The 10-episode series is connected by a mysterious stranger that intervenes during a critical point in the characters' lives. It all takes place in the fictional town of Wildfire, OH. Although, one may see some interesting connections to other drama, I feel the episodes as a whole are very unique. If you were to make Highway to Heaven a dark, very adult R theme (for violence) then you could draw the better comparison to this series.
The mystery man deal, and more of his background are revealed to some extent, and more toward the last episodes. But we never truly know the whole story. We can however piece together the episodes and draw some very good conclusions.
The stories themselves are written so at times you must actually use your brain and figure out what that conclusion of each is. It is not all spoon fed to you like you see in other shows. It is open to interpretation, but that is what I love!
I enjoyed the writing the most, and moreover it passed the entertainment test I have. That be, "is it compelling to watch?" The only criticism I have is regarding the acting. That should have been at 400 degrees and it was undercooked at 375. They needed to turn up the heat a little. So yes, in a way the performances were undercooked, but not by that much.
I think these actors overall have great potential though. Their attempts in some cases to understate their emotions also bought down the individual performance energy and scene vibe as well. This balance can be difficult sometimes for new but talented actors. Especially, for a new production company, in this case 47th Street Pictures. This appears to be their first. Having worked with independent film making myself, it is not surprising that additional time was not however spent perfecting the actor's scenes. Sometimes, it is about just not having the time.
Allot of time and energy was placed in ways to give it a professional look. They wanted to sell this for general consumption. This is not some silly experiment.
They did however spend fruitful time with properly lit and miked settings. Also, a good job with transitioning between different sections of scenes. It all felt connected.
