This has all the makings of a wonderfully original series. The actors are fresh and committed. However, anyone with a background in fictional writing can quickly analyze the problem with this show.
The accomplished fictional writer creates original, interesting characters and then sits back and allows the characters to dictate where the story wanders, based upon the choices they make.
What you have in The Undertaker are writers who are intent on playing god. So first, they formulate the plot they want to play out and then they shoehorn the characters into the scenario they've formulated. This creates situations and behaviors that feel highly unnatural.
For example in the last episode of Season 4, Fabio commits not just one, but a whole string of incompetent non-actions. Then, at the beginning of Season 5, we discover he's passed his tests, has obtained his undertaker's license AND has even had business cards made. The bumbling idiot in the final episode of Season 4 could never have pulled that off.
The writers don't love their characters. They're more interested in trying to impress the audience with plot devices and red herrings. It's appalling because the actors are pretty good and certainly believable. But the stilted scripts are obnoxious and insulting.
The endings of both Season 1 and Season 4 are abysmal. Not only is suspension of disbelief required, the audience would need a full frontal lobotomy to get through those plots without gagging.
Sandwiched in-between those two seasons are what I believe was the best The Undertaker had to offer. Seasons 2 & 3 are IMHO, the heart and soul of The Undertaker.
Having been betrayed by the writers at the end of Season 4, I refused to finish season 5 because it appeared to me that quite possibly the writers had fallen down, cracked their heads and were now living under the delusion they were writing for The Laurel and Hardy Show. The conversations and situations were SOOOO hackneyed, it was quite unbearable.
Thus I skipped directly to Season 7, the final season. Which was a situation we've seen MANY times before: evil twins seeking revenge. The detective's daughter appears on the scene and who does she immediately have a crush on? You guessed it, one of the evil twins. And down the road there was the (already-anticipated) red herring, where the hostage daughter frees herself, only to be recaptured a few minutes later. That scene was so passe, to maintain my sanity I kept yelling at the screen, "RED HERRING!, RED HERRING!, RED HERRING! . . . ."
Another memorable moment in the series was when a suspect escaped police custody AT THE STATION. In real life, it is IMPOSSIBLE to escape from a police station. When the police car gets near the station, they radio ahead and a specialized, metallic bulletproof door is opened. After that, the police car drives into a specialized CONTAINMENT area. Once the police car is fully inside, the electronic door rolls down and shuts. Inside the containment area are cameras that cover all angles. Police personnel inside the station check the monitors to confirm no one is hiding in the containment area. THEN and ONLY then, does the station give the OK to open up the police car. In real life, even if a criminal would somehow manage to overpower a police officer in the containment area, there's NOWHERE to escape to. Plus the station would see it on camera and officers would scramble into the containment area in a flash. In real life, once you're handcuffed and placed into the backseat of a police car, there is NO escape - PERIOD. So that plot point was totally absurd.
NOTE: Watch Happy Valley, season 3, episode 1. They show an authentic-looking police containment area. And you'll see it's exactly as I described. Which proves there are filmmakers who do thorough research. Whereas, the creators of The Undertaker did not respect their viewers enough to do the background work necessary to keep their stories grounded in reality.
In the same Undertaker episode, a woman who is being shot at by a sniper leaves her cover AND STANDS UP, essentially making it easier for the sniper to gun her down! You would have to be high on LSD and devoid of your survival instinct to do such an insane thing.
As if that's not enough, a woman is suffocated in a hospital and despite being hooked up to monitors, NO alarm bells go off signalling to the nurses that the patient is in trouble.
I've done a LOT of thinking on what went wrong with this series. And imho the simple answer is: the writers were gimmick-driven hacks who possessed NO love for their characters . . . Or the audience for that matter.
During the Second Season, the ongoing subplot involves an illegal alien (i.e. A criminal) and we're supposed to feel sorry for her. Why? Because she has an ailing daughter. This criminal conspires with the police to catch the rich criminals who killed her husband. Then during the police sting, this supposed "victim" DELIBERATELY SABOTAGES THE TRACKING UNIT the police are using to monitor her, endangering both herself and the police. AND YET, when the story ends, this criminal alien is actually rewarded with money and new citizenship for her skulduggery. A very bad message to send to the audience, IMHO.
I found this series extremely frustrating. At times, the writing was so keen. (See other reviews for that). But then, to achieve implausible plot points the writers would CHEAT and force the characters to behave like utter fools without a lick of common sense just so those plot points could be achieved.
This series suffers from what I call "Engrenages Syndrome." Where thinking, intelligent people suddenly cannot tie their shoes. Or walk without tripping. And it spoils an otherwise brilliant series premise. I have come to realize that, overall, there are just two types of writers: Character-driven writers and Plot-driven writers. And if you've watched enough of these crime drama series, you realize Plot-driven writers truly SUCK.
That was the genius of Bron/Broen, the writers NEVER abandoned the integrity of their characters to achieve cheap plot points. Which is the SHAME of The Undertaker. A series ruined by plot-driven hacks.
I gave this series 5 stars because the premise is SO original and interesting, it doesn't deserve less. However, despite possessing likeable characters, the scripts are extremely insulting to the point of being unwatchable for anyone who possesses even a modicum of intelligence and has experience watching premium crime dramas.
In a way, The Undertaker is actually a clinic on what to avoid when you're writing a television series. You have to portray competent people who occasionally make bad choices rather than incompetent people who are repeatedly victimized by their own stupidity. One is a show that intelligent people will follow and adore. The other is a series only a mother (of the writers) could love.
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