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Sunday 7 June 2015

BETWEEN BAD AND VERY BAD


House Of Cards, Hemlock Grove, Orange Is The New Black, Daredevil and the intriguing Sense8 – Netflix knows how to do good television. This is precisely why we were so excited about their new one, Between.

The story of a town, Pretty Lake, under siege from a mysterious disease that has wiped out everyone over 21 years old, Between explores what happens when a government has quarantined a 10-mile diameter area and left the inhabitants to fend for themselves. It’s a cross between The 100 and Under The Dome, but all similarities end there. It’s maybe not fair to give the show one episode to prove itself, and yet events witnessed in Episode one’s ‘School’s Out’ will not drag me back for another viewing.

Above all else, the acting is truly awful. The cast, including Jessy Carere, Kyle Mac and Janette McCurdy (me neither), have the same spiritless expression for every occasion. Dad’s dead? Meh. The military has erected a barbed-wire fence around my town and won’t let me in? Meh. What do you mean giving birth to a human isn’t the same as giving birth to a cow? Meh.

Pretty Lake is an awful name for a town too. The premise is hardly original, and this opening episode simply hasn’t tried hard enough. Shouldn't it grip from the start? Is this really what happens when authority has been eradicated? Are we all so engrossed in our smartphones and iPads that we don’t even notice the world turning to faecal matter?

I feel bad but life is short, and there are far too many good shows out there worthy of our attention. Sorry Netflix, the honeymoon is over. Something bad has come between us. DW


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