Verdict: Interesting
Crossing Lines follows an international task force
in charge of catching and prosecuting criminals that cross the borders of
European countries. The members of the task force are an eclectic group of
specialized cops from different countries: France, Italy, Germany, Ireland,
England and the U.S.
The American retired cop is played by William
Fichtner and he basically is reprising his role of Mahone from Prison Break, with some touches of House
thrown into the mix. Fichtner is very good at playing tortured, obsessive characters
with a good heart. I was not familiar with the actors who play the Italian, French
and Irish cops. But, Italian actress is gorgeous, French actress is adorable
and I instantly like anyone with an Irish accent so… The German cop is played
by Tom Wlaschiha and Valar Morghulis! it’s the same actor
who played Jaqen H’aghar on Game of
Thrones! It’s time for me to go on and on about how much I loved that
character. One of the most interesting characters from the Ice and Fire series and they couldn’t have picked a better actor to
play it on the show. He was SO GOOD. “A man had it going on, and a girl [me] enjoyed
watching him very very much”. Finally, the ICC liaison is no other than Donald
Sutherland. Fun fact, I never liked Kiefer Sutherland much… I believe he is a
wonderful actor, 24 and Touch were great series; but I just
never fully liked him [please don’t kill me 24
fans]. On the other hand, daddy Sutherland I absolutely love! So, as you
can see… cast-wise Crossing Lines is
pretty solid.
Now, how about the plot and the other aspects
of the show? They were good and much better than I expected. There were a lot
of things that I liked. I am not a huge fan of police procedurals, there are
just SO many, but this one kept the plot going, it was intriguing, it had compelling
characters, beautiful European settings and a couple of unexpected twists
towards the end. It wasn’t wildly original, but it wasn’t repetitive either. It
had a style and tone of something you would see on the BBC but not quite… it
still had some of the look and feel of American shows. I liked the fact that
instead of creating stereotypical characters (based on their nationalities)
they simply presented real people with issues that weren’t linked to their
country of origin. They even poked fun at some of the clichés [drunken Irishmen
and cocky Americans],
In summary it was different, it was
international and it had potential. It also did awful in the ratings! In the
U.S. that is, because it premiered in Italy with great success. They say
American audiences aren’t interested in international series, but how can they
know if they are interested if they don’t promote the show? I almost missed the
show, it simply got lost in the midst of summer premieres. I had to google it
to see what it was about and was surprised to find out Donald Sutherland was on
it and that the trailer looked pretty interesting. This show will not become my
new TV obsession or anything, but It is definitely superior to the rest of the
doomed-to-fail summer shows I’ve seen so far.
Should you watch it? I think it is worthy, however after
the terrible numbers of the NBC premiere it probably won’t last. Now, it had
lots of success in Italy and it will probably be the same in France and
Germany. Since it is a joint production, I assume the show could continue in
Europe even if it is cancelled in the U.S. So, if you are in Europe or you don’t
mind watching soon to be cancelled shows I would give it a try.
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Add your Comment Here