walking nearby the place and time of death, but that was portrayed as purely co-incidental. This is hard to digest.
8. Elena’s husband is shown as highly ambivalent. He is prone to anger, as per his repeated outbursts. But he is okay being cuckolded, by a much older man for some time now.
9. Fraser is known to have another “sad fuck”, but that doesn’t go beyond this.

The story tries to bind by keeping the viewer on toe. One minute, Fraser plays all innocent, attempting to find out who could have been this brutal to a woman he loved. Next minute, he is shoving this to his own wife and son. Grace, for all her part, is rather ungracious. Her personal dilemma to believe or to not believe, and a series of expensive choices, leave a very bad taste in mouth. This turned out rather disappointing.