Riviera

Started with great promise, but faltered early on. This show seemed to lose its way about half way through. Some of the casting was ridiculous and Lena Olin mumbled her way through some of the scenes where her dialogue was important. And the ending was a joke, it was like we've run out of time, let's end this now. Very disappointing overall.

Let's be clear: Rivera is not a masterpiece neither is what you would call "an art show". Thanks to a pretty envolving plot and a wonderful mise en place it's a show you can perfectly enjoy unpretentiously. Its strong point is certainly the photography and the breathtaking locations of the French Riviera, that unfolds between cover villas and luxury cars and yachts.

I define it a "summer" show because it's definetly one of those show you can enjoy in summer, when after lunch the weather it's too hot to do anything.

First half:

A slowly unravelling mystery around a rich art dealers death seen through his widows eyes. Very enticing plot development and pace, great settings, outfits, direction, editing etc.

Second half:

A bit of a mess that never recovers. Im not sure if all the episodes where written by the same people and didn't bother to check. But the second half of the series was seriously lacking in all above mentioned areas, except setting and outfits which didn't change. Not much made sense, and the quality of the whole show plummeted to a cable channel daytime soap opera level.

Watch it if you have nothing to kill some time with, or leave it on in the background while you make use of your time otherwise. Don't expect any brilliant twists or a great ending.

Seasons 1&2 were so good and loved the whole French Riviera with its glam and glitz. Billionaires, yachts, money, fast cars, corruption all perfect. Season 3 lost this and most of the cast that we grew to love or hate from the first 2 seasons. Rupert graves was just a bit flat and didn't really add a lot. It tired to be deep with the story with his wife but it just fell short.

So after watching the first two seasons, I have now had a chance to watch the new Third season of Sky show Riviera and here is my review for it. The premise of the season sees a year after Season 2, Georgina has left the Riviera and her family to live her own life when she is dragged into an international conspiracy.

Main Character Julia Stiles plays Georgina and I think she is better this season, she is still a really interesting character and after dealing with all the family drama from last season she can go back to being on the hunt after people. She is just a strong protagonist and I feltthis season it was easier to get on board with her and want to see her succeed.

Supporting Characters Now if you liked the characters from the previous two seasons then too bad, because they aren't here to be found, well mostly, I will get onto the two characters who did make it in later. Rupert Graves plays Gabriel and I liked him, it continues the trend of Georgina having a male companion and though he wasn't as good as Will Arnett from the last season he is still a fun addition to the show. But then there is the rest of the cast, so onto the returning cast Jack Fox as Nico and Poppy Delevingne as Daphne and they are just as boring as last season and even worse they just feel really out of place here and like they are just here because they forgot to finish their arc from the last season. The new cast fair just as bad, they are so dull and boring with no depth at all, this is basically a fresh start for the show and they waste it on really forgettable characters.

Story This is easily the worst part of the season, it is just all over the place and makes no sense. I mean as I said before you don't really need to watch the previous seasons as it ignores them, did you want to know what happened to Christos, Adrianna and Negrescu well too bad the show completely forgets about them even when they should be included. This new story is so convoluted and ridiculous, Georgina doesn't even have any personal stake here, you wonder why she is even around as the show just went too far in making the show feel too different to the previous.

Script The script is okay, there are some decent dramatic dialogue here and Stiles manages to make you believe in what she is trying to achieve. But there is nothing that really stands out and the forced attempt at humour isn't great, but the worst is the over convoluted plot lines that doesn't do a good enough job in making the characters or their motivations interesting.

Style The style of the show is great, we don't see much of the Riviera but the show still manages to still look great and actually going to the new locations freshens things up a bit more. This season is also the most exciting of the show, there is more action scenes and it does make it an easier watch. Also the season has only 8 episodes compared to 10 and that makes it also an easier to watch and like the season is moving faster.

Overall Overall, this is a very mixed season of the show but veers slightly to the positive side. It misses the mark on most of its characters and plot but it has a great lead and exciting set pieces that make it an okay watch. I wouldn't say rush to watch it, but maybe sometime in the future when you are bored it might be worth a watch.

Rating - 6/10.