C.B. Strike (TV Series) Troubled Blood: Part 1 (2022) User Reviews

Glad to see the duo back on the case.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 19 December 2022]

Whilst visiting his dad and stepmother, Cormoran is approached by Anna Phipps, who begs him to investigate the disappearance of her mother, who vanished in the 1970's.

It's been a long time in the making, and because the bar was set so high very on, expectations were high.

It's a book that's been well adapted here I thought, I read and enjoyed the book, I like the way they've translated it. It's an intriguing story, it's engaging and features a very dramatic ending. Good that Cormoran's family life is explored.

It may not be as gripping a story as perhaps The Silkworm, but compared to most stuff on the box right now, it's another level.

Immaculate production values throughout, it looked great, particularly the scenes from the past.

Fionnula Flanagan was terrific as Oonagh, what a brilliant actress, I thought Sophie ward was equally as good.

Good start, 7/10.

Beautifully done.

[Cheyenne-Bodie · 9/10 · 4 March 2023]

The novel of "Troubled Blood" was over 900 pages and I loved all of it. The novels have kept getting better from book to book. The TV adaptations are never quite as good as the novels, but they are clearly made with great care in all departments.

Acting, writing, and directing were first rate, as they have been for all the episodes. The lead characters continue to be very compelling. Leads Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger are really good company.

Robin is getting to be quite a dare devil in addition to being a brilliant detective. I think she should take fewer risks.

Strike and Robin make a great team, but I think Strike is right to be cautious in starting a romantic relationship with Robin. Strike is a great guy in almost all ways. He somehow manages not to indulge in self pity.

And he isn't threatened by Robin's amazing competence, which is probably due to his own deep self confidence.

But I don't think Strike's a good bet as a husband. He is right to worry about losing a business partner and friend after a romantic relationship with Robin blows up. Usually you can't have everything.

I wonder how Strike would take it if Robin eventually outshines him as a detective.

It was fun to see Anna Calder-Marshall act with her son Tom Burke in this season's episodes.

I would put "Strike" in the same league as the wonderful "Foyle's War".

Troubled Blood: Part 1

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 12 December 2022]

The new series of Strike is a four part mystery drama. This reflects the bloated novel it is based on.

I sensed the more leisurely pace until the disturbing ending.

Strike is visiting his terminally ill aunt in Cornwall. A distressed woman approaches him.

Her mother, Margot Bamborough was a doctor in Clerkenwell, London. She left her surgery one night in 1974 to meet a friend in a pub.

Margot never arrived and since then mystery surrounds her disappearance. Notorious serial killer Dennis Creed is the main suspect for her abduction and murder.

However when Creed was caught, there were body parts in his house and none were Margot's.

A cold case for Strike and Robin. There is no guarantee as to the progress they will make of a case that is nearly 50 years old.

There is a good mystery here, it weaves around some real life killers, so Rowling did her research. It enters snuff movie territory by the end.

The book attracted criticism and the adaptation might shy away from certain aspects of the novel. Over the last few years there has been more probing of Rowling's views on trans issues. Even the pen name JK Galbraith hides a disturbing hidden meaning.

Drop Robin as a character

[canterburybella-680 · 5/10 · 14 February 2023]

I like the show overall, but after season 1 and 2, there's been way too much Robin and her unrealistic antics. In real life, she wouldn't have survived most of the irresponsible capers she gets into, especially with the mob in season 4. It's not her show, her story anyway, so if this series continues, I'd like to see Robin gone, and more of Strike, and Pat, his new secretary, whose dry yet efficient attitude is a breath of fresh air and more like season 1. I've grown tired of Strike's kowtowing to Robin and constantly having to apologize to princess. It's her that should be apologizing for putting the team's lives in danger too often. It's like Robin is a brand new character in series 4, and she's no longer fun, pleasant or watchable.

Wooden and expository dialogue

[montrose77-383-846352 · 3/10 · 27 December 2022]

Seriously disappointed here - whatever happened to the acting. Have they decided to hire an amateur dramatics company for this?

The dialogue in this season has become wooden and painfully expository. I definitely don't remember the previous seasons being this amateur.

It's been painful watching - or listening, rather - to be fair, the visual styling is still good, and on paper it should be a solid show. But I just can't get over how much of a let-down the acting has become in this season - entirely detracts from any quality in the original story.

Hopefully they'll up their standards for the next book.

Not good

[theoakandtheash-17205 · 1/10 · 28 December 2022]

The book was really bad, with lack lustre, archetypal characters, with archetypal and totally unoriginal back stories and an incredibly contrived and implausible plot. This series has not been able to find anything extra to lift a very poorly written story out of the doldrums. This TV series is equally stodgy, laboured and seriously uninteresting. The unsubtle subtext or conversation about gender and sexuality and maybe feminism could have been so much more interesting, and so much more artfully addressed. It would be really great if this tv series and its associated novels is the last, but sadly, I suspect we shall see more of the same.