S01.E08: Episode 8

[FormerMod-a1]

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A violent confrontation leads to new revelations, and the truth about Corinne's disappearance finally emerges.

Original air date: January 30, 2020

[peridot]

Even though he was a psycho, I kept laughing at all the misfortunes of Katz after the truth came out.  

[twoods]

That was a hard show to binge and now I’m so tired, but it was worth it. It had the perfect balance of intrigue and intensity without the gratuitous nudity that many shows depend on, so I feel okay watching it if the kids are awake and walking about. 
I loved the detectives- I would gladly watch a spinoff on the two of them solving cases. I would also watch anything with Richard Armitage and now I want to go back and watch North and South for the hundredth time.

I felt there were some things that weren’t discussed, such as Daisy feeling guilty for what happened to Dante. She was so freaked out at first and then the flash forward she was happy, and Olivia dis not get any repercussions for sending those pictures of her sister.  I wonder who she ends up staying with (maybe her aunt) now that both her parents are likely in jail.

I don’t feel sorry for Katz. He didn’t have to kill Heidi and could have just gotten the information and left. He was one crazy psychopath.

Edited February 2, 2020 by twoods

[Irlandesa]

This was a fun binge.  I haven't seen Safe but I've liked the other series based on Harlan Coban's work, The Five and No Second Chance (French mini-series).  

I predicted a lot of the twists like why the cop/house owner didn't want to sell his house, the mother was poisoning her child and that the friend/sidekick would turn out to be the ultimate big bad.  He's just the typical character who is always close by and isn't scrutinized too much.  There's a red herring red herring moment where he does something a little suspicious but something that is easily explained away so we think he's a dismissed red herring only to find out that there's so much more that we didn't know.

I do think it's kind of funny that Jennifer Saunders was doing a lot of promo for the show and got high level billing but was killed in the second or third episode.  We didn't even get many flashbacks of her like we did of the missing wife.

The only thing I wish is that the reason for the mystery were a little more interesting.  Faking a pregnancy was such an intriguing secret but she was killed over something so mundane.

But in spite of all that, I think the show was paced well.  Episodes were about 45 minutes long and always seemed to end on a nice mini-cliffhanger making me want to see the next episode.

I loved the cop duo and wish the woman hadn't retired because I'd watch her, and "the infant" continue to solve crimes together.

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I felt there were some things that weren’t discussed, such as Daisy feeling guilty for what happened to Dante. She was so freaked out at first and then the flash forward she was happy, and Olivia dis not get any repercussions for sending those pictures of her sister.

That was bad but Daisy lacing the pot with PCB was even worse.  Did she face any repercussions for that?  Did the kid ever have to face anything for the alpaca incident?  Did Olivia's mother get put in jail too?  So many leftover questions.

Edited February 3, 2020 by Irlandesa

[Chaos Theory]

I am surprised this made the individual episode list.   Not that it was a bad show, I rather enjoyed the mystery.   I did feel sorry for Katz who fit into the category of a guy who did very bad things while thinking he was paying for medical care for his sick daughter who turns out wasn’t really sick.    

The main mystery did actually work for me.   A stupid affair a desperate lie all exposed years later.   A husband wanting the truth.  A wife just wanting a minute but then disappearing.     And then all the dominos begin to fall.       Of course in the end all our secrets and lies are so mundane aren’t they? 
 

[iggysaurus]

I liked this a lot and will gladly binge any Harlan Coben show, but I feel like it suffered a little from too many plotlines.  I read an article that said the book this is based on doesn't include any of the stuff about the teenagers (the rave, alpaca, Dante's accident, Daisy spiking Mike's joint with PCP, etc.).  Harlan's 25 yr old daughter wrote that part and they worked it in with everything else.  I feel like you can kinda tell that it was shoehorned in, because they didn't resolve all of those aspects as completely as they could have.  

I called The Stranger being that guy's daughter.  When he told that story about how he killed his wife because she was going to take away their child, "Chris," I noticed he never referred to the gender of the child. So that stuck out to me as something that would probably be significant, and I thought, I bet the Stranger is Chris, his child. Sure enough, she was. But from then on, any time she was referred to by name (by her dad, or in the closed captions) it was Chrissy or Christina.  So him calling her "Chris" in his initial telling of the story seemed like a deliberate way to be vague about the child because you don't even know if he's talking about a boy or girl at that point. 

[iggysaurus]

On 2/2/2020 at 7:37 PM, Chaos Theory said:

I am surprised this made the individual episode list.  

Yeah, it seems like there's never much individual episode discussion on these shows that drop all at once on Netflix.  Most people just watch the whole thing and then comment on the last episode thread.  I love being able to binge an entire series rather than wait for new episodes week to week, but I do miss being able to read more discussion on individual episodes as they happen.  People tend to analyze and speculate a lot more when there's a week of waiting between each episode! 

[FormerMod-a1]

On 2/2/2020 at 9:07 PM, Irlandesa said:

  Faking a pregnancy was such an intriguing secret but she was killed over something so mundane.

Right?  And wasn't it like $5000 (I know, it's pounds but can't find that symbol right now).  Which while not chump change doesn't seem like a murder worthy amount.

[Irlandesa]

23 minutes ago, aquarian1 said:

And wasn't it like $5000 (I know, it's pounds but can't find that symbol right now).  Which while not chump change doesn't seem like a murder worthy amount.

I had the same thought.  That seems like very little to sustain that guy's lifestyle.  Surely the club isn't making the kind of money he can keep drawing from to sustain his lifestyle.

[SharonMist]

Was it explained why Corinne faked her pregnancy.
Was it just to keep her husband from leaving?

[Chaos Theory]

2 hours ago, SharonMist said:

Was it explained why Corinne faked her pregnancy.
Was it just to keep her husband from leaving?

Her husband was having an affair and she thought he might leave her like HIS FATHER had done so her fears were not completely unfounded.

 

16 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I had the same thought.  That seems like very little to sustain that guy's lifestyle.  Surely the club isn't making the kind of money he can keep drawing from to sustain his lifestyle.

I think that’s why they asked for so little from the people they did blackmail.   Was it worth $5000 to keep a secret?   Not really worth killing over and yet people got killed over it.  

Edited February 5, 2020 by Chaos Theory

[jabRI]

How are they going to convince everyone that Katz killed Tripp? He tries to kill the detective, gets away, kills Tripp in the woods (somehow) and then goes to Chris' place?  Then he shoots the roommate and gets arrested.  So how does the gun end up wherever she hid the gun at Katz's place?  How did it get there after he was arrested?

They'd probably find some evidence that he couldn't have killed Tripp BEFORE going to Chris's place, like because Tripp and Adam  talked on the phone after he was arrested therefore Tripp was  alive after Katz was arrested. 

That was just really unclear, unless the assumption was the police wouldn't look too hard at it.  But Katz is going to trial so it would have to be  explained at some point.

Maybe it makes sense and I'm missing  a simple timeline.

I don't remember, how much money was missing? If he knew he could 'never' pay it back, what was the long term plan? He had nothing he could liquidate?

 

 

[krankydoodle]

I'm disappointed we didn't get to see Chris's confrontation with Killane about her mother.

If Katz wanted to kill anyone, I would've thought Olivia's mother would be his preferred target because everything started with her. Since he already knew that he had been found out and that Olivia didn't need medical treatment, there wasn't any point in him going after Chris anymore. But whatever, I guess he was pretty far gone by then. He tortured and killed Heidi in cold blood when he could've talked his way around it instead, so I didn't feel sorry for him.

Now that I've seen the whole thing, Corrine's reaction when Adam confronted her about the fake pregnancy feels off. When she jumped to asking if he was going to beat the answer out of her, I thought maybe we'd find out he used to be an angry drunk or something. Maybe I need to watch that scene again. And we never did find out why Suzanne Hope's husband reacted so violently when Adam asked about Corrine.

Anyway, I was glad that Adam got away with it even though I agree with jabRI that I'm not sure how they managed it. It was nice to end on a happyish note with Anthony Head at the game, and Jo back with her husband.

[jabRI]

1 hour ago, krankydoodle said:

And we never did find out why Suzanne Hope's husband reacted so violently when Adam asked about Corrine.

When Adam met Suzanne she told him that Corinne was trying to convince her to leave her husband (why I don't know), so I assumed Suzanne told her husband that.  

 

[Weavertoo]

What an intriguing and fun show to watch!  I love it when a show can surprise me and this one did-several times.  Now I want to read the book.  The acting was great and the many storylines kept me guessing throughout, trying to figure out how they all fit together.  Because of that, it was a bit of a disappointment that they really didn't all fit together, and the teenager subplot, while interesting in itself, had nothing to do with the blackmail.

One plotline I haven't been able to resolve (and it shows how good it is that I'm still thinking about it and trying to piece it all together.). Why,  when Adam confronted Corinne about the faked pregnancy, did she say (paraphrasing)  "This is bigger than you think.  There's more to it than you know.". There really wasnt, was there?  The fake pregnancy didn't have anything to do with the blackmail, did it?  And why did she immediately go call the neighbor about the missing football club money?  I'm trying to see the connection between the blackmail, the pregnancy, and the missing money, and I don't see it.  Help?

[jabRI]

17 minutes ago, Weavertoo said:

What an intriguing and fun show to watch!  I love it when a show can surprise me and this one did-several times.  Now I want to read the book.  The acting was great and the many storylines kept me guessing throughout, trying to figure out how they all fit together.  Because of that, it was a bit of a disappointment that they really didn't all fit together, and the teenager subplot, while interesting in itself, had nothing to do with the blackmail.

One plotline I haven't been able to resolve (and it shows how good it is that I'm still thinking about it and trying to piece it all together.). Why,  when Adam confronted Corinne about the faked pregnancy, did she say (paraphrasing)  "This is bigger than you think.  There's more to it than you know.". There really wasnt, was there?  The fake pregnancy didn't have anything to do with the blackmail, did it?  And why did she immediately go call the neighbor about the missing football club money?  I'm trying to see the connection between the blackmail, the pregnancy, and the missing money, and I don't see it.  Help?

I think she figured out that someone had a private detective to dig up dirt on her (of course it was not, it was The Stranger) and she thought it was Tripp because she knew he stole that money.  That's what she meant by 'it's bigger than you think' and why she called Tripp right away to confront him.

[Weavertoo]

Thank you, that's interesting.  I still don't get why she wouldn't have just told Adam everything since he already knew the worst (the pregnancy).  Why she delayed and kept Tripp's secret.  But I guess if she hadn't there wouldn't have been a miniseries!

[Paloma]

20 hours ago, jabRI said:

How are they going to convince everyone that Katz killed Tripp? He tries to kill the detective, gets away, kills Tripp in the woods (somehow) and then goes to Chris' place?  Then he shoots the roommate and gets arrested.  So how does the gun end up wherever she hid the gun at Katz's place?  How did it get there after he was arrested?

They'd probably find some evidence that he couldn't have killed Tripp BEFORE going to Chris's place, like because Tripp and Adam  talked on the phone after he was arrested therefore Tripp was  alive after Katz was arrested. 

That was just really unclear, unless the assumption was the police wouldn't look too hard at it.  But Katz is going to trial so it would have to be  explained at some point.

Maybe it makes sense and I'm missing  a simple timeline.

This is exactly what annoyed and frustrated me and my husband. There were other plot holes in earlier episodes but they could be hand-waved more than this one. They clearly had Katz on Heidi's murder, Ingrid/Gabrielle's murder, and attempted murder of Jo, Katz's ex-wife, and Chris. But even if Katz pled guilty to all of this to avoid a trial, the timeline didn't work and there was also nothing to tie him to Tripp (aside from the planted gun) and thus no motive for Katz to kill him. It's likely that Katz would insist that he had nothing to do with Tripp's murder, and someone should have asked questions about where Tripp fit in, unless Katz had a really incompetent lawyer and all the police and prosecutors worked together to cover up what really happened (which apparently they did not--the coverup was mainly Jo).  

[minamurray78]

For a moment I thought they were going to go a different way: say that Johanna happened upon Adam and Tripp fighting in the woods, she saw the gun lying around and fired just as Tripp was about to, I dont know, crack Adam's head with a rock or something. Otherwise, how did they explain Adam being at the burial site with Tripp´s body? He was at the hospital with Chrissy then dissapears and other cops see her go looking for Adam. So...? That for me is a lose end.

Also, there's cctv everywhere, but no footage of Mike walking about town with the alpaca?? That didn´t make sense to me, in this day and age.

Also I dont quite remember if it was explained how Katz ended up with Corrine's old key fob that he planted at the cafe murder scene. I mean the fact that it was a year old would make it strange for her to still carry it , and where would he find that lying around?

I loved the show and binged on it but now I'm full of questions.

[FormerMod-a1]

I didn't like tying it all to Katz, either.  I know it was his gun that Adam used, but I was hoping more for like above.  Or even Johanna testify on Adam's behalf and have him get off with probation, or self-defense (even in a contrived way).  Like Adam, I wish people knew Tripp killed Corinne and why.   I don't dislike it enough to impact my enjoyment of the series. I was intrigued and engaged throughout. It's just a little thing.  

[jabRI]

1 hour ago, minamurray78 said:

Also I dont quite remember if it was explained how Katz ended up with Corrine's old key fob

I think he said he pulled it from an old case

[jaigurudeva]

I'm surprised to see so much praise for this show, I thought it ended pretty badly. Way too many plot holes, most of the mysteries were lackluster red herrings, the "big reveals" were anticlimactic, and most of the conflict hinged on nonsensical motives and actions by the characters. The acting overall was good, but the writing was a resounding "blah" for me.

[krankydoodle]

Richard Armitage covers a multitude of sins. I'd probably be a lot more down on the show if someone else was in the lead role. As it is, it's the equivalent of an airplane read for me. Despite its problems, I enjoyed it well enough while I was watching but will likely forget about it in a few weeks.

[Neurochick]

On 2/2/2020 at 10:37 PM, Chaos Theory said:

I did feel sorry for Katz who fit into the category of a guy who did very bad things while thinking he was paying for medical care for his sick daughter who turns out wasn’t really sick.    

I didn't feel sorry for the stupid fuck.  I'm not a detective and even I figured out what the mother was doing.  What a shit bunch of men, Katz and the friend who stole the money. 

[Fleegull]

It was Pretty Little Liars condensed and for adults which is fine. They never explained how The Stranger knew about Adam's almost affair, they never even had sex so how did she know about it? Was she following him that much that she was peeking into the woman's house? Did she hear about from the women herself? That's the thing that bothers me almost as much as the stuff with the kids, that was obviously tacked on to make them more interesting and it didn't.

[jabRI]

To be fair, I read the book (I read all of Coben) and I remember I really liked it, but it's possible that when they try to write it for TV they have to take some liberties, and these plot holes remain.  I'm just saying, don't blame the original author

[2727]

On 2/7/2020 at 7:47 PM, krankydoodle said:

As it is, it's the equivalent of an airplane read for me.

Me too, in a casually entertaining way. The end was emotionally satisfying even if it made no sense.

OTOH, the kids were annoying, created even more plot holes, and dragged down the entire show.

I'll also add my meaningless vote for a series featuring Don't-Call-Me-Jo and Wesley. Hopefully he's learned not to be so suggestible.

[Mabinogia]

9 hours ago, 2727 said:

OTOH, the kids were annoying, created even more plot holes, and dragged down the entire show.

I liked the younger son. haha, yeah, the kids kind of sucked. Mike and Daisy are both just terrible people. I didn't mind the Price boys when they were dealing with family stuff. I much preferred seeing how these two boys who, until now, had a pretty great, loving family, deal with the fact their mom is just suddenly gone then watching all the silent disco crap. I do, however, like how these season long (usually British) cop dramas do have story lines that don't actually end up being relevant to the main story. The fact that the detectives had more than one case going that may or may not link makes it more interesting. I just wish it hadn't been that stupid teen story line because they sucked. 

[PsychoDrone]

On 2/6/2020 at 10:12 AM, Weavertoo said:

Thank you, that's interesting.  I still don't get why she wouldn't have just told Adam everything since he already knew the worst (the pregnancy).  Why she delayed and kept Tripp's secret.  But I guess if she hadn't there wouldn't have been a miniseries!

This is one of the things that bothered me too.  What was the point in delaying talking to Adam?  Corinne was already busted.  She would have told Adam about the affair (or almost affair), since she did allude to it "Everyone has secrets, even you."  She would have brought up the stolen money.  No reason to keep that hidden since she didn't steal it.  Truth would have came out and the show would have only been one episode.

There were numerous other things that bugged, but a big one was HOW did Corinne's phone get on that long bridge without Adam, boys, and Killane not seeing anyone put it there?  Meaning, Tripp never could have just "dropped" it there without them seeing him.  It's believable that they wouldn't notice Tripp at the train station, since they weren't looking for him.  But, no way, he, or anyone, isn't seen on that bridge.  They showed that scene of Tripp watching them on the bridge at the end, but that wasn't plausible at all.

This was an enjoyable watch.  I wanted to get to the end and see how it all tied together.  Although, I had to really switch off my brain, and crank my suspension of disbelief to the max.  As I read through the comments, I see people pointed out many of the plot holes or contrivances that I saw too.  Oh well, I'm on to my next series.

[PrePreBabylonia]

On 2/7/2020 at 7:47 PM, krankydoodle said:

Richard Armitage covers a multitude of sins. I'd probably be a lot more down on the show if someone else was in the lead role. As it is, it's the equivalent of an airplane read for me. Despite its problems, I enjoyed it well enough while I was watching but will likely forget about it in a few weeks.

Yeah, the plot holes were quite large and annoying, but Richard Armitage is gorgeous. I'd watch anything with him in it. Oh and he's a good actor too. Totally sold the character to me. And gorgeous, did I mention that?

[BonnieD]

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For a moment I thought they were going to go a different way: say that Johanna happened upon Adam and Tripp fighting in the woods, she saw the gun lying around and fired just as Tripp was about to, I dont know, crack Adam's head with a rock or something. Otherwise, how did they explain Adam being at the burial site with Tripp´s body? He was at the hospital with Chrissy then dissapears and other cops see her go looking for Adam. So...? That for me is a lose end.

I liked the turns and twists right up till the end. Then I felt everything fell apart. No way cop lady could convince everyone that Trip was shot by Katz. Not unless she could pull off "look the other way, there's nothing to see here" magical mind mojo. 
In addition to the ridiculousness of that, there was the fact that the coda was only SIX MONTHS later and everybody seemed to be over it. Kids happily playing football. Nobody the worse for wear. I just really feel the ending was weak, weak, weak.

But overall, definitely an involving twisty mystery

[Mabinogia]

3 hours ago, BonnieD said:

In addition to the ridiculousness of that, there was the fact that the coda was only SIX MONTHS later and everybody seemed to be over it. Kids happily playing football. Nobody the worse for wear. I just really feel the ending was weak, weak, weak.

I really hated that part. If anyone had missed what actually happened to Corrinne it would be easy to believe from that scene that she had been found alive and they all lived happily ever after, not that she was murdered and buried in the woods and that her husband was now a widow and her two boys lost their mother. 6 months just seems like a rather short span of time to get on with your life after finding out your mom was murdered.

[Cheezwiz]

On 2/14/2020 at 1:55 PM, PrePreBabylonia said:

Yeah, the plot holes were quite large and annoying, but Richard Armitage is gorgeous. I'd watch anything with him in it. Oh and he's a good actor too. Totally sold the character to me. And gorgeous, did I mention that?

I'm not familiar with Richard Armitage at all, but now I feel like I need to seek out North & South which I've never seen. He really is Brit hotness! And I totally bought Anthony Head (hey, it's that coffee commercial guy!) as his asshole Dad as well.

I doubt I would have been as conciliatory as he was with "Chris" even if she saved his life and was a half-sibling. She ruined so many lives (and caused a couple of deaths) on her shady quest for cash. Another plot-hole that confused me - didn't the Price's live in the old neighbourhood at the same time Killan was raising his "daughter" as a single Dad? Wouldn't they have recognized her?

For me, the most irksome plot hole was the very end of the show. I don't understand why the Detective didn't just leave the gun at the scene and make up some sort of self-defense story for Price (a struggle for the gun). It made no sense to plant the gun in the loft and try to blame Katz. How would that even work?

But otherwise I was amazed at how engrossed I got in the story! I'm finding harder and harder to find entertaining stuff on Netflix, so this was a pleasant surprise.

 

[PrePreBabylonia]

9 hours ago, Cheezwiz said:

I'm not familiar with Richard Armitage at all, but now I feel like I need to seek out North & South which I've never seen. He really is Brit hotness! And I totally bought Anthony Head (hey, it's that coffee commercial guy!) as his asshole Dad as well.

I doubt I would have been as conciliatory as he was with "Chris" even if she saved his life and was a half-sibling. She ruined so many lives (and caused a couple of deaths) on her shady quest for cash. Another plot-hole that confused me - didn't the Price's live in the old neighbourhood at the same time Killan was raising his "daughter" as a single Dad? Wouldn't they have recognized her?

For me, the most irksome plot hole was the very end of the show. I don't understand why the Detective didn't just leave the gun at the scene and make up some sort of self-defense story for Price (a struggle for the gun). It made no sense to plant the gun in the loft and try to blame Katz. How would that even work?

But otherwise I was amazed at how engrossed I got in the story! I'm finding harder and harder to find entertaining stuff on Netflix, so this was a pleasant surprise.

 

This! I agree with everything you've said. It amazed me that a good policewoman wouldn't hesitate to cover everything up, without hesitating for a moment it seemed. Heidi's death seemed to trigger a gigantic personality or lifestyle change. (Messing with evidence, getting back together with her husband - who admittedly I thought was a hot nerd, a bit like Chidi n The Good Place. 🙂 )

You forgot to mention Anthony Stewart Head's biggest role - Giles on Buffy!! I think that's the only time he's played a likable, sympathetic character. I've seen him as slimy fellows before, thought he did a excellent job here and in some other BBC shows I've seen. And of course he was highly annoying as that coffee guy - loved to hate him in those commercials.

Harlan Coben definitely seems to have a specific niche with his thrillers (crime dramas?) If you liked this, I recommend Safe with Michael C. Hall. Also has some plot holes but is entertaining and Hall does a fantastic job with his British accent, I though

[Mabinogia]

15 hours ago, Cheezwiz said:

Another plot-hole that confused me - didn't the Price's live in the old neighbourhood at the same time Killan was raising his "daughter" as a single Dad? Wouldn't they have recognized her?

It seems that she was maybe 10 years younger than Adam (Looked them up and the actors are 18 years apart) so maybe, though they grew up in the same 'hood, they did so at different times and IDK when the Price's moved out. Maybe she was still a baby then? It's probably just something the writers didn't think much about, but I could see it being possible if the Price's moved out when she was still very little. I didn't pay enough attention to when the Price's got all rich and left the area. 

[Cheezwiz]

6 hours ago, PrePreBabylonia said:

Harlan Coben definitely seems to have a specific niche with his thrillers (crime dramas?) If you liked this, I recommend Safe with Michael C. Hall. Also has some plot holes but is entertaining and Hall does a fantastic job with his British accent, I though

Thanks for the recommendation! I'm a bit of a thriller/intrigue junkie so I need to look up more of Coben's work - had not heard of him at all before watching this, but it sounds like there's lots of other stuff to explore!

 

10 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

maybe, though they grew up in the same 'hood, they did so at different times and IDK when the Price's moved out. Maybe she was still a baby then? It's probably just something the writers didn't think much about, but I could see it being possible if the Price's moved out when she was still very little. I didn't pay enough attention to when the Price's got all rich and left the area. 

Yes, that's the only explanation I could come up with - it wasn't explained very well in the show.

And add me to the chorus of people who would LOVE to see Siobhan Finneran with her own Detective show - she was fantastic! Also it took me FOREVER to realize that she was O'Brien, the scheming lady's maid on Downton Abbey! I knew she was really familiar, but couldn't place her until the show wrapped.

[twoods]

On 2/18/2020 at 1:11 AM, Cheezwiz said:

I'm not familiar with Richard Armitage at all, but now I feel like I need to seek out North & South which I've never seen. He really is Brit hotness! And I totally bought Anthony Head (hey, it's that coffee commercial guy!) as his asshole Dad as well.

 

Yes you have to watch North and South! It’s still streaming on Netflix. He is extra smoldering and angsty in it.

I am also wondering how his sister found out about his affair, or was it implied that his wife knew about the affair and the flashbacks were from that? 

[peggy06]

Just finished this and I'm really let down by the ending. Such a weak motive for murder. $5000? Really? I mean we already had one crazy psycho guy (Katz) murder a woman for no good reason. Now two? Also, embezzlement is so mundane for all the mysterious buildup.

I actually hadn't expected Corinne to be dead, and that was an additional bummer. But worst of all was Adam shooting Tripp, and Jo covering it up. Adam was entitled to murderous rage, but to do that right after Tripp points out his kids will be parentless if he goes to jail? It just didn't make sense to me. Even less sensible is a police officer seeing someone shot pointblank, and immediately deciding to cover it up. It makes more sense by far for her to make a case for self-defense.  I liked both of these characters bad felt bad that their characters were written this way in the end.

So this had a very intriguing start, but the most interesting parts just fizzled out. I do hope to see more of Siobhan Finneran. She was great, and so nice to see her in a role other than that one in Downton Abbey.

[Straycat80]

Just finished this and I liked it, it was fast paced and the acting was good. I hadn’t seen Stephen Rea in anything in awhile and Siobhan Finneran who was in Downton Abbey, she’s great. 
There were so many plot lines to keep track of. I could have done without the teen drama and I guess I missed who beat up the boy who ended up in a coma. And who had taken the naked pictures of the 14 year old girl in the first place? And with all the CCTV and security cameras around, how did not one catch the drugged up kid walking down the street out in the open with the alpaca? 
Add me to the list of everyone disappointed in the ending. I wanted to see the reunion In the hospital between Chris and her father. I really wanted Corrine to be alive. And how lame that they pinned all the killings on Katz. They could have said that in a moment of insanity and grief that Adam shot Tripp when he admitted to killing Corrine, or that it was an accident witnessed by Jo. 

[iggysaurus]

On 2/16/2020 at 6:01 AM, BonnieD said:

In addition to the ridiculousness of that, there was the fact that the coda was only SIX MONTHS later and everybody seemed to be over it. Kids happily playing football. Nobody the worse for wear. I just really feel the ending was weak, weak, weak.

I thought this was weird too, partly because Tripp was the father of Mike, who was best friends with Adam's son, right? So not only did Adam's kids lose their mom in a violent way, but their best friend's dad was also shot and killed, and their classmate Olivia's dad is charged with multiple murders. That's a lot of trauma/murder for a group of young kids to be exposed to all at once. And yet they all seemed just fine after only 6 months.   

[Joimiaroxeu]

Wow, I didn't think Corrine would actually turn out to be dead. And I dunno, for some reason I did think Adam's sons would turn out to be his father's kids. Or at least one of them would.

So are we to assume Chris didn't stop blackmailing people, she just moved to another area? It didn't seem like she saw herself as doing anything wrong if the truth eventually set everyone free (or sent them to their just desserts).

I really liked this and am trying to decide whether to read the book now. The ratings on Goodreads aren't as high as I would've expected for a Harlan Coben novel.

[ErinV]

On 2/4/2020 at 3:39 PM, iggysaurus said:

I liked this a lot and will gladly binge any Harlan Coben show, but I feel like it suffered a little from too many plotlines.  I read an article that said the book this is based on doesn't include any of the stuff about the teenagers (the rave, alpaca, Dante's accident, Daisy spiking Mike's joint with PCP, etc.).  Harlan's 25 yr old daughter wrote that part and they worked it in with everything else.  I feel like you can kinda tell that it was shoehorned in, because they didn't resolve all of those aspects as completely as they could have.  

I called The Stranger being that guy's daughter.  When he told that story about how he killed his wife because she was going to take away their child, "Chris," I noticed he never referred to the gender of the child. So that stuck out to me as something that would probably be significant, and I thought, I bet the Stranger is Chris, his child. Sure enough, she was. But from then on, any time she was referred to by name (by her dad, or in the closed captions) it was Chrissy or Christina.  So him calling her "Chris" in his initial telling of the story seemed like a deliberate way to be vague about the child because you don't even know if he's talking about a boy or girl at that point. 

Too many plotlines for sure!  I started laughing when they introduced Munchausen by proxy to all the other mess!  

[Milburn Stone]

On 2/21/2020 at 2:17 PM, Straycat80 said:

Just finished this and I liked it, it was fast paced and the acting was good. I hadn’t seen Stephen Rea in anything in awhile and Siobhan Finneran who was in Downton Abbey, she’s great. 

Based on this show and DA, I want to see everything that Siobhan Finneran has ever been in. Any particular recommendations, anybody?

[Cheezwiz]

9 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

Based on this show and DA, I want to see everything that Siobhan Finneran has ever been in. Any particular recommendations, anybody

Have you seen "Happy Valley" on Netflix @Milburn Stone? It's an excellent, very gritty series, and Siobhan Finneran plays a supporting role. She's a much different character in this show: a fragile and gentle recovering addict sister to the lead actress who is a hard-ass police sergeant. It's a very dark intense show, but I highly recommend! 2 seasons of 6 episodes each available for streaming on Netflix.

It's the only other thing I've seen her in besides The Stranger & Downton Abbey, but I'll be on the lookout for more - LOVE her. A detective series of her own would be great.

[FoundTime]

Happy Valley was the first thing I ever watched on Netflix (not to mention, my version of binged -- watched two episodes in a row 😉) and it's a great palate cleanser for anyone who likes British crime drama but was a little disappointed in this.

Safe is also very good, another Harlan Cohen series set in England for some reason. I am also watching his The Five though don't find that as compelling. I used to really like him as a writer until I read one of his books on audio and found it quite disappointing,  and now I don't automatically trust him as a writer any more. 

I thought Katz was one of the more irredeemable characters I've ever come across and don't feel his behavior was ever fully justified. OTOH, my heart broke for Adam sobbing at his wife's shallow grave. Beautifully played.

Hope Ingrid and Chrissy's cat made it through okay 😿 

 

 

[LisaM]

I just finished a weekend binge. I really liked the series up until the last episode - when I felt the ending completely fell apart. 

Was the amount of money stolen from the football club so significant that it was worth killing Corrine over? When Corrine told Adam that there was more to the fake pregnancy, I had hoped for a more involved situation. Not this. 

I hated that Adam killed Tripp and that Jo pinned it on Katz. Was Katz also meant to have stashed Corrine's phone on the bridge? The details just don't work. A smart attorney would ask too many questions about these two deaths. As a viewer, it was not a satisfying ending. 

I watched The Five last week and thought they stuck the ending there much better. 

[Mabinogia]

9 hours ago, LisaM said:

I just finished a weekend binge. I really liked the series up until the last episode - when I felt the ending completely fell apart. 

That's how I was. As I was watching I really enjoyed it. I wanted to know what was next and was invested. But after it ended I'm more meh on the show. The bad ending kind of killed it for me. It felt very much like they wanted so much to surprise us and have twists and turns that they totally lost the plot and couldn't wrap it up properly.

[Quark]

I liked this up until the last episode. The acting was amazing. 

[SunnyBeBe]

I thought the wife acted needlessly coy when she got found out about the fake pregnancy.  It seemed overly secretive for no reason.  Allowing that money thing to ruin her marriage, because she was just not ready to talk…..too contrived, imo.  I still liked the series as a whole though.