The English Game

Bravo for choosing a production that is not only beautiful to look at and we'll made, but also deserves a Credit line simply for its Beards!A show that may or may not be a Footies fanboys dream but a slice of life inhabited by interesting people and some new History (to me) along with the costumes and characters that round it out. I suspect fans looking for hours of pitch may be less than excited but it is more than Downtown Abbey.

I just finished watching the English Game and absolutely loved it. I'm an American and I don't have mucH interest in the game of soccer (to football as the rest of the world calls it). But that didn't stop me from loving the hell out of this miniseries. For those who may stumble across this review months or treats from now, let me set the scene. Coronavirus has ravaged families and economies. Everyday there seems to be some new depressing thing that comes to light (political division in the US, Brexit, Australia burning... take your pick). Media tends to mimic what is going on in the world, if not in plot, but in mood. In other words, there's some pretty depressing stuff on tv. A lot of it is very high quality (e.g. Chernobyl, The Plot Against America, Westworld, etc), but it can be hard to watch when real life is such a mess. Then comes along this gem of a show. It's very optimistic. I suppose you could say it's a typical sports story (there's adversity and adversity is ultimately overcome). But so what? Right now I'll take a show about growing as a person, seeing things from a different perspective, and demonstrating good sportsmanship (aka showing respect to others). Don't get me wrong... I love shows that are heavier on action, violence, sex, etc. But I can also appreciate some positivity. And this show has positivity in spades. I can't recommend the show enough. If you like soccer, maybe you'll like this show. If you don't... you'll probably like it too. It's good. Give it a watch.

I'll admit the first episode was somewhat slow, but such is the nature of first episodes in any series - introducing characters, plot themes etc. By the end of the second episode I was totally engrossed.

I was really impressed on how netflix created this. A second season would be hard to make with the same characters (altough i think they where all perfectly casted). But for season 2 i hope they jump for a decade and do something simular there. Ive read in 1 off the reviews that it is not historicly correct. being non english that is a bit of a shame for me since i really tought the history aspects are interesting. But since i knew i was watching fiction this only cost them 1 point Very good serie and i cant wait till season 2.

Not enough football to be a good sports movie, but I still enjoyed it. My wife loved it and anyone who likes PBS shows will enjoy this. I would give it a 7 and my wife would give it a 9, so I chose 8. It's a bit too neat and today for me, almost Disney-like, but overall I would recommend it.