10 stars for the seasons with Douglas Henshall.
I loved the first 7 seasons of this show. It had everything just right, characters, cast, setting, stories, love & intrigue.
I've enjoyed it a lot, watched it 2x even.
I just finished the 8th season without Douglas Henshall and I really had to make myself stick with it and watch the last couple episodes.
To be honest, I feel the show would've been better without the new woman, Ashley Jensen. Why not let Tosh and Sandy carry it? They could do that. Flesh out their characters, promote Tosh, and simply get a new lower ranking officer in to provide a bit of newness. That would've worked better.
I understand it isn't easy to replace Douglas as he is such a strong actor and has such a powerful aura. That's going to take time for the audience as well as the cast, but for some reason I didn't like the story either. I got bored with it, which is why after watching 4 episodes it took quite some time for me to get back to watching the last two.
It made me wonder if there was more going on outside the main storyline in the previous episodes.
Things will probably get a bit easier with the next season, if there is going to be one.
I'm thinking that maybe it'd be best to simply call it quits. It'd be a shame not to have more of the Shetlands, but it's also better to end it on a high and not let it go down the drain.
In essence I don't like this new character.
