WARNING: There are spoilers contained within. If you don't want to know certain plot twists I suggest you skip my review.
Let's just say that at the beginning I loved this show. Addicted to it you might say. Great premise, brilliant execution, smart acting. The whole idea of it and the way it was done, just excellent. Anyway, that's the first 8 hours. The second 8, yeah ok I'm still watching every Monday @ 8:30. Twists and turns seem to be happening with more & more regularity, but I'm still clued up to the plot, haven't lost track. Last 8 hours I'm thinking "What the hells going on?!?!". No, I haven't become disoriented and confused, I'm just wondering when did this show go from being reasonably believable to becoming logically incomprehensible?!?!
I trace it back to the episode where the car rolls down the hill and explodes and Jacks wife, thinking her daughter has just died, collapses in shock then wakes up and spends the next few episodes in trauma-induced amnesia. From this point on the show is trying to constantly top itself from episode to episode with "most unbelievable twist". Up until then, perfect. Between the hours of 12am & 10am it's got a sharply executed plot that could frighteningly ring true, all the characters (good and bad) are believable. It also gives the viewers enough time to get their bearings, to take in the consequences of what's unfolding before them. The betrayals, the red herrings.
After 10am it lapses dramatically. The show seems to become too smart for it's own good. It piles one twist on top of another without giving any time to work out how it all fits together. [WARNING: MAJOR SPOILER] I wasn't at all surprised that it turned out to be the head female agent (I forget her name) who was the traitor. One could see it coming a mile away. Not because the clues were apparent, just because there was no other real character to logically pin it on. Then having done that, having made that decision, I was left thinking of all the previous episodes and wondering "How?!?!", it didn't make sense.
The reason I was gripped by this show was first and foremost because it was intelligent and believable. Secondly because of the (cutting edge for U.S tv) narrative structure and direction. This all fails once the 2nd half becomes nothing more than a popcorn flick. If it had started out that way or maintained the initial equilibrium it kicked itself off with, I would've enjoyed it more. The change from one to the other is what ruined it for me. It turns from serious thriller into James Bond.
Let's just say that at the beginning I loved this show. Addicted to it you might say. Great premise, brilliant execution, smart acting. The whole idea of it and the way it was done, just excellent. Anyway, that's the first 8 hours. The second 8, yeah ok I'm still watching every Monday @ 8:30. Twists and turns seem to be happening with more & more regularity, but I'm still clued up to the plot, haven't lost track. Last 8 hours I'm thinking "What the hells going on?!?!". No, I haven't become disoriented and confused, I'm just wondering when did this show go from being reasonably believable to becoming logically incomprehensible?!?!
I trace it back to the episode where the car rolls down the hill and explodes and Jacks wife, thinking her daughter has just died, collapses in shock then wakes up and spends the next few episodes in trauma-induced amnesia. From this point on the show is trying to constantly top itself from episode to episode with "most unbelievable twist". Up until then, perfect. Between the hours of 12am & 10am it's got a sharply executed plot that could frighteningly ring true, all the characters (good and bad) are believable. It also gives the viewers enough time to get their bearings, to take in the consequences of what's unfolding before them. The betrayals, the red herrings.
After 10am it lapses dramatically. The show seems to become too smart for it's own good. It piles one twist on top of another without giving any time to work out how it all fits together. [WARNING: MAJOR SPOILER] I wasn't at all surprised that it turned out to be the head female agent (I forget her name) who was the traitor. One could see it coming a mile away. Not because the clues were apparent, just because there was no other real character to logically pin it on. Then having done that, having made that decision, I was left thinking of all the previous episodes and wondering "How?!?!", it didn't make sense.
The reason I was gripped by this show was first and foremost because it was intelligent and believable. Secondly because of the (cutting edge for U.S tv) narrative structure and direction. This all fails once the 2nd half becomes nothing more than a popcorn flick. If it had started out that way or maintained the initial equilibrium it kicked itself off with, I would've enjoyed it more. The change from one to the other is what ruined it for me. It turns from serious thriller into James Bond.