Let me start by saying I did really like this a lot but I wanted it to blow me away and it didn't. I have read most of the books and absolutely love the character of Matthew and Sansom's writing in general. I'm very sad to find out Sansom passed and still while relatively young. That said, the book this series was based on is my least favorite of them all and I did read it several years ago. So my opinion of the show is going to be different than someone who has not read them.
I loved everyone's acting and the casting of Matthew and Jack. I found the writing to be good but a little lacking. I'm so so tired of blue filters used in historical dramas and "gritty" mysteries in general. It's really clichéd and distracting. I was also super distracted by what looked like a bad hairpiece on Sean Bean, but overall I liked the costuming. The depiction of the tail end of life in a Medieval monetary was weak. For instance, I don't think any character had a tonsure and there was no praying at the canonical hours or accompanying bells. At one point a brother says the gates opened at 6 am, when he should have said something like "just before Prime", though I get the audience wouldn't have understood that so it could be excused. Speaking of inaccuracies at one Alice quotes Shakespeare, yet he had not been born yet by this period. But in general, I wanted much more character development and realism from the suspects. I first thought the show would have to be longer to do so, but I've seen better writers do much more with even less time. I also really didn't like the way Matthew talked to himself and saw things. It almost makes him seem insane. Surely there were better ways to give the audience exposition than that. And towards the end there is an extremely cheap sequence that turns out to be a dream that I absolutely hated. It pulled me out of the story. I'm ok with Matthew having a dream on that subject to show his fears, but not ok with faking out the audience just to add excitement and drama. Additionally, I never felt it was made clear why Matthew was being delayed. If I remember correctly, a promise had been made to King Henry to deliver evidence on a certain date or else Cromwell would lose favor and his position of power. So Cromwell was very nervous about getting a positive outcome. I don't think that was depicted well enough in the series.
I strongly disagree with the racists that a diverse cast is bad. I noticed one reviewer who claimed to have read the books even had an issue with Guy. Guy is Moorish in the books and it very much affects his character and how he is treated throughout the series. He is from Spain, which had been controlled by Moors for centuries up until just before the time of the story. I find it revealing many of those claiming inaccuracy call him Asian, so I'm guess they do not know Spanish history. This was also a time when England had entered the Renaissance and beginning to explore the world and there absolutely is a great deal of proof the population had diversity. However I was distracted by the Abbot being Black. Society then was very racist, as it still can be as show by the some reviews here, so I do not believe a Black man would have such a position of power, and that it is never commented on. However I am open to evidence of such examples, though I still say it would have been commented on by other characters and effected how he was treated. Sansom made a point of describing inequality in Tudor society in all the Shardlake books. But then again, that goes back to the lack of character development for the supporting cast in general.
All in all, I hope there are more seasons and I can't wait for them. Just get rid of the blue filter and hire a more skilled writer.
I loved everyone's acting and the casting of Matthew and Jack. I found the writing to be good but a little lacking. I'm so so tired of blue filters used in historical dramas and "gritty" mysteries in general. It's really clichéd and distracting. I was also super distracted by what looked like a bad hairpiece on Sean Bean, but overall I liked the costuming. The depiction of the tail end of life in a Medieval monetary was weak. For instance, I don't think any character had a tonsure and there was no praying at the canonical hours or accompanying bells. At one point a brother says the gates opened at 6 am, when he should have said something like "just before Prime", though I get the audience wouldn't have understood that so it could be excused. Speaking of inaccuracies at one Alice quotes Shakespeare, yet he had not been born yet by this period. But in general, I wanted much more character development and realism from the suspects. I first thought the show would have to be longer to do so, but I've seen better writers do much more with even less time. I also really didn't like the way Matthew talked to himself and saw things. It almost makes him seem insane. Surely there were better ways to give the audience exposition than that. And towards the end there is an extremely cheap sequence that turns out to be a dream that I absolutely hated. It pulled me out of the story. I'm ok with Matthew having a dream on that subject to show his fears, but not ok with faking out the audience just to add excitement and drama. Additionally, I never felt it was made clear why Matthew was being delayed. If I remember correctly, a promise had been made to King Henry to deliver evidence on a certain date or else Cromwell would lose favor and his position of power. So Cromwell was very nervous about getting a positive outcome. I don't think that was depicted well enough in the series.
I strongly disagree with the racists that a diverse cast is bad. I noticed one reviewer who claimed to have read the books even had an issue with Guy. Guy is Moorish in the books and it very much affects his character and how he is treated throughout the series. He is from Spain, which had been controlled by Moors for centuries up until just before the time of the story. I find it revealing many of those claiming inaccuracy call him Asian, so I'm guess they do not know Spanish history. This was also a time when England had entered the Renaissance and beginning to explore the world and there absolutely is a great deal of proof the population had diversity. However I was distracted by the Abbot being Black. Society then was very racist, as it still can be as show by the some reviews here, so I do not believe a Black man would have such a position of power, and that it is never commented on. However I am open to evidence of such examples, though I still say it would have been commented on by other characters and effected how he was treated. Sansom made a point of describing inequality in Tudor society in all the Shardlake books. But then again, that goes back to the lack of character development for the supporting cast in general.
All in all, I hope there are more seasons and I can't wait for them. Just get rid of the blue filter and hire a more skilled writer.