Marcella

There’s an artfulness to Rosenfeldt’s killers, and that’s what makes his stories compelling, even if they’re ridiculously improbable. Seeing how Rosenfeldt can keep everything moving cohesively is almost as much fun as the story itself.

Plenty of storylines were set up, each with the potential to take the thriller in surprising directions. For all of its confusion, it’s those endless possibilities that keep us coming back.

Friel's winning performance keeps each scene feeling fresh. [1 Jul 2016]

Marcella starts off well, but pretty soon its pace is impeded by a number of subplots and the abrupt introductions of characters whose role in the overall plot is either unclear or irrelevant. The series has a familiar enough cop-show structure, so if you like Friel’s performance, you’ll be carried pretty far along into the season.

A double dose of Marcella was so unremittingly gritty that it became gruelling to watch. A bickering, dysfunctional crime family is a well-worn trope. Equally clichéd is the notion of an undercover officer getting in too deep. However, the main offence worthy of investigation here is this substandard series being such a criminal waste of a strong leading actress.

It all seems a little done, which is a strange flaw for a series about a violent amnesiac detective who is supposed to be dead. Of all the shows that might suffer from a sense that you have seen it before, Marcella, surely, should be one of the less likely candidates.

Marcella is portrayed as both an excellent detective and a basket case in a way that doesn’t add up (despite the past traumas that are introduced as explanations), and her blackouts feel like plot devices, there just to keep things mysterious. After the season finale, you may find yourself just as much in the dark as Marcella.

the story is not good enough.a scenario full of **** part of about murders are excellent but the main character is **** can do whatever she wants and what she does has no consequences.Also everyone in this show is useless but the main character.Except for all of these this show is **** example Marcella's mental problem is well processed

The whole thing seemed too familiar. A protagonist who is a lone wolf, with authority issues and personal problems. Prone to excessive risk-taking and getting personally involved in the cases. Is always right even though nobody (since everyone else is incompetent) believes her at first. It's all a little tired. The series was stocked with great actors doing their best with what they're given, especially Friel in the lead. The just could have been given more. There's a lot of outlandish twists and turns, and it's slightly iffy that they're using Marcella's mental problem a bit like a gimmicky plot device. However, this could have been an enjoyable murder mystery romp, had their chosen the right tone - not so dark and slow- and had their streamlined it of all the unnecessary side characters and plots. Why isn't anything 3 neat episodes anymore?

This is a show about foreboding and trauma. That is probably why the title character does so many bizarre things; the foreboding would get old quickly without traumatic pay-offs. She is obviously dealing with the sort of mental distress that would rule her out of active-duty policing, but her superiors exist mainly to briefly question her behaviour and then excuse it, so that the next bad thing can start to be foreboded. You'll see foreboding cinematography in dimly-lit sets. You'll hear foreboding music and after that a great deal of screaming, much of it from the title character. What you won't hear is much of the dialogue, which has been badly recorded. It's not a big problem though, because little that is said matters very much. It's a sort of modern art installation, not a drama. Anna Friel has a very nice line in anguish, but it would be nice to see her also exhibit characteristics that would make people credibly think of her as a talented police officer. This isn't that kind of show, though.