Cardinal is very much a by the numbers cut and paste crime drama from Canada.
Silence of the Lamb's and any number of decent Scandinavian crime drama's in a similar vein have spawned by the numbers, cut and paste, knocks off's. Mostly they are alright but given their lack of originality and imagination, they are nothing terribly special either.
In my opinion, Cardinal is yet another example, of the aforementioned. Its predictable fare that's competently presented but its cookie cutter story which we all know very, very well gets tedious fast. The gratuitous violence adds nothing to this show either. Indeed, I felt at times it deadened the whole series atmosphere down and left it feeling as bleak and empty, as the winter landscape in which its set.
The acting is competent, the leads know their job but its the tired predictability of this show that really lets it down to a modest degree. In short watchable but in no way a stand out series. Six out of ten.
Silence of the Lamb's and any number of decent Scandinavian crime drama's in a similar vein have spawned by the numbers, cut and paste, knocks off's. Mostly they are alright but given their lack of originality and imagination, they are nothing terribly special either.
In my opinion, Cardinal is yet another example, of the aforementioned. Its predictable fare that's competently presented but its cookie cutter story which we all know very, very well gets tedious fast. The gratuitous violence adds nothing to this show either. Indeed, I felt at times it deadened the whole series atmosphere down and left it feeling as bleak and empty, as the winter landscape in which its set.
The acting is competent, the leads know their job but its the tired predictability of this show that really lets it down to a modest degree. In short watchable but in no way a stand out series. Six out of ten.