Death and Other Details might have made a very good 5 episode program. The plot is pretty thin and can be summed up in a paragraph. The action is surprisingly minimal. But the show seems to have decided that it was too good for such a short span, so instead we have just about every program-lengthening trick in the book -- endless flashbacks cleverly shot to include the present, red herrings that go nowhere and are just boring, long interludes supposedly to build character but are actually extremely dull.
The result is not only a dull show, but actors who just don't seem able to keep up their energy. Violett Beane is very attractive but she only seems capable to two emotions: flirtatious and angry; unfortunately, the length of the show forces her to do more than she's yet capable of doing. Mandy Patinkin, usually excellent, plays a lumbering, dull middle aged man and that's pretty much describes his performance. The others seem at times bored with their roles; the only stand-out is, oddly, is the english actor James Cutmore-Scott, whose spoiled American trust fund kid is spot on.
All in all, it's just hard not to leave this show wishing they had halved it, in which case it might have been excellent. Instead, it'll be hard to find too many people who lasted the entire seemingly 10,000 hours.
The result is not only a dull show, but actors who just don't seem able to keep up their energy. Violett Beane is very attractive but she only seems capable to two emotions: flirtatious and angry; unfortunately, the length of the show forces her to do more than she's yet capable of doing. Mandy Patinkin, usually excellent, plays a lumbering, dull middle aged man and that's pretty much describes his performance. The others seem at times bored with their roles; the only stand-out is, oddly, is the english actor James Cutmore-Scott, whose spoiled American trust fund kid is spot on.
All in all, it's just hard not to leave this show wishing they had halved it, in which case it might have been excellent. Instead, it'll be hard to find too many people who lasted the entire seemingly 10,000 hours.