When I read the news a couple of years ago that one of my favorite book series, The All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness, was being made into a television series I was absolutely thrilled. I thought that would be a better format than a film because it would allow more time to fit in all the wonderful details written by Harkness. I was even more excited when I read that Harkness was also involved with the production- surely she would be sure they didn't make a hash of it. And then I was disappointed when I saw that it would air on the Sundance channel, but then I found out my local library had the first season on DVD so I put my name on the reserve list and waited patiently.
While I waited, I pressed friends for their reviews of the show. They all gave raving reviews! This show was going to be amazing- everyone said so. Finally, I received the much anticipated alert in my email that said the DVD set was ready and waiting for me on the library hold shelf. I buckled in for a long binge session, started the first episode, and nearly cried with disappointment. Matthew Goode is wonderful as Matthew Clairmont and several of the other actors are very good as well, but Teresa Palmer is flat and unconvincing, Lindsay Duncan is far too old to play Ysabeau, and Alex Kingston just doesn't seem to be given enough time to show her talent. Actually, that is a complaint I have about a lot of the character development in this series- the camera seems to just glance off so many of the actors and the pacing is too rushed to get to know this large cast.
I was also extremely frustrated that a show with such brilliant source material could fall so short. The writing in the books is polished and beautiful and well-paced. The writing in the show is weak and rushed and the dialogue is frequently changed from what works very well in the books to stilted and cheesy in the show. In addition, the musical score appears to have been added in post as a way to prop up a show that was lacking in substance. The background music, rather than subtly adding to the atmosphere of the scene, is almost intrusive and distracting.
I am so relieved that I didn't spend any money on watching this show. It wasn't a complete failure, but it was very disappointing, especially considering that the author is involved in the production. I have hopes that maybe the second season will be better, but again I will wait until I can borrow it from the library. In the mean time, I highly recommend you listen to the audio versions of the books. Jennifer Ikeda is a fantastic narrator.
No comments:
Post a Comment