The Fall

:

Season 1
Season #: 3, 2, 1
User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 141 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 110 out of 141
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 141
  3. Negative: 18 out of 141
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User Reviews

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  1. MissusC
    Jan 8, 2017
    6
    Season 1 is fabulous. Season 2 is very good as well. The cat & mouse game between Stella & Paul Spector twists & turns between them & everyone else in their orbit. The characters Anderson & Dornan play are excellent. The setting in Belfast Northern Ireland adds interest. The show sometimes moves at with typical "British TV" ssllllooowwnneesss but it still kept my interest.
    And then BANG!    Season 1 is fabulous. Season 2 is very good as well. The cat & mouse game between Stella & Paul Spector twists & turns between them & everyone else in their orbit. The characters Anderson & Dornan play are excellent. The setting in Belfast Northern Ireland adds interest. The show sometimes moves at with typical "British TV" ssllllooowwnneesss but it still kept my interest.
    And then BANG! In Season 3 the whole show falls apart & it ruined all the good feelings I'd built up for this show. Talk, talk, more talk, & then some more talking all in dark rooms. Lots of stuff left unresolved. Am so glad I had fast forward or I might have given up before I got to the end. There's rumor of a season 4 but I'm not sure I'd be interested.
    If you want to watch this show, quit after Season 2 or keep your fast fwd clicker handy.    … Expand
  2. Tss5078
    Jan 3, 2016
    4
    For all the amazing new programming Netflix originals has brought us, it has also strung along a whole list of shows that weren't good enough to be picked up by cable, The Fall is one such show. It may sound ridiculous to say that a six episode season felt too long, but when it came to this show, that was certainly the case.

    In Belfast, there has been a string of murders that the police    For all the amazing new programming Netflix originals has brought us, it has also strung along a whole list of shows that weren't good enough to be picked up by cable, The Fall is one such show. It may sound ridiculous to say that a six episode season felt too long, but when it came to this show, that was certainly the case.

    In Belfast, there has been a string of murders that the police are unequipped to handle, so they called in one of Scotland Yards top investigators to help solve the crime. The description of the show could lead one to assume that this would be a great murder mystery series, and it might have been, if not for the fact that the show parallels the investigation with the killers life. There is no mystery here, other than how something like this was turned into a series. The Fall has maybe enough content for a movie, and even then it wouldn't be a very good one.

    X-Files star Gillian Anderson stars in a role that is completely unbelievable for her. First we are to believe, that because she has red hair and freckles, that she is from Ireland, when her ridiculous attempt at an accent says otherwise. Beyond that, she plays this icy cold, promiscuous woman, who makes a hell of a lot of mistakes for a woman whose supposed to be the best Scotland Yard has too offer.

    As for the first season, it's only six episodes, but it felt more like six days, as it moves at a snails pace. British Dramas are almost always dry, but this series takes the cake, not only is it as slow as can be, but there is very little action and absolutely no attempts at humor to break up the monotony.

    The Fall is painfully straight-forward, slow moving, and it leaves nothing to the imagination. Unfortunately, once you start the series, it's like a car crash, it's horrible, but hard to look away. I wanted to like this show, so I kept waiting for something to happen, but nothing does, it just builds to a anti-climatic cliffhanger, that leads us into season two, which I wanted absolutely no part of.

    The name Gillian Anderson may peak the interest of my fellow science fiction aficionados, and if you ask Netflix, they'll tell you it's the greatest mystery of all time, but the only mystery to me, is why I continued to watch this show after the first episode.    … Expand
  3. oakridge
    Jun 14, 2013
    5
    Starts well, but falls apart and interest wanes. Somertimes its confusing just as to which girl is on screen as they all look alike (I know this is the point, but it makes it a frustrating watch). Gillian Anderson's unconventional cop is a fabulous invention, however, and she is never less than sensational when on screen.
  4. Rytis
    Apr 17, 2014
    5
    Is Belfast really so bad? Corrupt police, cheating husbands, whoring detectives? Also, how can the killer be so sloppy? He puts a necklace of a killed girl on his daughter's neck, he then keeps cut hair in the first drawer! He doesn't bother to wait for his daughter's room to be empty to take / put away his incriminating stuff. Moreover, I felt on many occasions like some themes wereIs Belfast really so bad? Corrupt police, cheating husbands, whoring detectives? Also, how can the killer be so sloppy? He puts a necklace of a killed girl on his daughter's neck, he then keeps cut hair in the first drawer! He doesn't bother to wait for his daughter's room to be empty to take / put away his incriminating stuff. Moreover, I felt on many occasions like some themes were forced as from a point of view of a state owned TV, like dealing with Facebook account of a deceased person, or making the men in police force so lame as to insult females in front of them. Again, are people really so dull stereotypical "machos" in Northern Ireland? And with religion. I'm not interested...… Expand
  5. charleym
    Apr 26, 2014
    6
    I guess I'm just not a Gillian Anderson fan. Her frozen-faced "acting" just leaves me cold, and it doesn't help that her character remains almost completely undeveloped (except for her silly vulpine sex life) in this first season. As to the story itself, it's okay, but I hate the way all the plot lines are left dangling at the end. What comes through most clearly is modern-day Belfast andI guess I'm just not a Gillian Anderson fan. Her frozen-faced "acting" just leaves me cold, and it doesn't help that her character remains almost completely undeveloped (except for her silly vulpine sex life) in this first season. As to the story itself, it's okay, but I hate the way all the plot lines are left dangling at the end. What comes through most clearly is modern-day Belfast and all the reasons not to go there.… Expand
  6. muldjord
    Aug 24, 2015
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I started watching this show with great interest. The plot seemed interesting and it has some great acting in there. When I reached episode 2 I thought to myself that he would most certainly be caught soon so the story could move on to other things. But he wasn't caught. In fact the show seemed to slow down tremendously as if it suddenly realized it had to go on for 3 more episodes. But I kept watching thinking that I was sure he would at least be caught in the 5th episode... So. Yeah. He wasn't either. And that's when I gave up. It was basically 3 episodes of nothing. The side plot? I have no idea what is was all about, just seemed like even more filler to me. And now I am expected to start watching season 2? Let me guess; he'll not be caught in the first two episodes of that season either.

    It seems like it's a bit of a wasted potential. A main story that's been stretched beyond what it should have been. Waaay beyond.

    It's not without its merits though, so if you are doing other stuff around the house, put this on. There's some interesting stuff in there. And you won't miss much by only paying attention occasionally.    … Expand
  7. dragonhead2010
    Sep 22, 2015
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. After watching both season 1 and 2 I say it's just a o.k. to me. I've seen better "police" work on "law and order SVU" then in "Northern Ireland". The 15/16 year old girl in this series was a better detective, then the "Northern Ireland" police department. The lead detective (Stella Gibson) also did a good job in this series, but due to bad story line made her fall apart a bit. Like when she didn't update her crew, and could have just said "hey the killer my have a young daughter". But it took season 2 to convey this massage. And then she (Stella Gibson) get's upset at the other detective for leaving out this info. Granted the Northern Ireland police suck, she still should have update the police station so they can narrow down the killer. And whatever happen to going after the cop killer in season 2? A.k.a Stella Gibson ex boy toy, who was there just for sex. And the guy's she sleep with are just better looking "Zoolander" cops. Except for one who's is her superior, who's more emotionally unstable then the killer in this series. And I don't get the appeal of Stella Gibson. Why do guy's get emotional with her? She have less emotional then a sex robot. And the only one who get's her is the killer. And the killer wife is dumb. When the 15/16 year old girl told the wife she didn't have an affair with her husband, I would think "he have to be a killer"! I'm sorry if someone told me that my husband/spouse may have lied about having an affair, with A 15/16 YEAR OLD GIRL, then his lie is really really big. I did like Gillian Anderson as Stella Gibson, but when the people around her is this incompetent, except for the 15/16 year old girl who then helps the killer. The series is just o.k to me.… Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
86

Universal acclaim - based on 4 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. People Weekly
    Reviewed by: Tom Gliatto
    Jun 14, 2013
    100
    [A] cool yet intensely emotional British crime series. [24 Jun 2013, p.40]
  2. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Neil Genzlinger
    Jun 10, 2013
    70
    It’s a fine show, relying on slow-building tension rather than the gory shock value of series like “The Following,” and the five-episode arc now on Netflix is worth a look if you haven’t had your fill of cat-and-mouse dynamics.... Oddly, the character developed the least may be Ms. Anderson’s.
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  3. Salon
    Jun 5, 2013
    80
    Some of these moments are memorable and stark. More are soporific. Both lend themselves to The Fall’s tone: these days, slow is what passes for serious. Anderson’s performance is what makes The Fall worth watching.
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