laduqesa

OK, it was not a credible scenario that girls were being caged up in a remote location. It's no more believable than the Danish film "The Caged Woman". Get over that though and the plot draws you in. The characters and settings are attractive; the north of Sweden has its advantages despite mining and the neanderthal plebs working (or not) there.

There was just the right blend of background, politics, relationships and scenery to make a coherent whole.

I enjoyed the series more than perhaps I should have.

I had never heard of the Magdalen Islands before and was surprised that they house some twelve thousand people separated into two language groups. I really enjoy series set in out-of-the-way places so I settled down to what I hoped would be a treat.

I wasn't disappointed. The story had credible antecedents detailing the past lives of the characters including the cops doing the investigating. There were twists and turns leading to suspicions about one suspect after another. We knew, of course, that the person arrested for the crimes wasn't guilty and it's a shame that the stiff-necked Quebecois detective didn't realise it too.

Even though these weren't Mounties, the police got their man in the end.

I really enjoyed this and recommend it.

Except here a character is talking to the monsters. And even more unbelievably, controlling them. The most savage xenomorph ever to have been invented is reduced to a cypher, its bloodlust controlled by a little girl in a synthetic body. It's a ludicrous scenario.

Then we have happenings not founded on any rhyme or reason. Marcy somehow can control electronics with her mind. Cyborgs get into synths' heads to communicate with no explanation as to how.

Characterisation was dreadful as were background stories. Boy Kavalier was absurd. A loathsome child supposedly controlling a multi-trillion dollar organisation, for example, one moreover that he is meant to have built up himself. It is ridiculous.

The Yutani company seems to possess a huge airforce; why didn't Prodigy? The secret island appeared to be defenceless.

As for the alien, it was painful to watch as it was so obviously an actor in a suit. The mineral-eating bees resembled nothing more than clockwork toys.

There was no sense of menace or tension. The alien had been neutralised, the other life forms were redundant including the stupid eye that can apparently bring people back to life.

Only Disney could have taken a scary franchise that was truly shocking and frightening and made it into a children's story. The fake rock music that pervaded the episodes was clearly aimed at a young, hip audience. Except it was just too naff.

I'm hugely disappointed.