A missed opportunity due to misandry, plot holes and slow pacing

neilanosim

Atmospheric it may be, but after a promising start to this drama, 'The Fall' descended into chaos for a variety of reasons.

The premise is that a serial killer (a sexual sadist with a penchant for strangulation) is on the loose and a rather cold feminist cop is on his trail. The first season sees some excellent episodes, that must be said. The acting is also pretty good throughout, although GA's 'throaty/whispering' voice grates a bit after a while.

However, as the show develops, one started to notice that all the male characters are either; murderers, rapists, paedophiles, wife-beaters, adulterers or alcoholics. Oh, and sexists, of course. For three seasons! Not one 'normal' bloke, it seems. However, all the women are great. It did get a bit tiresome.

Next up, some huge plot holes. In Season 3, the killer (a massively violent and physically strong psychopath) is allowed to be interviewed and walk around a 'psyche unit' without cuffs or any security whatsoever. Really? Add to that, the countless times the suspect is in full view of the cops (with all the evidence needed to arrest him in hand)and it does become rather silly. The pace of the show is overly pedestrian, too.

As for the the female lead (the'genius cop'), she watches the killer turn his car around 50 yards in front of her on a tiny dead-end country road and says nothing to the umpteen police offices standing nearby. Just takes his license number! While he is the most wanted man in the country! In real life,the lot of them would jump in their cars, call for the roads to be blocked ahead of them and get the helicopter out! As for end, it was a real let down.

A missed opportunity. It could've been great.

And IMDb's spellchecker recognises 'misogyny' but not 'misandry'. Strange times we live in.

score 6/10

neilanosim 29 March 2017

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3673597/