Fortitude

With its strong cast, diverse ensemble of interesting characters, beautiful visuals, and patient direction, Fortitude is a promising freshman outing from cable obscurity Pivot and a worthwhile addition to an already over-stuffed subgenre.

Fortitude's allure is its off-puttingness; those making a home there must indeed be tenacious, and with Fortitude, the same tenacity is required of its viewers.

I'll confess to losing the thread of the plot a time or three over the five hours I watched (the show debuts with the first two hours; there are a dozen in total), yet the location and the sense of unease that came with it kept pulling me along.

The mystery isn't as gripping as it could be, but the acting is stellar and the show is worth watching for the ice-cool atmospherics alone. [30 Jan/6 Feb 2015, p.121]

Fortitude turns out to be an intriguing blend of things a bunch of different nations' television networks do really well.

Fortitude reminds me of "Borgen" because neither show is loud; nothing about this kind of drama is bombastic or outsized. Fortitude takes its time as it builds up its icy, workaday world and depicts the day to day lives of its residents.

Fortitude's only safety net is a cat's cradle of inter-linked, understated and strangely powerful performances.

If you’re looking for a winter-time mystery that will show you people even colder than you may be these days, Fortitude is an absorbing one.

It’s still an open question whether its central murder mystery can sustain a number of false leads and other mis-directions for a full 12 hours. But the resplendent panoramic visuals are a show in themselves. So the bigger your HD screen the better, with Fortitude’s overriding whodunit gradually firming its grip while those icy, snowy vistas stay strong.

Fortitude, which was originally slated to air on Starz, doesn’t feel quite as urgent a viewing experience as “Broadchurch,” but the first two hours (of the 12-part series) introduce enough intriguing characters and relationships that it’s worth watching for fans of murder-mystery dramas just as long as the show doesn’t introduce too many red herring suspects (the show appears to be pointing to one already by the end of the premiere).

It’s difficult to know whether Fortitude aims to be a “Broadchurch on Ice” or, at its most extreme, a riff on John Carpenter’s “The Thing.” In its favor, the show has an irresistible setting.

Fortitude has a lot going for it, but it lacks a unifying focus or center of gravity. Scenes seem slapped together without much forethought and with little connective tissue.

Fortitude is great to look at and will eventually provide the basic pleasure of a convoluted mystery solved, but it’s a distinctly chilly piece of storytelling.