The Stranger Season 1 (2020) Review

The Stranger Season 1 (2020) Review 

 I have heard quite a bit about this series and now I have watched the first season of The Stranger and this is my review for it. The premise of the season sees a stranger give a man a secret which leads to his life spiralling out of control which affects everybody around him.

Main Character

Richard Armitage from The Hobbit plays the lead in this show and he is excellent. You really sympathise with his character as he goes through the ringer on this show and you really follow through his eyes. However, he manages to come across as a tough character to add to the depth of his performance, also he is not a typical good guy and has flaws about him thatmakes him a very relatable and real person. He feels like a leading man in this show and does a great job leading the show and making it interesting. 

Supporting Characters

Siobhan Finnerman plays the lead detective on this show and she does a great job, she seems a generic character at first but really develops into an interesting character as you see her slowly work out exactly what is going on. Paul Kaye plays a rogue policeman and his character is really interesting, there are some things about his character that aren't explored enough but that is more a story issue. He gives an intense and pretty captivating performance that makes him a worthy antagonist for this show. Hannah John-Kamen who was the villain in Ant-Man & The Wasp plays the stranger in this show and I thought she did a great job, you are interested throughout with her character and the mysteriousness of her performance really drives you to keep watching and trying to learn more. There are plenty of other characters on this show and they are functional but nobody stands out like these characters on the show. 

Story

The story is the key part of this show and I have to admit throughout I was being played along with the mystery and I was interested to see where exactly the story is going and it kept me on edge throughout. It is also fascinating to see how many people the stranger affects in the show and how large it ends up being. However, this show really relies on the reveal and for me it was a mixed bag, some of the things I thought worked but some things didn't really make sense or feel interesting enough for the story. Also there is a story arc involving the kids and it is frustratingly pointless, it literally doesn't go anywhere and it is annoying that the spend so much time on it when it really doesn't factor into the show in any way shape or form. 

Script

The script has some truly great dramatic dialogue in it and you really feel the personal edge to some of the conversations and throughout the show keeps you on your toes throughout. However, the humour when used doesn't really work for the other characters and towards the end of the show it gets a bit too convoluted and as mentioned is a bit of a bittersweet ending for me personally.

Style

The show has some really suspensful scenes in it and I really liked how the reveals were staggered over the season and it kept you interested to keep watching. Though like quite a few shows I wish this show had a few less episodes. It has 8 episodes but I feel like there were a few story lines that were not necessary and could have made this a fantastic 6 episode season instead of just a good 8 episode season.

Overall

Overall, this is an interesting show that keeps you on edge throughout but it is held back by a bit of a medicore ending and some pointless side plots but if you are up fo an interesting show then this is worth a watch.

Rating - 7/10