The hook was community
Greetings,
I watched this all the way through with little fast forwarding because I was interested in its unique view into a slice of oceanside working life.
This is not the kind of thing I normally enjoy. It's mostly a typical "meh" romance: excruciating storytelling detail balanced mainly by daily, prosaic activities with little serious excitement. It unfolds slowly, over almost 6 years of story, very slow pacing, and the romance took forever, until literally the second-to-last episode, to ignite! Aside from this typical genre complaint I have one major annoyance to share, then I'll explain why its worth watching anyway.
There is a behavior common to many dramas that drives me to distraction... This is the problem-causing Failure to Communicate - and often a failure to express ANYTHING you'd expect - like a smile when glad to see someone, a thought that is relevant, a feeling or need when it comes up, or a hug when everyone is aching. Really, anything, give us something, PLEASE! Such fails are plot tropes, unfortunately used heavily in the primary romantic relationship of this show. I'm pretty sure that without this crud, the series would have been snappier, more engaging, and 1/3 shorter.
The poor communication is accompanied by lots of what I call the "dead fish stare", where the viewer is expected to exercise all the heavy lifting of imagining what feelings must predominate in the moment, as literally NOTHING is being expressed in characters' face or posture, and of course, they are not using their words either. And there are waaaayyyy too many moments like this peppered in every episode, particularly from the female lead character. It's as if the actor has been told to try their best to act like a piece of wood at every critical relationship-development moment.
So why did I watch? Not for the romance, but for the rest of the story! Despite the tiresome annoyance, I was touched by myriad times that feelings and intentions were indeed expressed beautifully, subtly, or passionately. We could see the weave of a community fabric, with quirky and well-meaning characters, their varied dyadic interactions, resilience in duress, and heart-warmth toward one another that was sweet and moving. This show is worth watching because we get to know numerous amusing characters, we see gradual resolutions, and we see the unique shared dance of a set of good people moving and thriving together in their world. For me, not being from seaside, the seafood industry, and the ways individuals find to grow and conduct commerce in an insular community, were interesting. There is believable intimacy at various relationship levels. Its truly a slice of life, bittersweet, hopeful, and with a tender treatment of realistic personal challenges, unfolding with perseverance, forward to gentle successes. A human story.
I watched this all the way through with little fast forwarding because I was interested in its unique view into a slice of oceanside working life.
This is not the kind of thing I normally enjoy. It's mostly a typical "meh" romance: excruciating storytelling detail balanced mainly by daily, prosaic activities with little serious excitement. It unfolds slowly, over almost 6 years of story, very slow pacing, and the romance took forever, until literally the second-to-last episode, to ignite! Aside from this typical genre complaint I have one major annoyance to share, then I'll explain why its worth watching anyway.
There is a behavior common to many dramas that drives me to distraction... This is the problem-causing Failure to Communicate - and often a failure to express ANYTHING you'd expect - like a smile when glad to see someone, a thought that is relevant, a feeling or need when it comes up, or a hug when everyone is aching. Really, anything, give us something, PLEASE! Such fails are plot tropes, unfortunately used heavily in the primary romantic relationship of this show. I'm pretty sure that without this crud, the series would have been snappier, more engaging, and 1/3 shorter.
The poor communication is accompanied by lots of what I call the "dead fish stare", where the viewer is expected to exercise all the heavy lifting of imagining what feelings must predominate in the moment, as literally NOTHING is being expressed in characters' face or posture, and of course, they are not using their words either. And there are waaaayyyy too many moments like this peppered in every episode, particularly from the female lead character. It's as if the actor has been told to try their best to act like a piece of wood at every critical relationship-development moment.
So why did I watch? Not for the romance, but for the rest of the story! Despite the tiresome annoyance, I was touched by myriad times that feelings and intentions were indeed expressed beautifully, subtly, or passionately. We could see the weave of a community fabric, with quirky and well-meaning characters, their varied dyadic interactions, resilience in duress, and heart-warmth toward one another that was sweet and moving. This show is worth watching because we get to know numerous amusing characters, we see gradual resolutions, and we see the unique shared dance of a set of good people moving and thriving together in their world. For me, not being from seaside, the seafood industry, and the ways individuals find to grow and conduct commerce in an insular community, were interesting. There is believable intimacy at various relationship levels. Its truly a slice of life, bittersweet, hopeful, and with a tender treatment of realistic personal challenges, unfolding with perseverance, forward to gentle successes. A human story.
Was this review helpful to you?
