In spite of what a lot of other people say, I thought it was excellently made with a lot of twists & turns. It's about a widow, Kate, who thinks she sees her husband in a clip on the news who has been reported dead for 3 yrs but body never found. She goes on a quest to see if he is possibly alive & exactly what happened. Nothing is what it seems, her life is put in danger along w/friends who help in her quest for the truth. I figured out several conspiracies but the show keep me intrigued as you discover the corrupt agendas of the govt & people involved as the story plays out. You also see the deplorable side of the Congo rebels or milita killing innocents while they kidnap the children training them to be killers for their cause or just be the hired help. It's a suspenseful journey for truth & justice not just for the widow but for the oppressed!
236 Reviews
A Tale of Africa
pietclausen3 March 2019
This story started off very well and can certainly be called a thriller, lots of intrigue and mystery. The scenery in the DRC is a true reflection of what the place really looks like, as well as the behavior of its notorious corrupted leaders, militia and elite citizens.
One can imagine truth in this story, but fortunately it is a fabricated tale and enjoyable to binge watch. Kate Beckinsale's performance was admirable, but the end plot less so.
Life in the DRC is not pleasant but many happenings seen in this series is based on fact.
One can imagine truth in this story, but fortunately it is a fabricated tale and enjoyable to binge watch. Kate Beckinsale's performance was admirable, but the end plot less so.
Life in the DRC is not pleasant but many happenings seen in this series is based on fact.
Unwelcome investigation
unbrokenmetal27 March 2019
Three years after her husband disappeared due to a plane crash in Congo, his 'widow' discovers faint traces that he may still be alive. She flies down to Africa and starts an investigation that may be clumsy (she does not even speak French), but her stubbornness takes her through in one piece somehow. What she finds is however not what she expected, and to unknown enemies, her investigation about the plane crash is not welcome...
Well entertaining TV series, at 8 episodes neither too short to develop a certain complexity and interesting characters, nor too long to maintain suspense. I watched it in only three days because I was eager to find out how it continues, a very good sign. Familiar faces among the actors include Charles Dance ('Game of Thrones'), Alex Kingston ('Doctor Who') and of course Kate Beckinsale ('Underworld').
Well entertaining TV series, at 8 episodes neither too short to develop a certain complexity and interesting characters, nor too long to maintain suspense. I watched it in only three days because I was eager to find out how it continues, a very good sign. Familiar faces among the actors include Charles Dance ('Game of Thrones'), Alex Kingston ('Doctor Who') and of course Kate Beckinsale ('Underworld').
Botoxed Beckinsale is SO distracting
untilnow992 March 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Honestly. I cannot understand the reviewers who are raving about Kate's "stellar" performance in The Widow. I binge-watched the entire series and all throughout I found myself cringing cringing cringing at Kate's 1/8" thick foundation makeup and truly ghastly botox job.
At times, her forehead was freakishly squinched up------ but only at the far ends of her eyebrows. It made it impossible for me to follow the dialogue. All I could think was: "Did she watch this and wonder what the bloody hell happened to her real face?"
Harsh? Yeah, I guess. But cringing at Kate wasn't the only critical response I had to some of the scenes.
Along with a previous reviewer, I found myself wondering how anyone could be in Africa and never ever see a single wild animal. Not even a duck or any other bird. I don't even remember seeing any stray dogs or cats. How does that happen? Did the militia kill off everything animal?
Then the back and forth "Here we are now" and next "Oops. Hope you can keep up with these countless flashbacks" zip-zap-zoiks had my head spinning. Towards the end of the series, Kate is in Kinshasa and then, whiplash!, she's all bundled up and prancing around the frosty wilds of Wales, in search of a "Sheepdog." Since when is a Border collie called a "Sheepdog?" Maybe that's a Welsh thing?
On a positive note: I loved the cast. I always love watching Charles Dance. And that big teddy bear of an Icelandic dude. He's awesome. The actors, apart from Kate (and sometimes even Alex Kingston was a bit too over-the-top in her scenes)--------were all fascinatingly wonderful to watch. (This really made Kate's scenes even more painful to watch. When all the rest of the cast is pulling their weight and their acting is spot-on . . . then you can't really blame an off-putting performance on bad directing, now can you?)
Some of the scenery was delightful. You get a real sense of what it's like in some parts of the DRC and even a bit of Wales. At other times, things seemed constrained when so many of the scenes were filmed in this house or that house or at the same locations over and over. It got so it was a relief to see people slushing around in the red mud of the mining operation.
My one big question is, and I guess it's my fault that I must have blinked during a flashback and missed the info on this one: Who the heck was the blonde housewife cleaning and cleaning in General Azikiwe's kitchen? Were we supposed to know that he killed some white lady to take possession over her palacial home? I didn't get the memo, it seems.
Overall, I think it was fun to watch this series. It does have a few scary moments and several times you might even jump a bit, too. I liked that. Just be prepared to roll your eyes at some serious plot holes. And, if you're like me, be prepared to feel sorry for Kate that, thanks to her cosmetic surgery and/or super duper foolhardy mess of botox injections, she has almost completely lost the ability to change her facial expressions to any measureable extent. Poor thing.
At times, her forehead was freakishly squinched up------ but only at the far ends of her eyebrows. It made it impossible for me to follow the dialogue. All I could think was: "Did she watch this and wonder what the bloody hell happened to her real face?"
Harsh? Yeah, I guess. But cringing at Kate wasn't the only critical response I had to some of the scenes.
Along with a previous reviewer, I found myself wondering how anyone could be in Africa and never ever see a single wild animal. Not even a duck or any other bird. I don't even remember seeing any stray dogs or cats. How does that happen? Did the militia kill off everything animal?
Then the back and forth "Here we are now" and next "Oops. Hope you can keep up with these countless flashbacks" zip-zap-zoiks had my head spinning. Towards the end of the series, Kate is in Kinshasa and then, whiplash!, she's all bundled up and prancing around the frosty wilds of Wales, in search of a "Sheepdog." Since when is a Border collie called a "Sheepdog?" Maybe that's a Welsh thing?
On a positive note: I loved the cast. I always love watching Charles Dance. And that big teddy bear of an Icelandic dude. He's awesome. The actors, apart from Kate (and sometimes even Alex Kingston was a bit too over-the-top in her scenes)--------were all fascinatingly wonderful to watch. (This really made Kate's scenes even more painful to watch. When all the rest of the cast is pulling their weight and their acting is spot-on . . . then you can't really blame an off-putting performance on bad directing, now can you?)
Some of the scenery was delightful. You get a real sense of what it's like in some parts of the DRC and even a bit of Wales. At other times, things seemed constrained when so many of the scenes were filmed in this house or that house or at the same locations over and over. It got so it was a relief to see people slushing around in the red mud of the mining operation.
My one big question is, and I guess it's my fault that I must have blinked during a flashback and missed the info on this one: Who the heck was the blonde housewife cleaning and cleaning in General Azikiwe's kitchen? Were we supposed to know that he killed some white lady to take possession over her palacial home? I didn't get the memo, it seems.
Overall, I think it was fun to watch this series. It does have a few scary moments and several times you might even jump a bit, too. I liked that. Just be prepared to roll your eyes at some serious plot holes. And, if you're like me, be prepared to feel sorry for Kate that, thanks to her cosmetic surgery and/or super duper foolhardy mess of botox injections, she has almost completely lost the ability to change her facial expressions to any measureable extent. Poor thing.
Great show until it wasn't.
durwardwhite30 March 2019
As with many of the other reviewers. I was completely enthralled from episode 1 until the end of 6. Then episode 7 starts and I immediately began to feel the let down. By the time episode 8 hits I'm left asking myself "really is this it"? This show had so much potential but it sputtered at the end.
Well Worth the watch
dcmets11 March 2019
I really can't understand why people got hung up on her appearance. First of all she still looks beautiful. Secondly it is an excellent show with a lot of beautiful imagery. I definitely do think it flips and flops back-and-forth way too much regarding the time sequences. I also think that it leaves a lot of "hanging chads" . Several doors get opened that never get answered. This is a definite weakness of the show. Yet it does involve you in the characters lives and definitely holds your interest. I will not spew out all the plot details. My overriding thought and sentiment is that it is a show worth watching with a good performances and beautiful scenery. Give it a shot.
Enjoyable Binge Treat
AJ_McAninch4 March 2019
Watched it straight through while home sick with a virus going around. The Widow is not great, but is good and very enjoyable. I liked the actors and their characters, the themes about what is happening to the people of Africa due to greed, and the pacing. However, there are plot holes in places, and the ending seems rushed. And this is Africa but no wildlife? Bizarre. Still, the series was good company for a sick watcher and helped me get through.
well crafted, weaknesses at the end
freudichhurra3 March 2019
So a few thoughts to this show:
camera and director do many many things very right here. first of all: the show's pace. The tale follows a certain pace that you don't find often especially on TV. It's focus is more of a psychological one instead of hitting you in the face with action yet it always keeps a steady tension that drawns you to the story. It doesn't work with changes like shows that would build up a tension, release full blown action for the sake of it and then slows down to give you a contrast. This show keeps the pace for all but the last episode. Scenes that show a lot of action aren't hectic, scenes that show investigating, or characters thinking don't slow down boringly; yet the whole thing doesn't feel mushy - because of the way the story is told -
The story isn't told linear. You find multiple temporal levels. There's a now, there's a then and there's a before then. And even within the same time period the story doesn't always follow the course of time. Some people may find this annoying, I absolutely dig it. Of course it requires some attention and certainly isn't light fare. In addition, while the show hints you at details it doesn't explain those details right away. Sometimes you have to wait an episode or two to get shown the scene missing in the episode you're watching. Jumps to scenes from the past create a tessellation of the background information to understand what's really going on and why everything in the now is like it is. But it's only offered in pieces and creates an analogy to Beckinsale's character - as she collects bit per bit, so does the viewer.
Due to this style your perception of the characters change. People who seem like good people at the time may not seem as good while you suddenly feel a certain empathy with people that you deemed being bad after you're fed some background. These kind of twists are very well made. They don't try to sell you black for white by a completely unbelievable explanation, they just show that life is often not black nor white; we're all broken and in the end we all got our reasons. Of course this being a mini-series you can't expect a character development/assessment on the scope of The Sopranos or The Wire but with what little time they have they do an outstanding job. As for characters' actions it was good to see believable actions for a change. Everyone's acting within their logical and ethical limits and you don't have for example Kate Beckinsale running around like a madman with a shotgun to seek justice.
The camera work is in my opinion very good. The angles, the colours, the composition is just very harmonic and offers good immersion. The cut isn't too fast and doesn't distract from what's happening. This of course puts greater pressure on the actors and the script to transport the story to the viewer. Now Kate Beckinsale with utmost certainty isn't the greatest actress of the 21st century but must say, she did a really solid job and I was pleasantly surprised. The other actors also performed reasonably well. As I see reviews here criticizing the acting in this show I really wonder what they're used to because I generally have seen a lot worse performances. As for the mediocre/bad: I really disliked the last episode. It breaks with everything I've so far liked. It suddenly changes the pace, it skips the details and backgrounds and presents you with what seems to be an ending to fit the research of the studio as to how to appeal to the biggest audience - unfortunately not necessarily the audience that will watch all other episodes before. They should have probably gone with a different ending, but even going with this one it should have been either turned it into a 12-episode piece giving the events time to unfold instead of rushing through it in the last episode or just turned it into a written epilogue telling you the keypoints of what's happening in 5 sentences to the sound of violins.
Also when you got the whole story in front of you in the end there's slight disappointment since it's rather simple really and there are a lot of potentials or rather would have been that unfortunately can't be tapped due to the ending. There would have been enough material for a second season or a decent spin-off but unfortunately this has been blown.
Overall I can only say, go and watch it. You might want to go through it fast as I think it's not really meant to watch with lengthy interruptions. When you're looking for some light-hearted entertainment to shut your mind off to, this is probably not the show for you. Otherwise you're in for a treat.
camera and director do many many things very right here. first of all: the show's pace. The tale follows a certain pace that you don't find often especially on TV. It's focus is more of a psychological one instead of hitting you in the face with action yet it always keeps a steady tension that drawns you to the story. It doesn't work with changes like shows that would build up a tension, release full blown action for the sake of it and then slows down to give you a contrast. This show keeps the pace for all but the last episode. Scenes that show a lot of action aren't hectic, scenes that show investigating, or characters thinking don't slow down boringly; yet the whole thing doesn't feel mushy - because of the way the story is told -
The story isn't told linear. You find multiple temporal levels. There's a now, there's a then and there's a before then. And even within the same time period the story doesn't always follow the course of time. Some people may find this annoying, I absolutely dig it. Of course it requires some attention and certainly isn't light fare. In addition, while the show hints you at details it doesn't explain those details right away. Sometimes you have to wait an episode or two to get shown the scene missing in the episode you're watching. Jumps to scenes from the past create a tessellation of the background information to understand what's really going on and why everything in the now is like it is. But it's only offered in pieces and creates an analogy to Beckinsale's character - as she collects bit per bit, so does the viewer.
Due to this style your perception of the characters change. People who seem like good people at the time may not seem as good while you suddenly feel a certain empathy with people that you deemed being bad after you're fed some background. These kind of twists are very well made. They don't try to sell you black for white by a completely unbelievable explanation, they just show that life is often not black nor white; we're all broken and in the end we all got our reasons. Of course this being a mini-series you can't expect a character development/assessment on the scope of The Sopranos or The Wire but with what little time they have they do an outstanding job. As for characters' actions it was good to see believable actions for a change. Everyone's acting within their logical and ethical limits and you don't have for example Kate Beckinsale running around like a madman with a shotgun to seek justice.
The camera work is in my opinion very good. The angles, the colours, the composition is just very harmonic and offers good immersion. The cut isn't too fast and doesn't distract from what's happening. This of course puts greater pressure on the actors and the script to transport the story to the viewer. Now Kate Beckinsale with utmost certainty isn't the greatest actress of the 21st century but must say, she did a really solid job and I was pleasantly surprised. The other actors also performed reasonably well. As I see reviews here criticizing the acting in this show I really wonder what they're used to because I generally have seen a lot worse performances. As for the mediocre/bad: I really disliked the last episode. It breaks with everything I've so far liked. It suddenly changes the pace, it skips the details and backgrounds and presents you with what seems to be an ending to fit the research of the studio as to how to appeal to the biggest audience - unfortunately not necessarily the audience that will watch all other episodes before. They should have probably gone with a different ending, but even going with this one it should have been either turned it into a 12-episode piece giving the events time to unfold instead of rushing through it in the last episode or just turned it into a written epilogue telling you the keypoints of what's happening in 5 sentences to the sound of violins.
Also when you got the whole story in front of you in the end there's slight disappointment since it's rather simple really and there are a lot of potentials or rather would have been that unfortunately can't be tapped due to the ending. There would have been enough material for a second season or a decent spin-off but unfortunately this has been blown.
Overall I can only say, go and watch it. You might want to go through it fast as I think it's not really meant to watch with lengthy interruptions. When you're looking for some light-hearted entertainment to shut your mind off to, this is probably not the show for you. Otherwise you're in for a treat.
A Widow's Web Of Deceit, Corruption And Truth
PCT197020 May 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Harry and Jack Williams have created a penetrating mystery drama. This series has formidable direction, writing, cinematography, settings, score and acting. The score adds to the intensity of certain scenes and the overall tone of the series. All of the actors involved deliver superlative performances. In particular Dance, Olusanmokun, Ido and Fouche stand out. Beckinsale commands the series with an emotive performance. The plot revolves around the disappearance of Georgia Wells' husband Will during a plane crash that occurs in the jungles of the Congo. There was only one reported survivor who was a nurse that died later on during recovery. Georgia has been living peacefully on a Welsh farm, but still suffers inside from Will's death, until one day she sees footage of rioting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the DRC. She sees a man being pulled through the fighting wearing an orange baseball cap that is identical to what Will was wearing when he embarked on the fatal flight. This ignites an investigation into the possibility that Will is still alive. She travels to Kinshasa to start to investigate and soon a web of storylines begins which, in this viewer's opinion, is symbolic of a widow's web. Georgia starts by hunting down Pieter Bello who was the last man seen with Will in the footage. She does this with the assistance of her friend Martin Benson. Throughout the series we learn there was more than one survivor and that the plane crash was no accident. We learn this through a man who is now blind, Ariel who witnessed events that occurred leading up to the plane crash. Ariel has been hiding out of fear for his life, but eventually decides to come forward which could cause serious problems for General Azikiwe of the DRC and Pieter. We learn that Azikiwe, Pieter and Judith Gray are involved in illegal mining of coltan which is an extremely valuable element used in the technology of computers and cell phones. During Georgia's investigation she rescues a young girl, Adidja who was stolen from her village to fight for a militant group in the DRC. As the series continues Georgia solves the mystery of Will, but more importantly, in this viewer's opinion, uncovers the reason for the plane crash and who was behind it. The series has sort of a, "Babel" feel to it as it takes place in a few different countries and there is a language barrier at times. It also has a sort of, "Blood Diamond" feel to it because of the mining of coltan. Throughout the series we learn of the backstories behind most of the main characters including the fact that Georgia has a military background. The series does a considerable job examining the politics and corruption in the DRC. It also touches slightly on the horrendous acts of forcing children to kill for the merciless militant groups. The same goes for the human rights violations and vile child labor when it comes to the mining. It is understandable that the series does not go in to extreme depth on certain themes as the series tries to scrutinize a lot of controversial subject matter in only eight episodes, but again we at least learn of such goings on. The mystery is captivating but for this viewer I was more mesmerized by the inner turmoil and slowly developing insanity of General Azikiwe. The plot is gritty, violent, insightful, duplicitous, thrilling, sterling, intelligent and has a cathartic ending. This is a well rounded and exceptional series in the mystery drama genre.
Just okay
abigailjune113 March 2019
What could have been an incredible mystery, political conspiracy film left me asking "what was the point of that?" by the end of episode 7. If you were shocked by any of the "twists" places in the story you should broaden your horizons a bit more. The story had so much potential and sadly fell incredibly short. The best part of the show is Kate Beckinse's amazing hair which magically stays perfectly curled even while walking through a jungle for days. It was truly my favorite part of the show.
Good thriller!
themiddleofnowhere-4486819 May 2019
Good story with interesting and unpredictable twists, well made, good casting, intriguing and dense plot with diverse parameters. Fun to watch and quite revealing of the local climate. A different leading lady would have been a better choice, one who can actually have facial expressions so can reflect the depth of the character's nuances better...
A Promising But Underperforming Show
annlevtex8 July 2019
First off, yes, Kate Beckinsale's Botoxed lips are noticeable but not all that distracting. If you knew what she look like without them (lovely), then you wonder "WHY?". If not, it's not a big deal. I loved the premise, the scenery is lovely, the supporting performances pretty strong, and the plot engaging enough. I like a couple of the sub-plots involving sympathetic (if complex) secondary characters. They don't seem extraneous to me, just a welcome distraction. There is enough tension to keep me worried....but never for too long. Unfortunately, she takes risks without seeming to break a sweat that just stretch credulity too much. She puts others in danger, which is one of my major pet peeves with action shows or those involving revenge and single-minded quests. I think Beckinsale's acting is pretty good, but her character is underdeveloped in a lot of ways. She is supposed to be psychologically damaged and complex and twisted but she never seems multi-dimensional enough to make it work. Still, it's decent watch. I'm not sure they need another season though.
Predictable plot, subpar acting, pretty awful writing
kevinbzpdx9 March 2019
Warning: Spoilers
I don't think the writers of this show have ever listened to human beings have a conversation. The dialogue is so stilted, so poorly written, littered with expletives to attempt to improve the realism but littered with the wrong ones. I don't think I've heard the word "bastard" as much in my life as I have in an episode of this show. It reads like robots attempting to imitate human banter. It's not natural.
Kate Beckinsale was likely cast in the lead role purely because of looks. Her performance is far from stellar. She delivers her poorly-written dialogue like she's reading it directly from a teleprompter, and she is either surprised or angry, nothing else. No emotional range at all.
The plot was predictable. (SPOILERS AHEAD) The baby having died was a cheap plot device to try to introduce some stakes into the relationship between the main character and her husband, even though it's fairly irrelevant to the main story. And of course, once Kate Beckinsale finds her husband, he turns out to be a bad guy. Shocking. And he explains everything to Beckinsale (and the audience) through torturously long flashback sequences. It's not particularly ambitious, it's not surprising, it's not creative.
At least it looks pretty. Beautiful picture, and the cinematography is solid, but not particularly creative. Overall, not worth your time. It's bland, uninteresting, unambitious, horribly predictable, littered with mindless, low-stakes action, full of characters lacking in dimensionality, horribly written, and poorly acted. 2/10
Kate Beckinsale was likely cast in the lead role purely because of looks. Her performance is far from stellar. She delivers her poorly-written dialogue like she's reading it directly from a teleprompter, and she is either surprised or angry, nothing else. No emotional range at all.
The plot was predictable. (SPOILERS AHEAD) The baby having died was a cheap plot device to try to introduce some stakes into the relationship between the main character and her husband, even though it's fairly irrelevant to the main story. And of course, once Kate Beckinsale finds her husband, he turns out to be a bad guy. Shocking. And he explains everything to Beckinsale (and the audience) through torturously long flashback sequences. It's not particularly ambitious, it's not surprising, it's not creative.
At least it looks pretty. Beautiful picture, and the cinematography is solid, but not particularly creative. Overall, not worth your time. It's bland, uninteresting, unambitious, horribly predictable, littered with mindless, low-stakes action, full of characters lacking in dimensionality, horribly written, and poorly acted. 2/10
Liked it but...
randall-5028 September 2019
Pretty good tale, I watched it all the way through and found some of the twists and turns to be clever and compelling. That said, I feel like the writers relied way too heavily on the tired old mechanism of unnecessarily sending people off on their own into dangerous situations when there's no good reason to do so, just so something bad can happen... bleah, pure lazyness. I liked this okay but too many of those moments when you know something will go wrong, and it does.
Brilliant - a thriller that has it all
SamJohnson13 March 2019
This is clever stuff - exposing corruption and shady dealings in the Congo with a script that deftly provides plausible reasons for why characters are drawn into such murky depths. It continuously wrong foots you and never lets go of a pace with often surprising and shocking turns that deal with the big issues of life - trust, love, betrayal, ethical dilemmas, politics - without ever getting ponderous. Highly recommend - and good luck trying to stop watching once you've started!
Great plot, decent writing, could have been directed a little better.
rongosling4 March 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Love binging with any new Netflix or Prime streaming series. The Widow doesn't disappoint. Takes a few episodes until the plot comes to focus. But don't fret, each episode opens a different plot and storyline. Loved Kate back in her heyday when she was fighting mystical monsters. Her character is this series is over developed. From a grieving housewife in the UK one week to the next in Africa seamlessly chasing warlords and international rare metals smugglers.
Very good drama, very watchable.
Sleepin_Dragon11 July 2019
I would class The Widow as very good overall. There's always a risk with eight part dramas that you got a flat lull in the middle, this one doesn't suffer from that, it's dramatic and entertaining the whole way through, until the final episode, which isn't great.
Superb acting throughout, everyone is excellent. Beckinsale does a great job, I just wish they'd given her a better hair extension, which doesn't alter with fights, chases, or anything. Ólafur Darri Ólafsson and Shalom Nyandiko are both superb throughout.
It has some terrifying moments of realism, the militia and child involvement the main ones, but there are times when you feel the need to suspend belief.
Very watchable, but who was Owen?
Superb acting throughout, everyone is excellent. Beckinsale does a great job, I just wish they'd given her a better hair extension, which doesn't alter with fights, chases, or anything. Ólafur Darri Ólafsson and Shalom Nyandiko are both superb throughout.
It has some terrifying moments of realism, the militia and child involvement the main ones, but there are times when you feel the need to suspend belief.
Very watchable, but who was Owen?
Falling for it
kosmasp19 March 2021
This starts off quite strong and you may feel differently, but Kate Beckinsale always gets a 10 out of 10 or whatever the highest score is. But after that strong beginning and all the mysteries that are being thrown at you ... it starts to wear off. The hunt is being kept interesting nevertheless, with intercutting, either the past or other seemingly random events.
Interesting characters and really good actors (Charles Dance in a welcome change of pace) help the show. But they can't help it over the long run - and that long run is only 8 episodes. But once we get what we were looking for (if you can call it that), the show feels like a dead stop. Yes there is more to explore, yes there is the typical return of a character you didn't expect to see again, just for that character to become super evil and ... there is so much wrong here, that it I wonder how they messed this up in just one short season.
The last episode may have a couple of highlights (depending on your moral compass), but overall the show is not able to excite you or rather hold any excitement for a long period of time ...
Interesting characters and really good actors (Charles Dance in a welcome change of pace) help the show. But they can't help it over the long run - and that long run is only 8 episodes. But once we get what we were looking for (if you can call it that), the show feels like a dead stop. Yes there is more to explore, yes there is the typical return of a character you didn't expect to see again, just for that character to become super evil and ... there is so much wrong here, that it I wonder how they messed this up in just one short season.
The last episode may have a couple of highlights (depending on your moral compass), but overall the show is not able to excite you or rather hold any excitement for a long period of time ...
Solid mystery with an interesting setting and a great supporting cast
pabstcanrocketship3 March 2019
Kaye Beckinsale has never been a phenomenal actor. And her weirdly smooth forehead doesn't help her to emote, here. (People in their mid-forties have horizontal lines on their forehead when they raise their eyebrows, it's just how we're built.)
But the ravages of time and of botox notwithstanding, this is a thoroughly enjoyable mystery miniseries. It has some shakey writing in a few places, some eye rollingly cliche conversations, but the overall plot remains engaging throughout, and the pacing is really well done.
It's not an explosive action-filled tale, but neither is it boring or sedate. By the end I was happy I'd spent the time.
But the ravages of time and of botox notwithstanding, this is a thoroughly enjoyable mystery miniseries. It has some shakey writing in a few places, some eye rollingly cliche conversations, but the overall plot remains engaging throughout, and the pacing is really well done.
It's not an explosive action-filled tale, but neither is it boring or sedate. By the end I was happy I'd spent the time.
Not quite believable
Andrea_Keir15 March 2019
Pretty Bad
brettshapiro-7763419 March 2019
I started watching this, wanted to stop - but hung in there because I wanted to know what happened. Huge mistake. Africa is interesting, but this painful acting coupled with a completely unbelievable (borderline nonsensical) underlying story that drags on and on and on. I wish I could undo watching this.
No bad acting at all!
jazzica2 March 2019
The Bad Acting is Unbearable
jhunterwu1 March 2019
It just goes from one stupidity to another. It's unbearable to watch. What's with the constant weird facial expressions and the touching? The constant stupid background elevator music. The ones who did the writing for this is of lower intelligence.
Ok, I have now reached episode 5 and I'm going to change my review from 1 to a 7. It definitely picked up. It still sucks, but sucks a lot less than most out there today;) The mystery is something I want to figure out, so I'll stick to the end;)
Ok, I've now watched it to the end. There's really a lot of cringe, embarrassing cringe. The mystery was revealed and I must say, it wasn't spectacular. Nevertheless, it sort of kept my interest for 8 episodes and it's above most of the stuff out there;)
Ok, I have now reached episode 5 and I'm going to change my review from 1 to a 7. It definitely picked up. It still sucks, but sucks a lot less than most out there today;) The mystery is something I want to figure out, so I'll stick to the end;)
Ok, I've now watched it to the end. There's really a lot of cringe, embarrassing cringe. The mystery was revealed and I must say, it wasn't spectacular. Nevertheless, it sort of kept my interest for 8 episodes and it's above most of the stuff out there;)
A ridiculous plot that ruins the entire series at the end
dlancaster-785-2572393 March 2019
Warning: Spoilers
It was ok to watch, I'd give it about a 7, but the entire series rests on the fact that the husband is such a pathetic wimp that he pretends he's dead and abandons his wife. Seriously, it's like the writers couldn't come up with anything better. Ridiculous. If I was Kate, I'd put a bullet in his head. The writers want everyone to believe that Kate and all of us viewers have just forgotten that good people died because of his behavior, that his buddy tried to kill her... 100% garbage. Sure they through it in a line when she's jealous and angry. I want my 8 hours back!
Georgia's Suitcase
septictank16 March 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Scrolled through the reviews, not sure if somebody mentioned it, but initially Georgia getting her suitcase ripped off at the airport from a thief offering to be a porter didn't seem to a scene that needed to happen. Surely, Georgia, a well travelled former soldier would be well aware of this common con. And then you'd expect Georgia to be wearing loose fitting and not form fitting clothes for the rest of the film. And then you expect somehow this theft would later have some impact on the plot which would bite Georgia on her tight jeaned arse. And maybe she'd have a bad hair and makeup day?
But none of that happened which means that either it didn't need to be in the film...or maybe it was the sign of things to come. It may have set the tone for what was to come in the DR Congo...things are not what they seem, don't trust anybody, everything you value is about to get taken from you from somebody you trust? Maybe this series is a lot more clever than some think?
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