The Forsytes

While all the characters have compelling storylines, the women, who can only express their desires through their attachment to men, are the most compelling.

The Forsytes might be a little bit more sudsy than classic takes on the Saga, but it’s still incredibly well-acted and gorgeous to behold.

If “Downton” and “Gilded Age” offer a smooth blend of melodrama and lighter moments, “Forsytes” is choppier. It takes itself and its characters with utmost seriousness – until it doesn’t midway through episode three.

It was hard to tell from the first episode whether this version will be a binger, because it went very heavy with the exposition stick. .... But it is all warming up nicely.

Sometimes it’s nice to settle down in front of something gloriously hammy that requires no brain power. The script, from Debbie Horsfield (Poldark, Cutting It), is almost painfully simple. There is absolutely no danger of you not following the plot. Just admire the hairdos and make this your new guilty pleasure.

The Soames/Irene story remains the best thing about this new adaptation. .... But this Forsytes can’t fully commit to throwing out the original plot and remaking it as a Downton wannabe, even though that might have made for a better, more coherent series.

The Forsytes is about as subtle as a migraine. However, if this ruthlessly efficient scene-setter hasn’t insulted your intelligence, it may dig its soapy hooks into you. Or it might just tempt you to look at Galsworthy’s source novels to discover why this saga won him the Nobel Prize for Literature.