Apparitions

Minimalistic, psychological, unpretentious, well-thought out, about characters, atmosphere... An intelligent good old exorcist horror. This applies to the introductory double episode: the remaining episodes (independent cases, but always connected with the main storyline of “Father Jacob’s faith clashes with Michael’s soul") carry on in a slightly different vein. It is basically a drama still about psychology and characters, but less about the atmosphere and more about controversies and burning questions from the point of view of faith (not necessarily Catholic). Nothing against that; it’s so well written and acted that this doesn’t matter at all. What does matter though, fundamentally, is the ending. Because there is no ending and so the carefully built psychology taking almost six hours and a “promise of fateful events in the future" fall flat. Up until the end, everything was heading towards one unavoidable destination and... It doesn’t get there at all. Maybe there was meant to be a second season, but that changes nothing - an outstanding series that fizzles out in the end. It would be superfluous to even mention the excellent and charismatic performance given by Martin Shaw; casting him is always a safe bet. (23.01.2012)