This show has a few great ideas but misses in the implementation.
It is about the International Criminal Court, which in this series takes over a very active, part CSI part criminal minds approach to all sorts of criminal cases that involve crossing borders within Europe. Thus criminals tend to act across Europe and that makes the basis of this show quite interesting.
The crimes are interesting, the members of the ICC come from a few different places around Europe, so a bit different aattitudes and accents, the action is good, there are some fine side stories and some effort for character development.
The major issue is the large overhaul that happens at the end of season two. It's irrational and it looks like it was the result of an effort to close several chapters at once, but failing to do so in a smooth and logical way. My bet, the actors that were asking too much for the third season had their character terminated...
Then, there is an American in the team. Being also an American production, I guess it was part of the deal. He is some kind of the Mentalist but more down to earth, more sad, and destroyed kind of guy. Let's accept him.
Another issue is time travel. ICC apparently uses that a lot to transport themselves from one country to another.
Crimes are fine. But finding the solutions looks more like the detectives have read the script and know what to expect. So, we see that X happens, and the next scene at the meeting someone suddenly out of the blue says, "what if X had happened".
Another annoying thing was that many episodes finish in a rush. From complete ignorance to total enlightenment, it takes often a few seconds, and the bad guys are caught in.
Season 3 seems to lose its multinationality, as the characters behave in a more flat, univeral way. My guess is that they thought that if shows like CSI can change their protagonists, then they could do it too. However, the ones from the first two seasons were far more interesting than both CSI and the Crossing Lines third season.
Lastly, there are the usual factual gaps that are common in most of these crime shows. So, dont take it too seriously-
So, overall, there are some interesting ideas and the first two seasons, although a bit superficial, they are fun to watch. At the end of the second season you will be definitely disappointed. The third season looks like a totally new show.
So, overall, there are some interesting ideas and the first two seasons, although a bit superficial, they are fun to watch. At the end of the second season you will be definitely disappointed. The third season looks like a totally new show.