pkcasimir

Anyone who is even remotely familiar with what is known about EL Cid knows that the writers spun this series out of whole cloth and didn't even bother to review the historical sources, the few there are, or, if they did, decided to totally ignore them. The actual history is complex but the writers decided to invent a something complex but totally unbelievable.

The actor chosen to portray El Cid, the greatest warrior of his time, is head and shoulders shorter than the other actors and we are supposed to believe that he is the most formidable warrior of his time and can defeat other warriors in hand to hand combat where size and sheer strength are the most important, if not determining, factors.

This was an expensive series to make considering the sets and the battle scenes are expensively done, if rather ludicrous from an historical standpoint. In one scene King Sancho's army is ambushed in his brother's territory by cavalry that has them trapped on two sides of a road passing through low ground. Apparently, the King and El Cid (the greatest general of his time) are so militarily stupid that they didn't send out scouts, in enemy territory, to see what dangers are out there and are surprised when ambushed in broad daylight.

The stupid factor trumps any enjoyment.

I found this final episode extremely disappointing and totally unbelievable. Bosch is running two major homicide investigations, one of which involves enormous publicity and pressure, unsupervised, while the Lt supposed to be doing the supervising is the victim in a rather absurd '90s type anti-feminist plot where two sexist patrolmen and an incompetent captain set out to get her bounced off of the force simply because she's a lesbian cop. It's a plot so inane and stupid it's something even an eighth grader wouldn't come up with. Not to be forgotten is a really ridiculous subplot where some scam artist: concocted a pyramid of supposedly goldbricks out of cardboard and paint and thoroughly scammed hundreds of people out of hundreds of millions by getting them to believe that the pyramid was solid gold. Just how you would get anyone to invest in it who is worth millions is beyond me. That's how stupid the plots are.

While all of this is going on, Bosch runs around pissing everybody off, violating peoples rights, and saying "I hear you brother" to anyone and everyone. Bosch is simply a loose cannon who has let his badge go to his head. At one point, Chief Irving, asks just what kind of man Harry Bosch would be without a badge. Answer. He'd be in jail.

A British Agent meets another British Agent in a closed men's room somewhere in Berlin in 1961 to make a document transfer but neither British Agent knows the other is a British Agent. One British Agent armed with a gun and a silencer tries to murder the other British Agent who then kills him. Huh? No one in British intelligence apparently knows that they are meeting in this mens' room in Berlin. And apparently the writers have never heard of dead-drops. Which is the way professionals pass on documents. The British Agent who kills the other British Agent is apparently to be tried for murder but is given a reprieve to go and find out what is really going on in Berlin because no one else in the British Secret Service is capable of finding out what is going on. Yeah, right. Oh, and the British Agent walks around with a two day growth of beard in 1961 looking scruffy but no one calls him short for it. Oh, and he walks around "sunny" Germany with sunglasses on all of the time.

I stopped having my intelligence insulted rather quickly.

A made for TV series just can't get any worse than this. Incredibly bad acting, a convoluted script, historical inaccuracies, filmed with incredibly bad lighting. It seems that there is some school of bad acting hidden in the mountains of Scandinavia and unless you are an honors graduate of it, you weren't hired by the producers. The main character seems to believe that raised eyebrows and trying to make his eyes look weird is good acting. His emotional gamut runs from nothing to nothing. The script is tedious and has the same plot lines each week with just different characters executing them.

I don't think it possible to make a more boring, often ludicrously bad series if you tried. Watch paint dry; you'll get more out of it.

Given the legendary performance of Joan Crawford in the movie version of James M Cain's powerhouse novel, this series rises or falls on the casting and performance of the main character. Unfortunately, Kate Winslet falls short and her performance only highlights the greatness of Crawford's. Winslet just doesn't have the screen presence, charisma, fire, or strength to carry off this role, never mind match performances with Crawford. Cain's Mildred Pierce is a sexy blonde who picks herself up at the end of her marriage and experiences tragedy after meeting a handsome playboy. The initial meeting between Monte Beragon (beautifully acted by Guy Pearce)and Mildred Pierce has all the sizzle of a burnt pancake. Their subsequent affair seems rather pedestrian and one itches for the fast forward during some of their scenes.

The script is quite good and the supporting performances are also excellent. The director could learn pace as the series does drag along at times.

The only thing that can be said for this series is that it has the length and breadth to fully explore Cain's novel and present its richness and complexity while 40s Hollywoood had to make its much shorter movie conform to the tenor of its time.

Only a Canadian production company could have come up with a piece of tripe such as this! A poorly written and at times hilarious script combined with ham bone acting worthy of William Shatner in Star Trek is only surpassed by the bizarre casting of a simpering little wimp for Arthur and a Valley girl Guinevere. Does anyone really believe that battle hardened and cynical barons and knights with their very existences at stake would allow themselves to be led by this skinny little wimp Arthur who looks like he's barely strong enough to lift a sword, never mind wield it? And this Guinevere couldn't launch a row boat, never mind a thousand ships.

Save your time. Clean the lint out of your navel rather than watch this fourth rate production. You'll be better off.