Above Suspicion

The professional blurb is stupid. Ignore it. Two feature length movies broken into episodes. Rookie detective has to not only prove herself as a detective, she has to live up to her father's reputation--while he father's best friend, her boss, sexually harasses her and her fellow detectives natter behind her back because she only has one really expensive suit and they dress like store clerks. The crime stories are quite good, if you've read Lynda la Plante, you'll know how good. Subtitles help as the characters speak in normal voices rater than enunciate. About an hour of additional "behind the scenes" stuff.

Engaging mystery, but stretched out longer than it should have been.

Im only on the first disk. So its hard to review the series as a whole. The first disk was made in 2009 and it shows. Its not as slick as more modern day crime dramas. Its a little stilted in the acting and the filming is sometimes comical. They are trying to force the awkward love connection between the young female lead and her aging commander. A totally unnecessary layer the show could have done without. Its a show where I can multi-task while watching and not miss a thing. Its a fine enough show to watch while being laid up at home. I would suggest instead these wonderful crime dramas. Happy Valley. Case. Wallander. Fortitude. The Kettering Incident. Scott and Bailey. Paranoid. Unless it vastly improves in Disk 2, I will not be watching the following seasons.

UPDATE: Just finished Disk 2. It did vastly improve! :-) Yippee!

"Above Suspicion", Set 1, 2 discs. I thought this was pretty well done. None of the actors seem to outsize his or her character. The story lines fit with today's modern world. Of course, the one based on The Black Dahlia from 1940s Los Angeles is just as vicious a crime as you could ever find. Even Hannibal Lecter couldn't top it. No one has every truly solved this decades old crime.

Predictable detective series with actress Kelly Reilly playing a squeemish detective who yearns to be taken seriously but who totters around in a muddy crime scene wearing stiletto heels and a very short, very tight mini skirt. She is young and attractive but falls for the aging detective played by grumpy-face Ciaran Hinds in a script obviously written by an aging scriptwriter. The storyline tries hard to generate sexual tension between them, but alas, it never happens. Set in Belfast, graphic crime scenes.

It was really good. I wish there were more to the series available.

While I was a little disappointed with this series, I still recommend it for the good cast. It's great to see Kelly Reilly in a leading role. The stories in this series are interesting enough but be warned that they are quite horrific.