STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
SEASON ONE
Zoe (Laura Haddock) travels to Ibiza, after a body is found believed to be her estranged older brother Axel (Tom Rhys Harries.) After being told by the police that they are powerless to investigate as so much time has passed, she hones the policing instincts she learned from her dad, and strikes up a friendship with local hardman Boxer (Nuno Lopes), whilst catching up with Axel's friends, who he headed to the island with twenty years ago, including Marcus (Daniel Mays), Anna (Angela Griffin) and David (Laurence Fox) who have all gone in different directions, as well as Oriol (Juan Diego Botto), a prominent member of two warring families, whose association with Axel may hold the key to the puzzle.
Ibiza is well known as the go to party isle for wild hedonism and banging tunes, but I've always thought it had potential as the backdrop for a seedy crime thriller, or murder mystery. I even remember writing a script of my own many years ago that I never went all the way with, and now it seems I've been beaten to it by Alex Pina, the creator of Netflix's other well received crime drama Money Heist. It's more fitting, I suppose, to have a Spanish writer more familiar with the scene, and more able to give an accurate account of that world on the island. He seems to have crafted a fairly real recreation of the scene twenty years ago (not that I had personal experience.) But it's not without problems.
The set up is quite well thought out, but the trouble is how tonally unsure it feels. At times it feels like it can't decide whether it wants to be a hard edged, pull no punches murder mystery, or going for a more light hearted, wise cracking feel, worst in the opening episodes which set the mood for the rest of it. What comedy there is comes off feeling uneven, awkwardly inserted into the script. It certainly boasts an all star cast, including Haddock, who is adequate, but doesn't really have the gravitas to carry the whole thing, and Mays, whose comic relief role doesn't really work and grates on the nerves after a while.
That said, it does feature an impressive retro Ibiza soundtrack, that affianadoes from that period will love, and the mystery aspect of the show is intriguing, and will keep you hooked, even if the end revelation is a bit far fetched (not to mention Zoe's transformation from meek library girl into adept hand at navigating the criminal underworld. ) ***
SEASON ONE
Zoe (Laura Haddock) travels to Ibiza, after a body is found believed to be her estranged older brother Axel (Tom Rhys Harries.) After being told by the police that they are powerless to investigate as so much time has passed, she hones the policing instincts she learned from her dad, and strikes up a friendship with local hardman Boxer (Nuno Lopes), whilst catching up with Axel's friends, who he headed to the island with twenty years ago, including Marcus (Daniel Mays), Anna (Angela Griffin) and David (Laurence Fox) who have all gone in different directions, as well as Oriol (Juan Diego Botto), a prominent member of two warring families, whose association with Axel may hold the key to the puzzle.
Ibiza is well known as the go to party isle for wild hedonism and banging tunes, but I've always thought it had potential as the backdrop for a seedy crime thriller, or murder mystery. I even remember writing a script of my own many years ago that I never went all the way with, and now it seems I've been beaten to it by Alex Pina, the creator of Netflix's other well received crime drama Money Heist. It's more fitting, I suppose, to have a Spanish writer more familiar with the scene, and more able to give an accurate account of that world on the island. He seems to have crafted a fairly real recreation of the scene twenty years ago (not that I had personal experience.) But it's not without problems.
The set up is quite well thought out, but the trouble is how tonally unsure it feels. At times it feels like it can't decide whether it wants to be a hard edged, pull no punches murder mystery, or going for a more light hearted, wise cracking feel, worst in the opening episodes which set the mood for the rest of it. What comedy there is comes off feeling uneven, awkwardly inserted into the script. It certainly boasts an all star cast, including Haddock, who is adequate, but doesn't really have the gravitas to carry the whole thing, and Mays, whose comic relief role doesn't really work and grates on the nerves after a while.
That said, it does feature an impressive retro Ibiza soundtrack, that affianadoes from that period will love, and the mystery aspect of the show is intriguing, and will keep you hooked, even if the end revelation is a bit far fetched (not to mention Zoe's transformation from meek library girl into adept hand at navigating the criminal underworld. ) ***