This series started out so good. But by the third season it had degenerated into all the things that it previously stood out from. So many other crime dramas had the same old, tired, cheesy, hackneyed ideas. Here are a few ideas that you can see in any half-baked crime drama: 1) A main bad guy that always gets away at the end only to reappear in a later episode..again...and again. 2) The bad guy is someone from the protagonist's past - an old nemesis. 3) Someone on the inside is a crooked cop, usually the main character's friend. 4) Revenge and retribution - getting back at the guy who kidnapped the hero's daughter, or killed his mentor just 1 week before retirement, or killed his wife years before. 5) Sleazy lawyers, corrupt politicians and others working on the inside to foil our hero's attempts at justice. I could go on with all the cheap, weak plot lines that writers think make stories great.
Shetland, in the beginning, had none of that. It was slow paced with solid actors. People delivered their lines like they lived it. It wasn't about car chases and shootouts. Every suspect didn't take off running as soon as they saw the cops were about to question them. Shetland was well written, and was more about honest detective work with good character development. Shetland showed us island life, and how the community played into the investigation. It was a great show.
But by the 3rd season they decided to become more like 24, or CSI, or any number of other Hollywood crap action fests with all the same old stories. Here we have a bad guy that is apparently going to last the entire season. He's a super-villain who will always be one step ahead of our main character, and you should probably skip to the last episode of season 3 when they will actually catch him. And of course they had to move the story out of Shetland to the mean streets of Glasgow. I stopped halfway through episode 3 because I realize they are going full on Hollywood and his daughter will be kidnapped, and he will have to go rogue to get her back. If I wanted that kind of regurgitated nonsense I wouldn't have tuned into Shetland.
Goodbye, a once great show. Hello, yet another knock-off.
Shetland, in the beginning, had none of that. It was slow paced with solid actors. People delivered their lines like they lived it. It wasn't about car chases and shootouts. Every suspect didn't take off running as soon as they saw the cops were about to question them. Shetland was well written, and was more about honest detective work with good character development. Shetland showed us island life, and how the community played into the investigation. It was a great show.
But by the 3rd season they decided to become more like 24, or CSI, or any number of other Hollywood crap action fests with all the same old stories. Here we have a bad guy that is apparently going to last the entire season. He's a super-villain who will always be one step ahead of our main character, and you should probably skip to the last episode of season 3 when they will actually catch him. And of course they had to move the story out of Shetland to the mean streets of Glasgow. I stopped halfway through episode 3 because I realize they are going full on Hollywood and his daughter will be kidnapped, and he will have to go rogue to get her back. If I wanted that kind of regurgitated nonsense I wouldn't have tuned into Shetland.
Goodbye, a once great show. Hello, yet another knock-off.
