Marlonius

I picked this up, thinking it was another British production in the vein of Foyle's war, which I thought was excellent. Initially, I was quite confused and couldn't understand the lack of accents. Of course, I quickly clued in that it was a Canadian show.

It feels pretty authentic and has lots of great details. The stories are quite compelling and the acting top notch. Cinematography is good too, and the photography looks movie quality to me and doesn't have the "cheap" look of so many Canadian productions.

On the downside, there is just a little too little exterior photography. Obviously this would be expensive, but the show suffers for it and feels a little "sitcom-ish" and confined in the way it tends to cut from interior to interior with very little outdoor footage, especially city scenes. I understand why, but still miss them. Maybe Season 2 will have a bigger budget.

My only other (minor) complaint is that it tries a bit too hard for the drama. It seems that every character has some secret burden, so there is no "everywoman" for the audience to identify with among the main few roles. Instead of seeing how the war and times affected most people, we're seeing what it was like for closeted homosexuals, the victims of evangelicals and oppressed socialites. I suppose the closest to an everyday person is the girl who loses her husband, but she's more supporting cast than lead. Anyway, minor issue.

Overall, a good show, one that Canadians should be proud of.